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This faux "vintage" stuff drives me nuts

D

David Agnew

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285
[RANT]

Look at this:

http://shop.coolmaterial.com/products/the-desk-caddy

$50 for a 6" x 4" x 2 3/4" block with 4 holes drilled in it???
$120 for one that's 24" x 4 1/2" x 2 3/4"???

I'm in the wrong business. It claims to be "reclaimed" wood taken from 1880's houses in Philadelphia. Looks like plain old fir to me. I'm not seeing any of the tight grain patterns I'd expect with true old growth wood. I guess people will pay anything for an object that's "reclaimed" or "vintage" or whatever. Same goes for those idiotic "factory cart" coffee tables that go for hundreds of dollars now....

I'm not old enough to feel grumpy about this kind of stuff, yet here I am....

[/rant off]
 
"Vintage" is way over played IMHO. Seem like 90% of the stuff I look at on ebay anymore has the word "vintage" added to the description. Maybe "vintage junk" would fit most of it.
 
Gen-u-wine anti-q pressed board, cardboard, and plastic!

I used to occasionally wander through antique shops when they were a cool place to get out of the sun when I was walking around a town. Bought a few good working tools like that at fair prices. Admired many things though, such as very modern horseshoes that were well used at three or four times the price I could buy them brand new! Another thing I can't get my head around is antique cardboard and plastic. Nothing can just get old anymore it seems. If it is old it is antique. If not quite antique yet it is vintage or classic.

Met a man that builds swings and benches and such. He builds nice ones. Most of them are built out of sunken cypress, the cypress fallen in bygone storms that may have been underwater for many decades, even centuries. The swings don't sit a bit better or last particularly longer in normal use but they have a cachet that lets him charge big dollars for them. A friend bought a four feet wide swing from him. Not positive but I think the cost was over $200.

Guess I'll have to start claiming all my stuff is reclaimed from trees from the fifties and earlier. Nobody ever came up short underestimating the gullibility of the general public!

Hu
 
Roger Tulk said:
Well, make a few, say they are reclaimed wood from 200 year old trees, and charge half the price. Then put up a sign that says, $25, compare at $50.
Click to expand...

No no no! That's backwards. Charge $75, call it "premium vintage" and say "no old buildings were damaged to make this piece" and they'll flock to you. Charging less invalidates your artistic credentials in a comparative market (oh he's charging less, its probably rebranded made in china junk - you don't want that label). Actually what you really want to do is have a $50 one that's "regular" a $75 one that's premium and a $125 one that's "super premium" (change the finish or something, BLO, Tung and "hand rubbed" whatever doesn't really matter) and sales of the $75 one will skyrocket because it looks like a bargain compared to the $125 one and is clearly better than the $50 one (and you'll make some $50 sales to the "cheap" people and some $125 sales to the "premium" people as a bonus).
 
Quote Originally Posted by Roger Tulk View Post
Well, make a few, say they are reclaimed wood from 200 year old trees, and charge half the price. Then put up a sign that says, $25, compare at $50.
Click to expand...


Ryan Mooney said:
No no no! That's backwards. Charge $75, call it "premium vintage" and say "no old buildings were damaged to make this piece" and they'll flock to you. Charging less invalidates your artistic credentials in a comparative market (oh he's charging less, its probably rebranded made in china junk - you don't want that label). Actually what you really want to do is have a $50 one that's "regular" a $75 one that's premium and a $125 one that's "super premium" (change the finish or something, BLO, Tung and "hand rubbed" whatever doesn't really matter) and sales of the $75 one will skyrocket because it looks like a bargain compared to the $125 one and is clearly better than the $50 one (and you'll make some $50 sales to the "cheap" people and some $125 sales to the "premium" people as a bonus).
Click to expand...

Hey! The man knows marketing! Obviously I was a cheap civil servant. :p
 
I did notice the sales of my turned stuff at art shows in places like Malibu and Brentwood seemed to increase when I started telling people I worked primarily with "salvaged urban hardwoods that were headed to the dump or the firewood lot."

And Ryan is correct about price perception. Different price points will draw different groups of people. May as well set up a structure that pleases them all.
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
And Ryan is correct about price perception. Different price points will draw different groups of people. May as well set up a structure that pleases them all.
Click to expand...

Actually its slightly (well ok a lot :rolleyes: :D) more subtle than that. What I was doing there is a simple form whats called "price bracketing" (or more formally "framing") its basically creating a set of artificial comparisons so that people have a "value basis". The key point to understand here is that most people are valuing from a point of ignorance (not stupidity, lack of knowledge) so if you "create knowledge" they will use that to assist in their decision. Psychologically by having a $50, $75 and $100 items next to each other (actually works better if they aren't as evenly spaced/round numbers; better pricing would probably be something like $57, $69, and $112) I've created artificial reference points where the $50 item is "cheap" and the $100 item is "expensive" thus putting the $75 option as "best value". By doing this I not only create a value differentiation that as you note "pleases them all", but more importantly I actually drive MORE sales to the $75 item that I would have gotten if I only had the $50 item or had priced the $75 item at $50 and had it sitting by itself. Also putting the most expensive item first will create an "anchor" that helps define the price comparison with the other item. Going past three items just makes people confused :D

As to Rogers point: I can't disagree with you on the baseline :thumb: ;) However even we cheapskates are subject to the tricksie ways of the marketers (which is largely why I'm paying attention to it.. it irks my cheapskate side when the dark side of the sales force wins) and frankly we're not our own customers which is I think something a lot of people forget.
 
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