Is This Ethical, or They Are Just Cheating on Their Poor Customers??

Ethical or not, I'm not sure it's a wise thing to do. If the customer finds out you offer a lower price after they've already bought from you, they'll be angry. If they find out before they make the sale by turning down a first offer, you have trained your customer to not trust you. Either way, that hurts you as well as the customer.

One thing that keeps coming up on WF is the need to have a mailing list because it's easier to get a sale from someone who has already bought from you. Wouldn't it be best if that was a list of people who also trusted you? You have to earn that trust by being honest and fair with your prices.

Ask that question to airline passengers and hotel guests and prepare to be shocked at the differences in fares and room rates paid by people for the exact same level of service.

We took a family road trip last summer from Florida to Massachusetts. We went the long way and visited some national parks along the way. With no advance reservations for hotels, we just stopped when we were tired.

My husband always asked "If I go out to my car and turn my laptop on will I find a lower rate at a nearby competitor, or a better rate for one of your rooms?" Without fail, we immediately got a lower rate than the one that was quoted when we walked up to the desk. In one case, it was 50% lower.

Okay, I get where you're saying apples and oranges and you may be right (although I don't care if it's a product online or a car, someone else still bought it for more so it's still all the same to me...is it fair that the car salesman gave someone else a couple thousand off but not you because you bit for the full asking price? It's sales and that's the way it is. Only diff is there's no live person on the website to stop you from hitting the door so instead it's done with a popup). But, I still think it's a form of haggling. Maybe "I'm" not asking for the lower rate but "you" are offering it to keep me from leaving, call it reverse haggling if you will then.

(and I wasn't bringing in higher sales 'yet', I just liked the cost of their program for my readers vs. another program that was as good but higher priced so I told them I'd market theirs instead but only if they'd give me a higher commission because I found theirs to be too low for my time...besides the point a bit but just as a note that I hadn't delivered them a penny yet, but if they wanted my sales, they'd have to negotiate or I'd go elsewhere)

But back to the topic at hand. I HAVE had that happen to me (and probably more times htan I know...and probably you too) and although I wished I got it for less money, how could I be mad, it's business and you'll do what you gotta do to make the sale. You're making a profit no matter what you sell it at obviously and if you're willing to take a little less profit to get the sale and make something, I'm not mad at you.

Again, I stick to the fact that's it's very common for a business to offer their goods at a set price, but then offer it to some people for less just to get the sale if the customer is heading for the door. And again, the only diff from online and offline is there's no live person to stop you from hitting the door so the popup represents the salesperson that would say "hey, wait, don't leave, I'll give you a deal". Just my 2 cents.

Nonsense. The anatomy of a sale:

1. Each one takes more money OUT of the buyers pocket.
2. Each one puts more money in sellers pocket.

The fundamentals of sales from a salesman's point of view is simple: How many apples can I get for my carrots.

I think one of the problems here, is that you think a prospect has already said no. Big mistake. There are all kinds of objections to the reason why a person clicked away and got this popup in the first place..

The kids were screaming
The curtains caught fire
An important cell phone call came through.. or..
The price seemed too high

I'm sure you can think of many other distractions or reason for the objection. Thinking that the only objection is "no" is foolish and close minded. And this kind of thinking, when you're trying to give the customer an appealing offer, will put LESS money in your pocket..

Not MORE.

Again, if you're the seller, do you want MORE sales.. or LESS?

If I were to do this example I'd change the popup from a lower price, to adding a longer guarantee or and exclusive customer service. I'd ADD VALUE first before I lowered my price.

Even better if I could add urgency to the better deal. And why wouldn't you want to purchase a product from someone who wants to give you more bang for the buck? In other words as the BUYER, would you rather pay MORE or pay LESS?

You're not hurting someone by making the offer more appealing, and showing them that you want them as a customer. Likewise by lowering the price so they spend less money.

Lowering the price OR sweetening the deal increases the odds of you making the sale. I see nothing unethical about it.

Grant

That's why I said "almost." It's a question of price elasticity. In the modern economy, arbitrage has become immensely easy, so prices are far more elastic across most kinds of businesses.

Grocery stores do not have a lot of elasticity. Their profit margins are slim and their overhead is high. If they drop their price by more than a few percent, they're taking a loss, and it probably won't lead them to greater profits in the future.

This really isn't a counter argument. If Store A will not lower their price, people will go to Store B where prices are lower. That's what made WalMart the giant it is today.