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Post by fingersmash on Jun 13, 2019 3:34:03 GMT
'Tis indeed. They haven't slacked up on sales over the previous grace period either which has been a nice touch. Well... *clicks tongue* I've no complaints. Two more months to squeeze in whatever falls beneath the discount banner sounds good. I wonder what they're planning, though? I hope it is a move away from the 1:1 scheme to something with a bit more nuance. If the coding is flexible enough, you could theoretically tailor prices based on the billing address in people's accounts... Honestly, my guess is it'll be a simple per-order charge. I wouldn't mind paying an extra $6.50 or something around that and I'll just make orders in batches.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2019 3:57:34 GMT
'Tis indeed. They haven't slacked up on sales over the previous grace period either which has been a nice touch. Well... *clicks tongue* I've no complaints. Two more months to squeeze in whatever falls beneath the discount banner sounds good. I wonder what they're planning, though? I hope it is a move away from the 1:1 scheme to something with a bit more nuance. If the coding is flexible enough, you could theoretically tailor prices based on the billing address in people's accounts... Honestly, my guess is it'll be a simple per-order charge. I wouldn't mind paying an extra $6.50 or something around that and I'll just make orders in batches. Yeah, I'd be happy with that. I tend to buy things nowadays in blocks anyway, so there wouldn't be much of a change in spending habits.
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Post by pawntake on Jun 23, 2019 8:38:18 GMT
'Tis indeed. They haven't slacked up on sales over the previous grace period either which has been a nice touch. Well... *clicks tongue* I've no complaints. Two more months to squeeze in whatever falls beneath the discount banner sounds good. I wonder what they're planning, though? I hope it is a move away from the 1:1 When you say two months,do you think july and august with the new prices being implemented in sept???
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2019 8:51:21 GMT
'Tis indeed. They haven't slacked up on sales over the previous grace period either which has been a nice touch. Well... *clicks tongue* I've no complaints. Two more months to squeeze in whatever falls beneath the discount banner sounds good. I wonder what they're planning, though? I hope it is a move away from the 1:1 When you say two months,do you think july and august with the new prices being implemented in sept??? That'd be great, but looking at the updated notice: We'd get June, yep. July, probably. Not sure about August. September, probably not. If we're going strictly by when the announcement went up, the latest would realistically be sometime mid-August.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 23, 2019 19:58:26 GMT
When you say two months,do you think july and august with the new prices being implemented in sept??? That'd be great, but looking at the updated notice: We'd get June, yep. July, probably. Not sure about August. September, probably not. If we're going strictly by when the announcement went up, the latest would realistically be sometime mid-August. So if BF wants to continue soliciting titles that won't release until a year from now, I will gladly keep pre-ordering.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2019 1:59:06 GMT
That'd be great, but looking at the updated notice: We'd get June, yep. July, probably. Not sure about August. September, probably not. If we're going strictly by when the announcement went up, the latest would realistically be sometime mid-August. So if BF wants to continue soliciting titles that won't release until a year from now, I will gladly keep pre-ordering. *nods* Sounds like a good plan. I'd start with the larger pre-orders now, if possible, while there's a degree of certainty and move to smaller orders as we get closer to August. Better to miss out on something comparatively minor than something larger and an opportunity missed.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 25, 2019 15:21:27 GMT
I wonder why it is taking so long to make a decision ... I mean it's not rocket science.
they are currently at 1:1 which is not bringing in enough revenue. The market rate of say US$ is approx. £1:$1.26. They can't jump straight to $1.26 because of customer backlash, so increase it to $1.10 which will bring in more revenue. Give 4-6 weeks' notice of the change and make it clear that it will be regularly reviewed every 6-9 months, or more frequently if there are major currency fluctuation. Then, provided sales are holding up, in 6 months' time bump it up to $1.15 and then, again subject to sales volumes holding up, move it again to $1.20 in another 6 months. If they give a few weeks' notice of each change there shouldn't be too much negative feedback. So BF could end up with a $1.20 rate that increases STG revenue by 20% but is still slightly better than the market FX rate for US customers. Throw in the 10% discount currently only available to UK customers as a sweetener and hey presto.
You get the idea ... I don't really see why it's such a difficult decision that's taking so long
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Post by Digi on Jun 25, 2019 16:15:59 GMT
I expect they don't want to adjust it every few months, that they'd rather land on a new rate that threads the needle of cost effectiveness vs. sales hit, than every 6-9 months do all the financial calculations all over again, to figure out what's working and what isn't and re-adjust all the backend system calculations.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 25, 2019 19:18:45 GMT
I wonder why it is taking so long to make a decision ... I mean it's not rocket science. they are currently at 1:1 which is not bringing in enough revenue. The market rate of say US$ is approx. £1:$1.26. They can't jump straight to $1.26 because of customer backlash, so increase it to $1.10 which will bring in more revenue. Give 4-6 weeks' notice of the change and make it clear that it will be regularly reviewed every 6-9 months, or more frequently if there are major currency fluctuation. Then, provided sales are holding up, in 6 months' time bump it up to $1.15 and then, again subject to sales volumes holding up, move it again to $1.20 in another 6 months. If they give a few weeks' notice of each change there shouldn't be too much negative feedback. So BF could end up with a $1.20 rate that increases STG revenue by 20% but is still slightly better than the market FX rate for US customers. Throw in the 10% discount currently only available to UK customers as a sweetener and hey presto. You get the idea ... I don't really see why it's such a difficult decision that's taking so long It is probably more difficult than you would think. And as Jason has said they are trying to avoid having to raise prices for a few years, so that is digging deep into the data, looking at trends, trying to predict trends, factoring in what a hard Brexit does to their business as opposed to a soft Brexit, how do either of those thing affect their supply chain, affect labor....so many factors....granted this is something that should have been looked at and addressed several years ago but that it is taking this long is an encouraging thing to me. Says they are doing their work on it and when it is ready, it will be ready.
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Post by Ela on Jun 25, 2019 19:29:00 GMT
I'm in no hurry for them to decide. The longer they wait, the more I can pre-order at current prices.
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Post by fingersmash on Jun 26, 2019 2:16:21 GMT
I wonder why it is taking so long to make a decision ... I mean it's not rocket science. they are currently at 1:1 which is not bringing in enough revenue. The market rate of say US$ is approx. £1:$1.26. They can't jump straight to $1.26 because of customer backlash, so increase it to $1.10 which will bring in more revenue. Give 4-6 weeks' notice of the change and make it clear that it will be regularly reviewed every 6-9 months, or more frequently if there are major currency fluctuation. Then, provided sales are holding up, in 6 months' time bump it up to $1.15 and then, again subject to sales volumes holding up, move it again to $1.20 in another 6 months. If they give a few weeks' notice of each change there shouldn't be too much negative feedback. So BF could end up with a $1.20 rate that increases STG revenue by 20% but is still slightly better than the market FX rate for US customers. Throw in the 10% discount currently only available to UK customers as a sweetener and hey presto. You get the idea ... I don't really see why it's such a difficult decision that's taking so long It is probably more difficult than you would think. And as Jason has said they are trying to avoid having to raise prices for a few years, so that is digging deep into the data, looking at trends, trying to predict trends, factoring in what a hard Brexit does to their business as opposed to a soft Brexit, how do either of those thing affect their supply chain, affect labor....so many factors....granted this is something that should have been looked at and addressed several years ago but that it is taking this long is an encouraging thing to me. Says they are doing their work on it and when it is ready, it will be ready. As I said before, I think the best and most likely option is going to be a per-order charge. Something small but substantial. My guess is $6.50 US but I can see it as low as $5 and as high as $10.
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Jun 26, 2019 2:39:30 GMT
It is probably more difficult than you would think. And as Jason has said they are trying to avoid having to raise prices for a few years, so that is digging deep into the data, looking at trends, trying to predict trends, factoring in what a hard Brexit does to their business as opposed to a soft Brexit, how do either of those thing affect their supply chain, affect labor....so many factors....granted this is something that should have been looked at and addressed several years ago but that it is taking this long is an encouraging thing to me. Says they are doing their work on it and when it is ready, it will be ready. As I said before, I think the best and most likely option is going to be a per-order charge. Something small but substantial. My guess is $6.50 US but I can see it as low as $5 and as high as $10. The per-order charge in Aust is current AUS $11.48 I think.. Pretty much negates $pecials . A Catch 22 :-(
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Post by randomcomments on Jun 26, 2019 11:57:07 GMT
It is probably more difficult than you would think. And as Jason has said they are trying to avoid having to raise prices for a few years, so that is digging deep into the data, looking at trends, trying to predict trends, factoring in what a hard Brexit does to their business as opposed to a soft Brexit, how do either of those thing affect their supply chain, affect labor....so many factors....granted this is something that should have been looked at and addressed several years ago but that it is taking this long is an encouraging thing to me. Says they are doing their work on it and when it is ready, it will be ready. As I said before, I think the best and most likely option is going to be a per-order charge. Something small but substantial. My guess is $6.50 US but I can see it as low as $5 and as high as $10. If they add a per-order charge like that to downloads, I'll never ever be able to buy anything from their sales. "ooh, this title is usually $7, but it's a 99¢ sale! ... ... Oh, wait, there's a $6.50 order charge, never mind."
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Post by Whovitt on Jun 26, 2019 12:01:30 GMT
As I said before, I think the best and most likely option is going to be a per-order charge. Something small but substantial. My guess is $6.50 US but I can see it as low as $5 and as high as $10. If they add a per-order charge like that to downloads, I'll never ever be able to buy anything from their sales. "ooh, this title is usually $7, but it's a 99¢ sale! ... ... Oh, wait, there's a $6.50 order charge, never mind." That's the same for some CD releases right now though. I think we overseas customers have just had it really good without knowing it, so having the change, no matter how small, is always going to sting.
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Post by fingersmash on Jun 26, 2019 12:50:16 GMT
If they add a per-order charge like that to downloads, I'll never ever be able to buy anything from their sales. "ooh, this title is usually $7, but it's a 99¢ sale! ... ... Oh, wait, there's a $6.50 order charge, never mind." That's the same for some CD releases right now though. I think we overseas customers have just had it really good without knowing it, so having the change, no matter how small, is always going to sting. It's exactly the same. And frankly, I'd be perfectly okay with a per-order charge. For lack of a better term, it feels like a fair compromise. Keep the download prices but pay a little extra per order.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,788
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 26, 2019 13:44:15 GMT
I expect they don't want to adjust it every few months, that they'd rather land on a new rate that threads the needle of cost effectiveness vs. sales hit, than every 6-9 months do all the financial calculations all over again, to figure out what's working and what isn't and re-adjust all the backend system calculations. If that is the case then I think that is where they are going fundamentally wrong, particularly in light of what looks to be a period of volatility for sterling over the next few months (strengthening if a brexit deal or no brexit or else weakening if a no-deal brexit).
I get it that they are caught in a catch 22 - leave it unchanged and revenue/profitability suffers or else change it and risk losing customers. It's only natural to want to come up with a clever solution to solve it once and for all, or for the next few years at least, so they don't have to keep making these kinds of tough decisions. However currency fluctuations are a reality of international trade and BF can't just wish them away. If they want to trade internationally and offer prices in cutomer currencies then they have to pick a suitable FX rate. But whatever they pick will, over time, become outdated and need revision. Postponing the decision risks making the problem worse. Better to accept that this is something they will have to review every few months.
The other option would be to hedge with a forward contract but maybe their FX receipts in any one currency are not large enough to justify this.
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Post by Digi on Jun 26, 2019 14:01:10 GMT
I don’t have any more insight than you do, just speculating what seems to me to be the likeliest case
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 26, 2019 14:42:22 GMT
I expect they don't want to adjust it every few months, that they'd rather land on a new rate that threads the needle of cost effectiveness vs. sales hit, than every 6-9 months do all the financial calculations all over again, to figure out what's working and what isn't and re-adjust all the backend system calculations. If that is the case then I think that is where they are going fundamentally wrong, particularly in light of what looks to be a period of volatility for sterling over the next few months (strengthening if a brexit deal or no brexit or else weakening if a no-deal brexit).
I get it that they are caught in a catch 22 - leave it unchanged and revenue/profitability suffers or else change it and risk losing customers. It's only natural to want to come up with a clever solution to solve it once and for all, or for the next few years at least, so they don't have to keep making these kinds of tough decisions. However currency fluctuations are a reality of international trade and BF can't just wish them away. If they want to trade internationally and offer prices in cutomer currencies then they have to pick a suitable FX rate. But whatever they pick will, over time, become outdated and need revision. Postponing the decision risks making the problem worse. Better to accept that this is something they will have to review every few months.
The other option would be to hedge with a forward contract but maybe their FX receipts in any one currency are not large enough to justify this.
So you are being critical of them for taking the time they feel like they need to come up with a workable solution? Or at least something they feel is workable on their terms as a business. And if postponing the decision makes it worse for anyone, it is making it worse for Big Finish and not overseas customers. I mean today I spent $125.00 on The Robots bundle that I would have waited on if not for the uncertainty of what comes next for us overseas customers. As has been noted dozens of times over the years, Big Finish is a small, small company that serves a very small niche audience. I would bet that they don't feel like constantly changing their pricing structure is something they can afford to do. In an age of instability, I appreciate them taking the time trying to figure out a way that they can offer price stability for a few years. Others mileage may of course vary.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,788
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 26, 2019 15:11:44 GMT
If that is the case then I think that is where they are going fundamentally wrong, particularly in light of what looks to be a period of volatility for sterling over the next few months (strengthening if a brexit deal or no brexit or else weakening if a no-deal brexit).
I get it that they are caught in a catch 22 - leave it unchanged and revenue/profitability suffers or else change it and risk losing customers. It's only natural to want to come up with a clever solution to solve it once and for all, or for the next few years at least, so they don't have to keep making these kinds of tough decisions. However currency fluctuations are a reality of international trade and BF can't just wish them away. If they want to trade internationally and offer prices in cutomer currencies then they have to pick a suitable FX rate. But whatever they pick will, over time, become outdated and need revision. Postponing the decision risks making the problem worse. Better to accept that this is something they will have to review every few months.
The other option would be to hedge with a forward contract but maybe their FX receipts in any one currency are not large enough to justify this.
So you are being critical of them for taking the time they feel like they need to come up with a workable solution? Or at least something they feel is workable on their terms as a business. And if postponing the decision makes it worse for anyone, it is making it worse for Big Finish and not overseas customers. I mean today I spent $125.00 on The Robots bundle that I would have waited on if not for the uncertainty of what comes next for us overseas customers. As has been noted dozens of times over the years, Big Finish is a small, small company that serves a very small niche audience. I would bet that they don't feel like constantly changing their pricing structure is something they can afford to do. In an age of instability, I appreciate them taking the time trying to figure out a way that they can offer price stability for a few years. Others mileage may of course vary. I don't think it is that complex an issue really. It is not rocket science to model a few scenarios on a spreadsheet. The issues are relatively simple and straightforward and, short of a major political/economic upheaval affecting the world economy, are unlikely to change over the next few weeks/months.
I think they are procrastinating because they are trying to screw up their courage to actually take a tough decision between 2 unpalatable options - continue under-pricing to international customers or move to a more viable price and risk losing customers. The decision/issues in and of themselves are not especially difficult to grasp intellectually and are unlikely to change any time soon.
I also think they are being naïve and unrealistic in trying to come up with a long term one-off solution to something that is going to fluctuate in the short term. I say that as someone who has worked in senior finance roles at reasonably large import/export businesses and have been managing FX for the last 15 years. There is no one-off solution, other than price everything in sterling. Better to accept reality and have a policy of reviewing at fixed intervals (3, 6 or 9 months). This is not necessarily a bad thing for international customers, as rates can go down as well as up - although given they are starting from a 1:1 position they will have to go up initially. Plus if the regular review dates are the same every year and known to regular customers it allows them to plan their spending accordingly. The only real judgement call is where to pitch the FX rate, somewhere between the current 1:1 and the market rate, and if they feel they have called it wrong they can always adjust in 3 months' time (or whenever).
And again, looking at a graph of average rates over the next past quarter and deciding were to pitch it is not rocket science. The £ has been between $1.25 and $1.35 over the last few months, so they could move it to $1.10 which brings them in more revenue and still gives American customers a favourable rate. Or even $1.05 if they want to be ultra-cautious on sales and go for a softly, softly approach. Then review it in 3 months' time depending on how sales figures perform and how sterling has performed. Again, unless there was major political or economic turmoil in the world, 15 minutes once a quarter would be enough time to spend on the decision.
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Post by glutamodo on Jun 26, 2019 17:09:52 GMT
I was trying to explain this to a friend today. She wondered it was related to changing international markets. My response was I rather thought they initially made it cheaper to purchase download titles internationally intentionally to make buying legally more enticing over piracy. But wasn't sure what had make them rethink that decision.
I still buy and expect to continue to buy nearly everything that BF puts out. I have my stack of CD-only titles, Benny and Sapphire and Steel plus some others that graduated into downloadability. I pre-order even if I don't know anything about the titles (Hell, in the USA when I hear "Adam Adamant" I think about Adam Ant the cartoon character) just to support BF.
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