Why don't people post prices?

[hackberry jake]

I look at tools, call for pricing. I look at equipment, call for pricing. I look at final products, call for pricing. I never call, it seems like you would want people to know how much your product costs... in order to sell any. Just curious I guess.

[redbeard]

My prices BF for this fall and winter are Red Alder 1.25 Spalted Alder& Maple 1.50-1.75 Madrone 1.75 Old growth VG douglas fir 3.00-5.00 Premium douglas fir (heart wood) 1.25-1.50 white soft woods. 75-1.00 yard fruit & nut trees negotiate price. This would be a good ball park thread to see what folks charge.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

People avoid posting prices to avoid price wars and so that they get a chance to talk to the customer one on one to let them know what kind of products and service they can expect to recieve from them as a customer.

Shopping purely based on price, You would be suprised how many customers would select company A over Company B just because Company A sold a product for $1.98 and Company B charged $1.99.

What they fail to realize is that Company A may be a fly by night operator with very poor customer satisfaction, whereas Company B may have nothing but truly satisfied customers.

Worse yet is the customer that tries to play Company A and Company B off against one another by spending the next few days trying to get each of them to continually beat the other persons price by a penny. I have no use at all for that type of customer.

[Dan_Shade]

another reason is people keep old sales fliers, and webpages don't get updated.

[Magicman]

They may also request some "off the wall" service for the regular advertised price.

I am presently involved with that type of situation on a saw job.   The customer is saying seven 10' logs from one blown over Pecan tree.  It simply is not possible unless it is a split tree, and then not probable.   He is calling limbs logs, plus, it is 130 miles away.  I will not quote a saw price until I see pictures, and even then it will be hourly rate.

[red oaks lumber]

i'm always looking for equipment, you find something and guess what ? call for pricing. by not putting the price in there says to me you want to much. i'm not just a price buyer but, if the inital price is more than i want to spend, end of search on that company.
as pricing on your sawing, drying , machining prices i don't think people expect you to have pricing in your advertisment. if you call me i'll tell you every price i have.if i'm selling something the price is one of the first things listed, that way i'm not dealing with tire kickers.

[Mooseherder]

If the price isn't posted It is a real turnoff for me.
That is saying the price is different for everybody depending on your negotiating skills.
I prefer to deal with companies who are proud to post the price.

[Cedarman]

I have an extensive price list on our website.  I can't remember anyone wanting me to beat someone else's prices.  I have a disclaimer at the bottom saying prices are subject to change.  I post a lot of items to let people know we can do a wide variety of things.  This lets them know that we probably can do things not listed.

The biggest thing I want from a webpage is a physical location of the company with phone numbers.  When I have questions, I want to talk to someone immediately because I most likely have a piece of equipment down and I need something immediately.
I hate websites that will not tell me where stores are located so I know whether I can travel and pickup or have to have the item shipped.

I tend to skip places that do not show prices.

[beenthere]

The biggest thing I want from a webpage is a physical location of the company with phone numbers

That location is what I look for, and don't go much further if it isn't clearly posted on the home page. I look for photo's and specs of products, and great to have a video. I don't much care to see the price, as I can call or get a dealer locally if there is one.

[shelbycharger400]

i know what your saying,  but on the same tolken when im sellin somethin. .. i have tired of putting a price out their, people him haw around.
2 small engines i recently sold  a kohler 10 and 12 hp, broken rod..clearly stated... it was b/o deal,   one offered 20 for the one
didnt positive want it ..  had another call... he said what do you want...i said give me an offer,  he said 100....i said OK!    it was delivered .

sometimes you can get a feel for what the person is lookin for when you get them to call.  its a sales pitch too in effect,
you got them on the hook... and reel em in . If i do my homework right  :P... they get a deal... and i make some cash. 

i had a call this afternoon.    I have some now dry.  3 in thick,  17 to 24 in wide boxelder,  all dried nice, very little warpage as they were all wratched together for over a year.   I said...i have 6 or 7 left,  one is sold,   i have another guy comming to buy.   when their gone...their gone..  i have more , but not this wide., getting them this wide is hard to get.      good market time would bring over a hundred  to hundred and a half each,  but im askin half that just to move them.

pic in profile... i have yet to clean the black mold and dirt off them..  2 others i have already done last year...it was only surface deep.    and yes... so everyone knows..  i have seen the $ for contingency for sellin here.

[buildthisfixthat]

they dont put a price because they like to hear ring,ring,ring, and talk to people about prices all day long ...in my opinion.

[captain_crunch]

beings I be clear accrosst USA from you people when I ask price fer sawing shurley not in competion just need a guide line on what to charge can fix or build a Circle mill just not a bussiness person :P :P

[WildDog]

I tend not to bother with companies that don't advertise price.

Worse still when only a mobile/cell phone number is advertised and you have no idea if your buying machinery from one side of the country to the other >:(

[bill m]

I too do not do business with someone that does not have the confidence to post their prices. And even worse than that are the ones that advertise "prices so low we can't post them" and "call for best pricing" I like to do business with someone who has what I want ( in stock ) when I need it ( most likely now ) at a reasonable price not necessarily the lowest price, although we all would like to find things we need at the lowest rock bottom pricing.

[Ianab]

Difference between retailing, wholesale and consulting / customised work.

If you are selling a simple retail commodity, like beans.. then you advertise the price. One sack of beans for X dollars. Location is blah blah, freight is Y dollars.

Other things are different. Say you want a computerised accounting system....   They are customised, how many users? You can't put a standard price list on that stuff.

My day job is Computer support. We don't advertise prices. If you want a fixed price on a PC, go to Dell's web page and look it up. But if you want a system where you can get your work email and calendar sent to your Blackberry, access your work files from home and have a system that suits your needs, then talk to us. We need to sit down and look at the options, and how we are going to get it all to work with the "off the shelf" machines you have already bought from Dell.  :

Same with a lot of things. If you publish a price, in print or on a web page, then you need to stick to it. If you have the thing in stock, or you update your web page regularly (automatically) then that may be OK. But put a price on the web, and 6 months later when you actually need to order one in, and the price has gone up..... It's a published price, along with all the legal ramifications

Ian

[Mooney]

Another big factor, especially for good sized companies that sell via dealers internationally, is the fact that prices are not the same around the world, and what you can get for a machine in the states, is not the same price through a dealer in another country for the same machine. If you post all your US prices on the US site, anyone can get to that site internationally. Then your dealer is calling you, and he's not happy.  >:(

[Norm]

I don't care how many phone numbers or pictures they have if the price isn't there I'm not going to mess with them. Dealer networks are the worst for this and some companies will not allow a reseller to show them.

Advertising 101, post your price.

[wormy]

i agree i want to see a price i dont want to call and get the hard sell pitch.

[hackberry jake]

Brother was looking at buying a new Ford fusion. I looked up the local dealers website and there's a "request a free quote" button. I clicked it and filled in my phone number, address, etc. I get a call from a lady telling me about financing, test driving, fuel mileage... everything but price. I asked "what's the price? She said "I don't know, I'm not on the sales team." I hung up. Still no price.

[Tom the Sawyer]

I prefer those who post their prices and I have mine posted on my website.  If it says, "Call for Price", I will only call as a last resort.  Usually I just ignore that seller.  Unposted pricing systems are inherently flexible.  If you know specifically what you want the price may be more "fair" than the price to someone they could take advantage of; questions like,"are you an individual or a company," etc. 

I was looking for a part and called an on-line retailer who gave me what seemed to be a rather high price.  I said, "Ouch, that's pretty steep for this little piece of metal," he said let me check another distributor and the price dropped by at least 30%.  Was it really another distributor?

There are many on-line retailers that are virtual stores only, there is no address because the business only exists in someone's hard drive.  Products sold are drop-shipped from a warehouse or the manufacturer, the business owner may be in another country.  There is no storefront, no real service department and no way to 'kick the tires'.  They may not actually know the price from their supplier until they enter a request and then add their markup.

[qbilder]

I don't care how many phone numbers or pictures they have if the price isn't there I'm not going to mess with them. Dealer networks are the worst for this and some companies will not allow a reseller to show them.

Advertising 101, post your price.

My thoughts exactly. Won't even consider buying unless price is posted. If I want something, I buy it. It's a waste of my time hassling with sales pitches & price hunting. My time is money & if I have to call you to get a price for a product but can just order it in a couple of minutes from another distributor, then i'm not wasting my time on you no matter how much cheaper you might be. Advertising without pricing is counterproductive, IMO. You know what your product is worth so why beat around the bush about it?   

[hackberry jake]

I look at it like "if they have the best price, they won't care to post it." They just want to get you on the phone so they can "used car salesman" you into buying it.

[PineNut]

When I want to order something, there are three things I want. They are specifications, price and physical address. If they will not give me this info on one item, I pass them up and the next time, I will not even look at them. Had this problem with a Sony video projector ($5000 plus). The only way I could find specs was to order a paper copy of the owner's manual. They were quickly struck from the list for consideration.

[Don_Papenburg]

I have to agree with the price posting crowd .  I don't want to waste my daytime hours on the phone attemting to get a price for something , only to find out that it is just a bit higher than I had budgeted . I also do not want to call /email  a seller that will not give a location.
Same deal ,I want to know if I can pick it up or have to ship before I call.

[sigidi]

I find no prices frustrating when trying to buy stuff, but in defence of my milling I don't post prices on my website - my reason being I need to know if the logs are ready, what the customer wants cut, how far away they are, if they want slabbing or lumber making, need to tell them about blade damage, log handling, setting the site up...... well you get the idea, but generally I like to talk to people rather than get a machine :D