Hi, it's Veronika here!

As you may have noticed, this blog is named Veronika (that's my name) Honestly (that's how I talk to you). One of the main things which led me to choose this name is how false the behaviour in businesses can be, mainly all these "good deals" and "amazing discounts".

Spoiler alert - there's a real deal at the end of this article to demonstrate how I feel about discounts. So you can scroll down, but I appreciate it if you read the article too =)

Amongst other issues, I want to speak about my pricing politics, especially when compared to what I was taught in my marketing courses and so on (because yeah, I may be mathematician with a degree but I had no idea how to run a business, so you bet I've been through some training!). So many times what I learned was clashing with one thing that I strongly believe, and call me naive but it's how I live - to be straightforward.

One of the main things I was consistently taught, and what I really despise, is that basically to be successful in business, you have to be deliberately fooling people. Discount here, sale there, get free product, just pay shipping... All of that can work and can be genuine, but most of the time it is not. I'm not going to go into those examples too much in depth right now, but you get my point...

I wanna explain to you how I perceive this issue (well, I call it an issue, it does quite bother me at some basic level) and how I do things to stay happy. Let's start with some basic examples from my life:

Recently I've been on the market to buy a car. After much careful research, I've narrowed my search down to practically one car model (Toyota Prius, although I'm open minded for alternative hybrid/high MPG cars too). I found one with a very reasonable price and went to look at it. With a £4500 offer in mind, I've examined the car and was ready to start price negotiation the next day when I could return with a mechanic (I'm not a car expert, I can't buy a car just by judging how I see it). It had unexpected scratches and other minor problems which were obviously corresponding with a lower price, but in my eyes, the price was not entirely reasonable, and a little bit more than how I perceived the value of the car. Overnight, the online listing of the same car went up to £5K. Now here's the point of price fooling - anyone now going there would think "maybe if I negotiate £500 down, I'll get amazing value" when the value was £4.5K the previous day. I was ready to buy it for £4K, no more - for me it didn't have the value as advertised. Plus as there were more people coming to look at it, I let them have it. I wouldn't want to buy this particular one for a higher price than how I saw it, even if I hadn't seen the cheaper price before it went up.

I understand that where there's strong demand, the price can go up. It's a common practice, there's nothing wrong with it and you see it often in the real estate market, but it always just comes down to what you want to pay. I don't want to pay for overpriced London houses, and I don't fancy London life anyway (I'm countryside girl, let's be honest =), so I'm not buying a property in London, obviously. I understand the prices of properties in a big city are higher than prices further out in the country, but the value doesn't match my expectations and so it's not worth it for me. Even if I did want to live in London forever, I wouldn't go for it. It's the same with the car - I'd ideally go for a plug-in hybrid, not JUST a hybrid, but those cost as much as a house in the countryside - that's nuts! =) I can either live in a house or buy a car. What am I gonna choose? Obvious choice...

Now let's speak about the products I sell (or sell through third parties - but anywhere I have my say on pricing):

I have to calculate my costs (shipping is usually extra), not only with the product itself, there's also the advertising (and unless you master it, it's very expensive), running costs such as website hosting and a platform where you can actually safely insert your card details or third parties' fees if sold through them. Then I have to calculate a reasonable margin, which is still not profitable unless I hit a certain amount of sales. The tough life of entrepreneurs =) From that I cut up to a half for charities. Speaking about charity giving - that's Magicful Home's main priority - if you love beach home decor, check out our UK made Rainbow Sea Turtle Pillow and if you love mermaids, don't miss the Mermaid Keychain - 50% of profits from these products go to marine conservation and ZERO plastic is shipped as packaging with this products! - as I explained above, selling online doesn't automatically mean making profits immediately, but rather in the long run. Even if no profits are actually made (being successful in a business is a long tough journey), I aim to put some money from every purchase (both Veronika Honestly's and Magicful Home's products) aside to make sure every product sold contributes at least a bit to a good cause. Even when I may not make profits (in such case I simply use my own money which I make as a maths tutor). It's not possible to do this long-term, but bit by bit I hope I can spread the word with your help and start raising good money for charities and spend less on expensive advertising =)

Now I need to set the price in a reasonable way, where the perceived value is believable (like it was not in the case of that used Prius if it'd be offered to me more than £4K) and where there's room for a discount (because everyone loves discounts) whilst still being a bit profitable for me so this can run long-term - you will be happy and get an occasional discount, and I will not ruin myself while pumping money into advertising and products and selling it for "next to nothing".

There are situations where I can do a "crazy promotion" if there's a purpose for it. I can offer free-plus-shipping, especially when the product doesn't cost me so much. Let's say shipping is costly (international - ouch, that hurts sometimes) but I want to make promotion. You get something for free (maybe just pay the shipping) and you'll love it and tell your friends and show it off on your social media accounts - in that way I hope I can get more interested people to check on my products and buy it for the usual price. Simple, right? So yeah, free samples or free plus shipping may work when intended well as promotion for my business.

So now we understand discounts. In my case, I tend to make room for 20% discounts and I usually run it on new products/designs. Or I can run it for something I believe is popular. If people love it and I can make still some profit on the discounted product, then it's win-win for everyone, right? Because firstly I want people, customers, to be happy - like my products, like the prices, like my way of running a business - this way I hope to get more happy customers by the word of mouth. Which lowers advertising prices and later allows me to take prices lower. Good creates good =)

Let's talk about another thing I learned and don't like. The timers. A countdown! Buy now for "next to nothing" "70% discount" (from overpriced "original" price) or be sad forever you missed this amazing deal. OH NO... =) Back to the Prius car. I see it's worth as £4K, so even if I'd be told it was £6K before and £5K now, I'm not going to buy it. I'll wait for another car.

An example how things are done [wrong way] and can be improved:
I recently saw a course which was always going for a little below $50 (sweet spot 47, 97, 297... you know the magic eye-catching numbers) and one day I got an email telling me about this 'amazing deal' advertising the same course with a 50% discount from "the usual price" of $97! What? Even with the "amazing discount", it actually cost more than the standard price they normally advertise! That is absolutely not cool. Even if you do save a small amount of money, it's still fooling people by making it look like an amazing deal. I was happy with the original price (little below $50) and actually purchased this particular course (which was really amazing), but I'm definitely not happy with the strategy of doubling the cost and then advertising with 50% discount. I understand the normal price due to various reasons can go up, sometimes even with a 100% markup, that's understandable - especially when it's an online course, there's no fixed cost of the product and costs for advertising and so can vary a lot, but then don't advertise it as "amazing deal". You could say something like "The price has to go up to $100 (for whatever reason - to add extra bonuses, more chapters, amazing content - yes, all that extra work costs something), but for a limited time you can still purchase it for the original price $50" - well now that's a deal!

So how to orient yourself in the fake world of discounts?

Ideally, you have other products to compare with. But don't go only for the lowest price, obviously. The way things are made, companies practices and more... eco-friendly, organic, alternative materials, local work labour instead of outsourced production - all may add up to costs, but for good reasons. Sometimes, the price is marked up for a specific (also good) reason: I saw amazing recycled, very simple but nice bracelets which cost $20. Obviously, you could get something very similar for next to nothing, but you don't just pay for the bracelet here. You pay for the fact that by buying this bracelet, you fund an ocean charity which is actively cleaning our oceans and shores - check it out here: 4Ocean - I haven't tried (yet) any of those bracelets, but I like the idea, so that's why I'm sharing this with you here.
Similarly, by buying my mermaid keychain, although it's "just a keychain" (even though a really lovely looking one!), you are actively funding Sea Shepherd and their amazing work of preserving marine life!

If you buy just for regular purposes - let's say some of Veronika Honestly's products/designs (where I'm still sending a % of profits charitable donations as I feel that's the way a business should be done), because you like the thing, you need the thing, etc - compare and then make up your mind as to what's a reasonable perceived value for such an item.
Like my (future) car, I know what a good price is for certain mileage and years and other basic car characteristics. Then a deal is a deal only if you see it as cheap compared to the perceived value you created based on your research. When I see courses going for $1.5K to $2K, I know that's the normal price for such courses and I have no problem to pay it. But if someone starts calculating how the REAL value is 30x more and now I'll pay ONLY $3K - then I'm out =)

Compare similar products and set your own perceived value on them (bearing in mind any extra benefits perhaps not only for you but for charities or environment while choosing the right company to shop with). Then you know, whether to buy or ...rather not =)

A message to sellers: Stop fooling buyers, make up your mind, set your price and have your legitimate reasons for it. This way you'll teach buyers to not to be jumping for discounts only (as I understand it that's what sells - it's a grey zone and I think of it as a bad and unnecessary phenomenon) and to start accepting real prices (which REALLY are REAL =)

Like my T-shirt designs:
I set a price for all of them based on production costs (hoping long run to beat the advertising costs because I cannot simply charge $100 for a normal cotton T-shirt, no matter how cute original the design is on it, right?) and I offer new and popular designs with true discounts. You either like it or you don't, if it falls into your perceived value, you'll buy it. I don't have to be fooling you and explaining what an amazing deal it is and how will it expire in 8 hours. It will expire when I decide it should (mostly when I create a new design), if you don't buy it now then you won't change your mind in 7.5 hours, right?

Now - finally! =)

If you were brave enough and not bored by this very long article I have a very real deal for you:

Browse my designs and if you like any, tell me which one. I will give you 10% off for any of my products:

Veronika Honestly designs (where I raise funds for animal charities)

Magicful Home products and designs (where I raise funds for marine conservation)

Your Maths Tutor designs and even my maths tuition services (this simply funds my living - maybe I can start funding some educational charity later too, but first I need to pay my bills too =)

Just drop me an email or comment here and I'll make it happen for you. Let's start the real and believable world of discounts here together.

Honestly yours,

Veronika

PS: If you like what I'm saying then spread the word, I appreciate it a lot!