QUestion, Why do we have rotation items in the gem store?

[TheUnknown.5204]

Why not list every item available and make them on sale sometimes? Why make some items to return and some items to leave? I don't get it.

[Randulf.7614]

A combination of finite space and wanting to generate artificial scarcity and push people to buy whilst they can. I don't agree with the latter personally since my long experience in the sales sector says otherwise, but I do not have access to their metrics, so they clearly believe it works. I will say artificial scarcity is not the be-all-and-end-all people think it is. Not that it doesn't have a place, but it doesn't always prove to win out over 24/7 availability which is something that often works better for a digital market

 

It is what it is. This discussion has been had a thousand times over and if anyone hopes for a change, there wont be one.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"TheUnknown.5204" said:

> Why not list every item available and make them on sale sometimes? Why make some items to return and some items to leave? I don't get it.

 

Artificial scarcity serves several purposes:

* It gets people to pay more attention to the gem shop generally, which generates more sales.

* It counteracts "familiarity breeds contempt," i.e. people tend to discount the value of things that can be obtained at any time.

* It adds incentive to "impulse buy," because you can't be sure when the item will return.

 

It also has downsides, including annoying some players enough that they simply don't check at all. However, in the last few hundred years since the practice got under way in an organized fashion, retailers have gotten pretty good at it, so for every dollar lost because a user became jaded, they usually get several more dollars from the rest of us who keep a watchful eye.

 

tl;dr Why do they do it? Because it works to make more money than leaving things available 24/7 and 365 days.

[TheUnknown.5204]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"TheUnknown.5204" said:

> > Why not list every item available and make them on sale sometimes? Why make some items to return and some items to leave? I don't get it.

>

> Artificial scarcity serves several purposes:

> * It gets people to pay more attention to the gem shop generally, which generates more sales.

> * It counteracts "familiarity breeds contempt," i.e. people tend to discount the value of things that can be obtained at any time.

> * It adds incentive to "impulse buy," because you can't be sure when the item will return.

>

> It also has downsides, including annoying some players enough that they simply don't check at all. However, in the last few hundred years since the practice got under way in an organized fashion, retails have gotten pretty good at it, so for every dollar to a user becoming jaded, they usually get several more dollars from the rest of us who keep a watchful eye.

>

> tl;dr Why do they do it? Because it works to make more money than leaving things available 24/7 and 365 days.

 

Thanks for the reply, If only we didn't live off of money and people aren't so greedy, this would've been a reality. :(

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

It's interesting to me that while I'm aware of exactly how retailers try to manipulate my behavior and while I'm generally a patient buyer (in game and in RL), it still works. I don't buy more often than I would otherwise, as often the sale period will end before I make up my mind. And yet, I still find myself giving more weight to things that I can't have "right now," partly because I can't have them now and partly because they seem more rare. (I suppose, in a sense they are more rare.)

 

[Calvsie.3675]

It's the same reason McDonalds does not sell the McRib or Shamrock shake year round.

[MrRuin.9740]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> Artificial scarcity serves several purposes:

> * It gets people to pay more attention to the gem shop generally, which generates more sales.

> * It counteracts "familiarity breeds contempt," i.e. people tend to discount the value of things that can be obtained at any time.

> * It adds incentive to "impulse buy," because you can't be sure when the item will return.

>

> It also has downsides, including annoying some players enough that they simply don't check at all.

I'm in the latter. I've gone to buy an item I wanted on several occasions and it's 'out of rotation'. I spend the money elsewhere now. It's just annoying.

And it makes the appearance of those items and 'on sale!' even less enticing. On sale from what? How can it have a regular price when it's not regularly there?

[Calvsie.3675]

> @"MrRuin.9740" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > Artificial scarcity serves several purposes:

> > * It gets people to pay more attention to the gem shop generally, which generates more sales.

> > * It counteracts "familiarity breeds contempt," i.e. people tend to discount the value of things that can be obtained at any time.

> > * It adds incentive to "impulse buy," because you can't be sure when the item will return.

> >

> > It also has downsides, including annoying some players enough that they simply don't check at all.

> I'm in the latter. I've gone to buy an item I wanted on several occasions and it's 'out of rotation'. I spend the money elsewhere now. It's just annoying.

> And it makes the appearance of those items and 'on sale!' even less enticing. On sale from what? How can it have a regular price when it's not regularly there?

sale

/sāl/

noun

1.

the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.

 

2.

a period during which a retailer sells goods at reduced prices.

 

They are using definition one, but most people read it as 2 but they mean 1

On Sale: Able to be sold

Off sale: unable to be sold