Government and industry watchdogs regulate prices throughout the world in various markets and products. It's part of maintaining a good economy (excluding corrupt government)
Obviously not EVERYTHING is regulated or our economy would collapse under the complexity of administration alone, but yes you could use terms like 'communist regime' to a degree then :-p Supply/Demand is not foolproof concept that works in every market, and I think the IPS Marketplace is one example.
I'm not proposing IPS sets the price, as I read the previous post that IPS has no intention of ever doing this. Customers however, need a way to help influence pricing, without paying with their wallets as the current environment alone should clearly tell you IT ISN'T WORKING ;-)
1. There still isn't many modders in the community and 'competition' is very rare. Supply and demand works in an open market with multiple competitors. Monopoly's allow price-fixing by the supplier... NOT a good thing.
2. "Buy it, or don't buy it - we don't care" isn't a very caring or forward-thinking attitude for IPS to take. This might sound a harsh comment but read some of the IPS Staff posts, and imagine how it is intepreted by those on the other side of your viewpoint.
If I can sell 100 units for $100, or 1000 units for $10 (and my production costs are neglible), which is better? Modders aren't selling drugs but mods which generally benefit the community. The more customers who use these mods, the better off our community (and your customers) will be. Encouraging that 'sweet' spot in pricing is not something 'average Joe developer' is capable of. Some pointers, benchmark pricing examples, etc would at least 'help'.
@PSNation:Yes, this might be an unfortunate side affect, however I would rather pay $5 more for a good quality mod if it means not seeing many $20 mods that are poor quality made by 'overnight' modders (here today, gone tomorrow). If modders have to pay (or do some kind of training) to get a Developer License (to allow them to charge over $15 as an example) it will certainly reduce the amount of over-priced "basic" apps that only sell 5 or so units. To minimize price inflation IPS could refund the 'establishment fee' if they sell over 20 units.
Scenario:If you release a 'basic' mod for $30 now, you might only get 1 or 2 people (with money to throw away) that buy it. There might be 30 other customers who would really like this basic mod but don't want to pay more than $5 (let's pretend everyone agrees it's over-priced). Now if the establishment fee was $100, then the modder never makes his money back! (IPS could make it that they just keep the first $100 of sales and not actually 'charge' the modder). If the modder released this basic app @ $5, no establishment fee is necessary, and 30 purchases might result in $150. Here 30 people benefit from the mod, not 2 and the modder gets more money for selling it cheaper. A little harsh, a little controlling, but the community's interests should (IMHO) come before an individuals. This will only cause an outcry among modders because IPS has established a 'common practice' of modders charging for their work, not something commonly seen in other forum modding communities which don't make it so easy to sell your work.
In regards to farmers rising prices, I'm more comfortable comparing retail stores so in my analogy I say that those that cannot remain competitive, go out of business. If you cannot 'economically' produce mods, you don't sell them until you're a good developer (like Michael) and can make high quality mods while charging reasonable prices for them (eg: his Video Galleries I just purchased).
@HeadStandYes I wasn't looking at recent submissions (no offense but you're just stating what's common sense).
"Value for Money" isnt' fair? Neither are over-priced apps or the current 'feedback' system that waits until customers have paid their money and discover the mod lacks basic features, is bug-ridden, and support from the author is poor? How many people purchase a mod and request support then realise the Author is not helpful? 1 in 10? eBay has a Buyer/Selling rating system, why not here? This will further encourage developers to release free/cheap mods to earn a good repuation before releasing $50 apps.
For example:
- Minimum X number of free mods
- Minimum X reputation
- Must be active contributor for X amount of time (you can't just flood the marketplace with free apps and expect to be able to start selling)
To me, that seems like a fair solution to both developers and customers. The good developers will have no issues meeting the requirements, and anyone who can't keep up shouldn't be there in the first place.
I agree with this completely.
Finally, some kind of 'establishment fee' pricing 'bracket' might also be viable option. Essentially the more units you sell the less you're taxed. The idea being that IPS wants your mod to benefit as many people as possible, while giving financial incentive for you to charge less.
e.g:
Price = $2, Establishment Fee = $0.
Price = $20, Establishment Fee = $100
Price = $50, Establishment Fee = $500
@ $2, you get profit from your first sale
@ $20, you must sell 6 before you see any profit
@ $50 you must sell 11 units before you see any profit
If you double your minimum selling threshold (sell 10 units @ $20) you get half your establishment fee refunded as a bonus. Sell 4x the threshhold and get it all back.
I'm sure someone will come up with a better, more accurate formula but you get the general idea anyway.
