[Leica] Re: M8's high price

[rdandcb at home.netspeed.com.au (Rick Dykstra)]

That's it.  I'm heading straight down to the gallery, to double the  
prices on my framed prints.  Maybe then they'll sell!  :-D

True story.  I was selling a one year old Landcruiser short wheel  
base 'Bundera' in 1997.  The Kangabuck had recently crashed against  
the yen and so I was asking for quite a bit more ($16,000) than I  
paid, though still respectfully less than the new price.  A family  
dude with his wife and kids turned up, took it for a drive and asked  
if he could leave a deposit, for $14,000.  I said, "I've changed my  
mind. I'm putting the price up to $17,000."  He quickly bought it for  
$16,000.  hehe  :-)

There are only two rules. Never crop. Never discount.

Rick.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rickdykstra/Nature

On 14/01/2007, at 11:44 AM, G Hopkinson wrote:

> Larry, that's insightful regarding art works. A good friend of mine  
> who was very talented but had sold little was told at a US
> artists' enclave that he needed to double his prices as well as  
> address marketing and promotion. He became much more successful.
> Following the idea further, after his very untimely death, the  
> values shot up sharply.
> No doubt there is an element of scarcity, perceived luxury goods  
> etc influencing the Leica prices. However it would be unfair to
> disregard the designs, materials, small volumes and labour  
> intensive processes that really separate Leica lenses, for example  
> from
> mass produced designs. Whether the photographer considers that the  
> difference is worth the money, of course, is another issue.
> Plenty of us think so or we wouldn't be here!
> Cheers
> Hoppy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org  
> [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On  
> Behalf Of
> Lawrence Zeitlin
> Sent: Sunday, 14 January 2007 01:28
> To: lug@leica-users.org
> Subject: [Leica] Re: M8's high price
>
> A Leica fable re the price of the M8. (and Rolex watches, Mont Blanc
> pens, and all cosmetic products.)
>
> We have a friend, a dealer in modern paintings in New York's trendy
> uptown art market, who is a firm believer in negative price
> elasticity. Since it is almost impossible to tell the absolute
> artistic merit of a contemporary painting, most of her customers use
> price as a surrogate cue to quality. "You get what you pay for" seems
> to be the mantra of the affluent customers who patronize her studio.
> When a painting doesn't sell after a reasonable amount of time, she
> raises its price by several thousand dollars. A customer, returning
> to the studio, notices that the painting is now more expensive than
> it was on the last visit, concludes that the painting must be worth
> having since the price is going up. Out comes the checkbook and the
> painting changes hands before the price increases again. The dealer
> makes a nice profit. The customer hangs the painting on the living
> room wall, confident that everyone will admire his/her good taste.
> "It costs more but I'm worth it."
>
> The painting may be a piece of crap but it doesn't matter. Everyone
> is happy.
>
> Larry Z
>
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