Strange Pricing Strategy - Focus Magic

[Garnick]

Of course the folks at Focus Magic have every right to do as they wish, but it seems rather strange to me that while most other plugin manufacturers have been offering deals on their software recently, Focus Magic is going in the opposite direction.  I had an email last evening that at first glance seemed to be a saving of $20.  It is however a notice that one should buy now or suffer an increase in price from $45 to $65 as of Jan 1st.  Basically it's akin to reverse advertising.  Get it now or pay more in a couple of weeks.  Definitely NOT a sale, more like a threat.  Having said all of this I may very well take advantage of this reverse sale technique, it definitely does seem to be quite a departure from the ordinary, and not one that promotes a warm feeling toward this company on some level.

Gary  

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I had an email last evening that at first glance seemed to be a saving of $20.  It is however a notice that one should buy now or suffer an increase in price from $45 to $65 as of Jan 1st.  Basically it's akin to reverse advertising.  Get it now or pay more in a couple of weeks.  Definitely NOT a sale, more like a threat.  Having said all of this I may very well take advantage of this reverse sale technique, it definitely does seem to be quite a departure from the ordinary, and not one that promotes a warm feeling toward this company on some level.

Hi Gary,

I've been a user of the 32-bit version for many years, and have been sending them messages informing about when to expect a 64-bit version. When that finally emerged, I was happy to learn that the upgrade was free. No complaints there.

Apparently, with the 64-bit version available, interest for the plug-in has picked up and they perhaps see an opportunity to further developing it. That may explain the anticipated increase in price.

Cheers,
Bart

[kirkt]

He's raising his price and alerting you to an opportunity to purchase prior to the price increase.  The price is going to go up with or without you - if you are interested in purchasing the plug-in, do you want it at the current price or the increased price?

The slap in the face would be if you bit at the offer, purchased the plug-in at the current price and then found out that the price increase never occurred - it was indeed a "threat," not a promise, designed to increase sales in the short term.  That would be disingenuous and a bad move that would likely anger customers who felt exploited.

kirk

[Farmer]

Yeah, this is not that uncommon - reward/entice/respect existing users by giving them a chance to avoid a price rise.

[PeterAit]

They could also have suddenly increased the price without any forewarning, right? Seems pretty nice of them to give people chance to buy at the old price now.

[Phil Indeblanc]

Being a current user you get the info. Not a current user after the cut off pays more. Your choice. Maybe he could make the price reduced option for current users for X amount of time, or for X version release, but I'm with those that think its good Focus Magic let you know.