melody carlson bundle - disillusioned

nicky crane said:

 Christmas at Harringtons was free a while back, Christmas Dog is free today.  If you have both these, and want the other books, it's cheaper to buy them separately, 11.99 and 4.49,  (=16.48) than as part of the bundle at 26.83, which claims to be a $22 saving!  Again, I feel this is below the high ethical standard I normally expect from Logos.  If you didn't get Christmas at Harringtons and want it, you do save about $2 (not, according to my calculation, $22) by buying the bundle.

I do appreciate the free books, but not the sales claims

I was speaking with a fellow Logos user a Church on Sunday, we are both becoming disillusioned with Logos whole marketing approach over the last year or so -its too much in your face, too much hidden truth -  as I mentioned in another post else where sadly I never believe their percentage off claims any more because they are no real, but percentage off list price.  Before buying from a Logos sale always use Google to check a cached copy of the product page to find out the real saving sometimes it can be as little as $10 off Logos normal retail price, and rather than the 50% off the list price..... your example is what I would expect from the New Logos Marketing Machine - just because it is permissible doesn't make it a good thing or a good look ...

Well, I'm not in the business of defending Logos, but to give them credit, the more recent ads (that I've seen) do now have 'retail', 'regular' and 'sale' which is fair enough (seems).

The problem with bundles (I think anyway) is a database problem. I could be badly wrong. But I used to be involved with managing large pricing databases and quite frankly the errors quite often were in favor of the customer. I don't know in Logos' case, but it's easy to imagine how they can get out of line. I've made my complaints previously, some bundles being cheaper than individual resources and visa versa.

That said, the tenor of Logos does bother me and I guess I'll be taking a hit here on the forum. I'd planned to take advantage of the Christmas credits, but I've held off. I don't begrudge Logos' practices any more than any other business. But for whatever reason it doesn't seem right and I'll likely forego purchases for a while. Probably cost me but I view integrity as a luxury not to waste.

For me the issue is as much a "math/marketing" thing as it is a "theoretical savings" issue.

Today's "Inspirational Bundle," for example. If you factor in that one of the four books is available for free, the total normal purchase price of the other three on Vyrso is $17.22 ($6.74 + $7.49 + $2.99), the exact same amount as the one-day "bundle" price. That's been a pretty consistent pattern, so regardless of how you feel about the savings being advertised, in reality Logos/Vyrso is providing absolutely no value / advantage / urgency in purchasing the bundles. (If my logic/math is wrong, please correct me.) While I've been looking forward to maybe seeing a bundle of Swindoll books and ones from some other "Christian Living" authors, if I can get one of the books free and pick up the rest later with the same bottom line impact on my wallet, that, unfortunately, is what I will keep doing.

Steve R. 

Added: Lest I seem in any way ungrateful for the free books, I am not. Thank you Logos/Vyrso team for offering these gifts. I TRULY acknowledge and appreciate them! I was simply providing feedback on how the bundle aspect of the Christmas promotion met (or in this case, didn't) my personal expectations.

Steve Robinson said:

For me the issue is as much a "math/marketing" thing as it is a "theoretical savings" issue.

Today's "Inspirational Bundle," for example. If you factor in that one of the four books is available for free, the total normal purchase price of the other three on Vyrso is $17.22 ($6.74 + $7.49 + $2.99), the exact same amount as the one-day "bundle" price. That's been a pretty consistent pattern, so regardless of how you feel about the savings being advertised, in reality Logos/Vyrso is providing absolutely no value / advantage / urgency in purchasing the bundles. (If my logic/math is wrong, please correct me.) While I've been looking forward to maybe seeing a bundle of Swindoll books and ones from some other "Christian Living" authors, if I can get one of the books free and pick up the rest later with the same bottom line impact on my wallet, that, unfortunately, is what I will keep doing.

Steve R. 

Added: Lest I seem in any way ungrateful for the free books, I am not. Thank you Logos/Vyrso team for offering these gifts. I TRULY acknowledge and appreciate them! I was simply providing feedback on how the bundle aspect of the Christmas promotion met (or in this case, didn't) my personal expectations.

 

[Y][Y] Spot on, mate!! I too am not inspired in the packages, and would also pick up the titles singularly later on.

Thank you for your feedback on the December Deal bundles. We have done our best to implement your feedback in our http://vyrso.com/12days bundles (displaying the retail and sale prices of each bundle).

We currently do not have the ability to discount the price on many of the ebooks beyond our current sale prices. Unless there is an agreement made with the publisher, which we have done for sales like 12 days, we do not have the ability to discount the prices any more. For the time being, the bundles are simply a number of ebooks that we think pair well with one of our free ebooks. 

The problem with "xx% OFF" offers is that they have a false standard of a mythical MSRP. It is like saying, "well, compared to Hitler you are 79% better, you must be good enough to go to heaven"

The reality is that VALUE is individual and subjective.  What one dismisses, another finds indispensable. Comparing prices of digital titles with print ones is unfair (many used books could be purchased for pennies on the dollar, while other out-of-print  public domain books are impossible to find in print, but can be had for free in digital form).

As a general yardstick of value to ME, I consider half-price of paperback title a good value for a digital book.

Also grateful for FREE or really cheap Logos and Vyrso resources.

nicky crane said:

Why do the bundles say:One day only, when it seems to me that the only time limited thing is the free book, that you can get without the rest of the bundle?

I missed the Day One --Gospel Coalition bundle, the e-mail I received about the 12 Days of Vyrso came in after 8pm and I didn't open it till the next day. When I clicked on the link in the e-mail they were no longer at the bundle sale price (I looked for a discount code in the e-mail and there wasn't one). I was surprised, since I expected the Vyrso side to be the same as the Logos side.

"You can please some of the people some of the time..."

While I know that we all use Logos and the resources in our library in different ways, and we all have different expectations of what books we find most valuable and want (hope) to pay for them - especially on the newer, broader-in-scope Vyrso site - I remain incredibly impressed with how the people in this business have listened to customer feedback and actually responded in their offers (enhancing the "Christmas Credit" program on the Logos side and adding a "12 Days" on the Vyrso side) when they certainly didn't have to.

I know from 25 years in the business world that this kind of flexibility and responsiveness is rare, especially when a specific offer/promotion has already been well thought out within the organization and communicated to the public outside the organization.

I encourage everyone who has benefited so far from what Logos is trying to do through Vyrso to demonstrate their appreciation (even as we hope for our favorite books to still go on sale at unbelievable prices) and, more specifically, give Brian as much encouragement and "customer grace" as possible as the guy driving the big Vyrso bus through its first holiday season. (Please keep your head and hands in the bus at all times, people.)

Thanks! Enjoy the day!

Steve R.