Tailor Archive

How many of you do this? How much of a discount do you give?

Lately I've been noticing a lot of people saying things to me like "I get a discount because I buy multiple orders, right?"

"Well I plan to buy a lot in the future and will spend a lot of money.. and I could never afford it all at those prices .. "

On and on..

Now I don't think I'm that expensive. My most expensive item is 7900 (Robe of Honor) and most of my master dresses/bodysuits etc are 7500.. There are people on my server selling as high as 15k. I'm thinking, well if you buy elsewhere, you'd pay more even WITH a discount from them.. Of course there are people who charge less than me as well... but still.

Where do you draw the line? Someone buys 5 items? 10 items?

To be honest I prefer to keep it simple.. I set my prices, people tell me what they want, I make it .. they pay.

Trying to keep track of discounts for this and that, and what kind of deals I gave this person or that person.. god, what a hassle.

For example.. I just got this email:

Subject: Clothing Order

Need to talk about he prices though. Yours are a bit high but you're my neighbour so I will give you first shot. I want a slip dress, pink boots, flesh wrap, cloaked dress, tight jacket, formal gloves, refined skirt, revealing top and some short skirts. See why I need a discount? No way do I have enough money for all of that but that is definately my long term order if we can agree on a price.

Long term order? I don't get it.. so because she plans to buy all these items at some time in the future I should start giving her discounts now? If that's the case, shouldn't I just lower my price for every customer who plans to come back?

Then again, if I don't give discounts in this situation am I cutting off my nose to spite my face and losing some potentially good customers?

She made it sound like -she- was doing -me- a favor by letting me tailor for her because she is my neighbour, only at prices she agrees on of course.

Am I wrong to be slightly annoyed by this?

Please tell me what you all do regarding discounts.

Thanks!

I tend to give a little discount when some one is actually buying this stuff all at once and not on a Hey i plan to buy all this stuff from you later.

On the other hand people that buy from me all the time definitely get a better price then someone who just walks up and says I want this item.

Only people getting discounts from me are guildees. They get things with 50 - 75% discounts. Close friends get them for free.

Discounts for large orders? They'd have to be very large orders.

Kind Regards,

Tally, Master Tailor of Eclipse

Cloths are free to guild mates here.. thats just a PA policy.. free trade between members.

But yea, I do give discounts, but only on face to face sales. Not if they are gonna buy so many items over the course of so many days, but if someones in my shop and buys a couple outfits, I throw in an accessory for free usually. A bracelet or ring for the ladies, a pair of gloves or a 'male' necklace for the men, it depends.. never anything expensive. Like if someone buys a couple outfits from me I don't thow in a Grand Healers Robe or anything hehe.

anyone who sends me tells/emailslike that would get a response somewhere along the line of "my prices are fixed, don't waste your time" they're welcome to go to another tailor if they dislike my prices.

for people who get large orders from me or are loyal customers, i tend to throw in something extra. ie if someone gets a set of clothing, i'll throw in some shoes, or a bracelet. however, most of the time they tip me back more than the gift =/

Never in the situation you're describing, and I never make a point of telling people when they do get one. Even though my prices are listed on every display, rarely do I have someone do the math themselves, they just ask how much. Usually I'll round down to the next even 1000 for a large order, but nothing beyond that. The only other "discount" I do is for newbies who come to me with "what can I get for 1k (or whatever low amount)?" For those I'll sometimes throw in one really good item like HQ boots or a dress uniform jacket mixed with a lot of lower level stuff, but that depends a lot on their attitude.

Yeah I don't mind giving out free shoes or gloves or any kind of accessory to go with outfits people buy and I often DO give them to people for no charge simply because I like to see an outfit complete.

It's people expecting a discount because they don't want to pay my prices, which I think are more than reasonable.. that annoy me.

In the case of that email it was someone I had never even met.. and the first line of her mail was saying that she had to discuss the price because mine were too high. I'm starting to think my reply was TOO nice hehe

I've had a request for a discount just once (outside of that disastrous mess with the "make us all this stuff free, now" guild): a fellow wanted to buy four outfits, all at once, each consisting of five items -- and actually, he asked if I gave discounts for bulk orders, rather than whether he could have one. As it happened, I gave him one, and he ended up tipping it all back in glee (he'd had some great ideas for outfits, and they looked fantastic on him, to the point that people stopped him in the street asking to buy his clothes.. *laughs*).

I do actually offer discounts to my very-regular customers (these are folks that typically come back once and sometimes twice a week, and tend to buy several outfits on each occasion -- they just love changing their clothes frequently), and to guildmates of course. I will sometimes offer a discount for a bulk order, and that's purely related to a) how much of a hassle it's going to be for me to fill it, time-wise, and b) how much I'm going to hate filling it (okay, so I'm still bummed over that guild affair.. *grins*).

And, er, yes...the folks who are good enough to say a 'thank you' when I've completed their garments (I refuse to judge customers by the quality of their tips, given they're already paying me in the first place) tend not to pay as much as the ones who just walk out. The overtly unpleasant ones, for that matter, find that they pay a considerable amount more than anyone else. Instant karma at work, I guess.. *coughs*

Guildies only pay what they want to tip me, I don't ask for anything from them and I'm happy to clothe them for free

For regular customers, if they ask for a discountit's the best way not to get one, but I tend to decrease the price a bit when the total is 11k etc.

.. and I forgot to answer half of the question. *laughs*

I don't do a strict discount -- 10% off, for instance. Guildmates tend to get items from me at around half-price; for the other folks who get a discount, it's usually just a matter of me rounding the overall costdown to a comfortable figure. This might mean a thousand off the total, or five hundred, or even several K. Doing anything else would give all of us maths class nightmares.

I give discounts to guildies, and people who I consider "good customers", meaning, they are not rude, pushy, and keep coming back. I have a few of those people in my customers list, and I have no problem giving then 10-15% off their orders.

But people who just out of the blue ask for a discount.. hell no. You want a discount you have to deserve it. Or else be buying 100k + worth of items in one shot...

I tend to give discounts to most people who actualy buy several pieces at once, and are pleasant and make my time helping them out more fun. I also agree, actual asking for a discount is a sure way not to get one, unless you're talking orders large enough for me to run them thru my factory. Get Rude and pushy? You'll be lucky not to get an /eject and ban from my shop.

I typically give 10% off for Rebels, 25% off for guildies. I say typically, because the customer determines the actual discount by their behavior. Someone who's a jerk, or just pesters me when I'm with another customer, probably won't get a discount, and someone who's friendly and fun might get a bigger discount. I had a customer yesterday who bought an Exotic Leotard and a Lekku Wrap, and I threw in some dress slippers for free. If someone orders more than 30k, then I start giving them a "large order" discount.