Retailers: Stop The “Call For Price” Madness Already
I can’t tell you how sick and tired I am of looking through merchandise, either online or in a catalog and seeing the text “call for price” or “price to low to advertise” next to the item. Am I the only one?
I don’t claim to be a advertising expert, and maybe my thoughts on this are way off base, but these two forms of advertising have got to be the two worst things you can do if you’re trying to sell your merchandise. I’m sure these companies get a few people here and there on these scams, but I have to assume that there are many people out there just like myself that hate these advertising tactics. If my assumption is right and there are others out there like me, businesses are missing opportunities to convert browsers to buyers.
The Idea Behind It
Ok, I get it, it’s a simple idea. What the business is essentially doing by advertising using “call or price” or “item to low to advertise” methods is telling you the consumer that the price on the particular item of interest is on sale and that you will need to call in order to hear the spectacular price on the item. Once you call, the sales representative you speak to on the phone will not only try to sell you the item you’re calling about, but try to up sell you on other merchandise. Like I said, I’m sure this works on some people and as soon as they see the “to low to advertise” bit, they can’t wait to get their fingers dialing to check out that low price. Problem is, many consumers are often disappointed after they call to get that “low” price. Generally the price either isn’t lowered at all, or is only lowered a few bucks. A lot of times all you have to do is tell someone that you lowered the price (even if you didn’t) and they will eat it up thinking they are getting a great deal.
If you’re like me, I NEVER call to get a price on something. If they don’t list it, I’m not buying it. Like I said, assuming there are others out there like me, they’re missing a lot of opportunities to make a sale, which equals loss of money.
What They Should Be Doing
It’s simple. What retailers should be doing is listing all of their prices in their catalogs. Jazz up the ad however you want. List the item as “on sale” or anything else for that matter, but for goodness sake, list the price! There is nothing I hate more than calling to get a price on an item that is just to low to advertise and find out that it’s not lowered at all and that it’s only a sales tactic. This is the reason I no longer call for any item that the price is to low to advertise. If for whatever reason I do decide to call on one of these items in the future and find out that it in fact isn’t on sale, you’ve lost me as a customer and I will never be back as a customer.
Shew, I’m Glad I Got That Off My Chest
Does anyone else feel the same way I do? What are some other things that retailers do to grab your attention but ultimately just get on your nerves.
[/rant]
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Comments
Good point. Also another area where this crops up is artists putting ‘Call for Price’ on their artwork instead of just listing the price already. I saw this recently while meeting at Common Grounds (coffee shop here in Lexington). I thought… okay… first of all you’re deterring anyone who might be interested in your work but who doesn’t want to call a stranger to (potentially) haggle. Also, putting the price directly on the artwork in small type also endows the work with a sense of value. Hard to explain, but I often find myself looking more closely at artwork which has a ridiculous price tag… to find out the “reason” why it is priced so much. In trying to discover the value, I’m spending more time looking at it; by looking at it longer, I’m forming a bond with the work. That bond might lead to a “got to have this piece” impulse.
In short, I agree: it’s irritating, ineffective, and pretentious to list a price as “Call for Price.”
Posted on Mon Dec 3, 2007
It’s a stupid idea, if you ask me. I will automatically leave an online shop, or throw a magazine if I see those words or anything to that extent.
Posted on Mon Dec 3, 2007
I haven’t seen that but I have seen where you are told to add the product to your cart to see the price, obviously hoping that people will leave it in their cart when they check out.
Posted on Tue Dec 4, 2007
Brian: Sorry for the delay in getting back to your comment. Time gets away from me sometimes and I neglect my blog. 
Yeah, I hate wanting a domain and finding out that someone is just sitting on it doing nothing with it but hoping someone will buy it. But, that’s a part of the business I guess.
As for the comments, I’m not sure what’s happening on your end of the screen. I tested it out on my end and purposely entered the wrong answer for the spam captcha and went back using the link it gives me and everything was still there…
Sam: Yeah, good points there. Call for price is everywhere it seems and equally annoying no matter the situation. I know in golf equipment magazines (where I see call for price the most), it’s always on their high dollar items it seems. It will be on club that I know for a fact costs $400 but in the mag they list it as “call for price.” I just sit there and think to myself…“who do they think they’re fooling?” No way they’ve lowered the price on these. It’s all just sales tactics to get you speaking with an actual person who can feed you some BS and try to make a sale or up sale you on something else more expensive.
ninja.s Probably a good practice there, just leave the store or online site altogether.
Sara Oh yes, the ol’ “Add to cart to see price” is another one that burns me up. I was looking for a Plasma TV a while back and I can’t remember what site I was on but it kept telling me to add to cart to see price yet there was no add to cart button. Just crazy. I mean, how many potential sales are they losing because someone is an idiot?
Posted on Thu Dec 6, 2007
Businesses do the “call for price” or “add to cart to view” not to get buyers (most of the time). When you buy from warehouses/wholesalers, you may have to agree to a MAP, or minimum advertised price. You can’t advertise any amount below this price, or they may stop supplying product.
Off topic, but just to mention that I like your blog and you have a lot of interesting topics.
Posted on Thu Dec 6, 2007
Hm…
Interesting…
I wonder if it is simply a Safari glitch…
*weird*
oh well.
I’ll just have to be extra careful.
Thanks for looking into it!
Posted on Mon Dec 10, 2007
I’m the same. If the price isn’t specified, I’m not interested. I’m not interested enough in any product to bother calling up some salesperson (And there’s something about you actually calling a salesperson for a generic item that’s just inherently wrong xD ).
Posted on Mon Dec 10, 2007
Ugh, I probably wouldn’t even call. The time in itself to call and hear the price is worth not calling… :D I agree, they should have all prices listed.
Posted on Tue Dec 11, 2007
Call for price is a big no-no in online retail. I’m surprised to hear that it’s still being practiced. Hell, even if a product is out of stock people want to know the price. This is the information age - the more the better.
Posted on Thu Dec 13, 2007
Interesting article. Like many said above, I hate that type of marketing tactics. Atleast they should show the price, if they want some custmers! As Paul said, this is the age of information. Thanks. Will come back!
Posted on Sat Dec 15, 2007
Aaron: Thanks for the kind words Aaron. If I understand your comment correctly, you’re saying that the retailer cannot advertise a price lower than the MAP. If they cannot advertise lower than this agreed price, then why not simply list this agreed price in the catalog or online instead of the “call for price” crap?
Or did I misunderstand what you were explaining to me?
Brian: Ok, sounds good. Just let me know if you continue to have issues. I’ll ask some friend of mine to try it out and see if they are having the same problems you are.
Micheal: Yep, I’m definitely the same.
Susan: Yeah it’s just not worth it. You call and have to sit through the automated prompts for 10 minutes before you can actually speak to a person and then to hear a price that isn’t as low as you expected. Very frustrating.
Paul: It’s amazing. You would think these big online stores would have some more knowledgeable people running the show, but I guess not. I see the “call for price” the most on golf retail sites it seems. Of course, I’m not really on any other retail sites online, so that’s probably why.
EarnBlogger: Thanks for stopping by and I do hope you return. They are probably still getting customers with these tactics, but I have to assume they are losing much more than they are gaining.
Posted on Sat Dec 15, 2007
Yes that is what I was saying. That is a very good point too. The only reason I could think of would be that the price has been tried before, and the item still didn’t sell or there were sites/catalogs (owned by the manufacturer/wholesaler perhaps) that weren’t required to/didn’t follow the MAP guidelines.
Posted on Mon Dec 17, 2007
Aaron: Yes, good point. Funny though, but good point. The item isn’t selling because it probably has a price that is to high, so what do they do? Slap a “call for price” on there hoping to get innocent people to call in asking about it while they unleash a flurry of sales techniques to get them to purchase the item. 
Posted on Mon Dec 17, 2007
That is true. I’ve never seen it on a website but I definately wouldn’t take the time to call them, because that is most likely just a sales tactic.
Posted on Tue Dec 18, 2007
Yup, this is usually because of MAP. If you did actually call you would most likely get a price lower than you would get from somebody selling it with the price listed. It’s usually used with something that has a pretty high price point so I’d say that on average it would be worth your time to give them a call if you’re going to buy it.
Posted on Thu Dec 20, 2007
Jewelry Luvr: I see what you’re saying now (and what Aaron explained earlier that went over my head I guess). With the MAP, they can only advertise at a certain set minimum price. With the “call for price,” on the ad, when you call, they can potentially sell for lower than the price of other places. Just because they have a MAP on the item, doesn’t mean that they can’t sell it for less than that, it just means they can’t advertise for less than that, so in this sense, they just don’t advertise the price, which might in fact be lower than everywhere else? Ok, got it. Now I feel like an idiot for not knowing this in the first place and making a blog post about it, but I guess it’s a learning process and I’m glad I posted, because now I know.
Posted on Thu Dec 20, 2007
I agree it can be that they can’t print a lower price, but it can also just be that they are lame. Plenty of places print that they are not allowed to print a price lower than MAP. Amazon.com will say “you must add the item to your shopping cart before we can show you the price” - in those cases they state that the reason is MAP.
Posted on Sun Jan 20, 2008
John: Yeah, if they don’t have any kind of agreement in place to where they cannot show the price and still are not showing it, it’s definitely lame. They’re missing a lot of potential business I would say… or at least mine anyway.
Thanks for stopping by John.
Posted on Sun Jan 20, 2008
The people that do that are jerk-offs trying to undercut legitimate retailers. They are trying to skirt MAP policy. Typically these bottom feeders are Ebay type sellers who use the resources put in place by legitimate retailers to educate a consumer to make a quick 5-10% off the sale. Anyone in retail knows you can’t exist off that margin. But these scum suckers sit in basements and use all the nice brick and mortar stores and nice ecommerce stores to give info to customers and then suck them off with their predatory pricing. We sell high end merchandise and we have people call in after shopping on ebay and learning that thier warranty is invalid and they need help. We just tell them sorry, we hope you’re glad you save $25 on a $500 item on Ebay.
Posted on Tue Jul 1, 2008
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Aye…
I agree…
It’s so annoying…
Someone currently owns <u>BrianPurkiss.com</u>.
It ticks me off…
Unfortunately - we can’t do much about those greedy jerks.
That’s all they’re concerned about - the money…
I can’t think of any way to stop them.
Oh, and I wonder if there’s something you can do about your comments…
If I have a type-o on the spam bot catcher, then I lose the entire comment.
Posted on Mon Dec 3, 2007