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Me neither, but this comes up a lot in antitrust law This is basically what everyone is suggesting - perfect price discrimination would get everyone to buy supporter and allow the BBs to maximize their profits. Sadly, not as easy as it sounds.

but different prices as different market are quite usual, because there is not a small line betwen a user from Nigeria and USA in terms of buying powers.

Also i am not sure if it really price descrimination, because the BB (might) be affected of it, through ad also and have different income from ads in different market which correlates with the buying power of the markets.

I haven't expected positive results after my proposal. Money are more important for BBs...

Last edited by GM-Armin at 6/1/2011 3:42:51 PM

I'm not disagreeing with you - I didn't mean that it's a bad thing, just that it's more difficult to segment the market in a profitable way than you'd think. Right now, the BBs may be losing money on people who would otherwise be willing to buy supporter if it were cheaper, but you wouldn't want to take that too far in the other direction and lose money by charging people less than what they're willing to pay. Anyway... I'm a lawyer, not an economist. Just figured I'd throw it out there.

That´s the very direction I´m coming from.

Impletment a system which balances itself, and maybe even limit accessability about the offers in different regions by making them IP filtered. You minimize the option of overthrowing with stubborn users then.

Actually, the guy above mentioning the "if someone somewhere else gets the same thing for a lower price i would stop buying it" is extremely inconsequent. Else he´d be dead by now, because EVERYTHING he consumes, eats and uses is cheaper somewhere in the world.

I think that lower price of supporter can make it more popular within the countries with lower level of income then in US or EU. And then - because of more customers proffit wil rise
And - there will be great - if BB supports more money transfer systems. such as Yandex.Money or webmoney. They're more popular in ex-USSR? then PayPal

I support this idea only if Spain is in the group of PIGS and we pay less xD ;)

Its slightly different when you consider the fact that I cant physically buy something in a different country without travelling there, therefor, it becomes more expensive... We pay for this online... ANYONE can buy it from ANY country, no extra cost for importing it or exporting it, no delivery cost, absolutely nothing...

Broaden your intellectual thicket, then argue, till then, hush!

That´s not what you´ve written though.

In a desert, water has another price and value than in the sea. You cannot leave out the buyer in the equation. The value for the buyer depends on his situation. Supply and demand obviously recognizes that.

The demand in -most- countries for the supplied goods at this price is almost none. So in those markets, price and value are in a disbalance. That´s quite easy economics which is quite valid even in the globalized internet concept.

And concerning your transportation and stuff thingy: plenty things you consume might be cheaper for you if you buy them over the internet from far away even if you add transportation cost et al. That´s for example the concept of the re-imported cars industry.

There is a fundamental flaw to this argument and that it is 2 separate markets. Sweden and Norway despite being close, has its own set of physical borders that restrict them to be seperate market to eachother. Price variance could very well be due to factors beyond traditional supply + demand in the form of government intervention like taxes, subsidies, etc

On the internet, it is 1 market. You can not segregate this as easily.There are no physical borders so what you pay is the one price that is charged. A classic example is online shopping. Many retail shops in Australia are losing lots and lots of sales because people realise they can buy the product from an American/European/Asian online retailer and have it delivered here at a price that is significantly cheaper than buying from the local shop. These online retailers can not discriminate against those buyers from a different country or they would lose a sale.


2 additional points to consider:

1. Yes there might be more people willing to buy supporter in the poorer countries if the price is cheaper, but on net terms does BB actually make more money? Just like your BB arena, does the reduction in prices result in so much more people buying that it increases profit? If not enough people buy, then they end up making less money instead. No one knows what the price elasticity of the supporter package is so to say simply that it WILL increase BB profit shows a lack of understanding of pricing.

2. The high end users will feel a lot more resentment towards the countries that can get it for cheaper. Just because I can afford to pay more for supporter does not mean I should. I know if this change happens, I will refuse to get supporter simply because I know will feel like I am am being "ripped off" cause other people can get it cheaper. I will probably say there will be others that will follow suit. So in this instance, BB's are also losing sales from their top end of the market as well.

+1

Thank you Monkeybiz, this is exactly what I was trying to get across.