Norman Geisler's Systematic Theology MM discount not truly 30% off!

Josh
Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

The everyday price Logo's has been selling Norman Geisler's Systematic Theology 4 vol. set is $128. https://www.logos.com/product/3598/systematic-theology

I've been really wanting to pick up this resource, but just not for that price....so I was happy to see that Logo's was listing it in Norman's books they would be discounting for MM.

However, Logo's decided to break this set apart and only discount each book individually. So, 30% off the individual book price is $31.49. See here: https://www.logos.com/product/7356/systematic-theology-vol-2-god-and-creation

This might sound good until you realize that it will cost you $126 to pick up all four books in the set.

WOW! A savings of 2 dollars! Logos....PLEASE apply the 30% discount to the $128 set. I want a real discount! Thanks you. Smile

Comments

  • abondservant
    abondservant Member Posts: 4,798 ✭✭✭

    [Y]

    L2 lvl4 (...) WORDsearch, all the way through L10,

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,845

    Josh said:

    However, Logo's decided to break this set apart and only discount each book individually. So, 30% off the individual book price is $31.49. See here: https://www.logos.com/product/7356/systematic-theology-vol-2-god-and-creation

    Josh, this is how March Madness has always worked. Sets are broken up. Sometimes an entire set has not even been made available this way. So what you've discovered is how MM is.

    You can request the set be discounted but Faithlife hasn't done this before.

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    Josh said:

    However, Logo's decided to break this set apart and only discount each book individually. So, 30% off the individual book price is $31.49. See here: https://www.logos.com/product/7356/systematic-theology-vol-2-god-and-creation

    Josh, this is how March Madness has always worked. Sets are broken up. Sometimes an entire set has not even been made available this way. So what you've discovered is how MM is.

    You can request the set be discounted but Faithlife hasn't done this before.

    However, in this case the price difference of only 2 dollars is nonsensical.

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,845

    Josh said:

    However, in this case the price difference of only 2 dollars is nonsensical.

    So, seemingly, is offering only 3 volumes of a 9 volume set which is the sort of thing Faithlife has done before in MM.

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    Was there a post that was just deleted? I was trying to respond to someones response...and now it is gone. Hmmmm...

  • Pastor James
    Pastor James Member Posts: 273 ✭✭

    Josh,

    i would call them and ask for their best price. I was able to pick it up for considerably less about a year or so back. 

  • Nick Steffen
    Nick Steffen Member Posts: 673 ✭✭✭

    That does seem pretty silly.

  • Gene Britton
    Gene Britton Member Posts: 135 ✭✭

    I was venting and decided not to Josh.  I agree with you though.

  • elnwood
    elnwood Member Posts: 487 ✭✭

    Two things in reply to the original post:

    1. If you only wanted just a single volume of the set, and didn't have the desire or the money to buy the entire set ... this is still a great deal. Why pay $128 if you only were interested in, say, Geisler's Christology?

    2. The discount was dependent on the votes, and thus out of Logos' control. If Geisler would have come out on top and the individual volumes were 75% off, then we wouldn't be complaining about the discount. But Geisler went out in the first round, so ...

    As others have noted, the set goes on sale fairly often, so I don't think you'll have to wait long to pick it up for $100 or so. Also, I bought my copy used from someone else selling an old Libronix copy, so that's an option as well.

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    I was venting and decided not to Josh.  I agree with you though.

    I thought I was going crazy for a bit! I did read your original post and I can understand where you are coming from. However, once I understood what kind of time and effort that goes into "Logonizing" a resource, I realized why they are not always cheaper than their paperback versions. Logos resources wouldn't be very helpful with out all the tagging that goes on behind the scene - and that takes a lot of work to do.

    As for Logo's marketing,  I'm just hoping this discount with Norman's Theology set was something they didn't notice and would be willing to "fix". 

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    elnwood said:

    Two things in reply to the original post:

    1. If you only wanted just a single volume of the set, and didn't have the desire or the money to buy the entire set ... this is still a great deal. Why pay $128 if you only were interested in, say, Geisler's Christology?

    2. The discount was dependent on the votes, and thus out of Logos' control. If Geisler would have come out on top and the individual volumes were 75% off, then we wouldn't be complaining about the discount. But Geisler went out in the first round, so ...

    As others have noted, the set goes on sale fairly often, so I don't think you'll have to wait long to pick it up for $100 or so. Also, I bought my copy used from someone else selling an old Libronix copy, so that's an option as well.

    1. I'm sure there are some people who want just a single volume. I'd say that this is more common with commentaries and less common with systematic theologies though. Either way, my point was if you bought the whole set at the MM discount, you really aren't getting a 30% discount from what Faithlife normally sells this set for. $126 vs $128

    2. I think that is understood.

  • mike
    mike Member Posts: 2,117 ✭✭✭

    1. Don't bother buying anything till the last week of March.

    2. Don't buy anything except the final 2 contestant's books.

    That's what I do.

  • Deacon Steve
    Deacon Steve Member Posts: 1,608 ✭✭✭

    I'm not sure this is the same thing to which you are referring ...  I've noticed that the same is true for some of Ben Witherington's resources.  His three volumes titled "Homlies and Letters ..." individually are $20-ish with the MM discount applied ($~60+ total.  But the bundled set has no discount, $80.

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,845

    Steve said:

    I'm not sure this is the same thing to which you are referring ...  I've noticed that the same is true for some of Ben Witherington's resources.  His three volumes titled "Homlies and Letters ..." individually are $20-ish with the MM discount applied ($~60+ total.  But the bundled set has no discount, $80.

    That's exactly how MM has worked in the past. I don't like it, but honestly it isn't my store so who am I to tell the owner how to run his sales? My choice is whether or not the sale is worth my money. In many cases (like these in MM) it is not. Even so, I still usually find a few things to add to may cart, so the sale must be working for the owner.

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    I'd like to further clarify. As someone who wants to buy the whole set, the MM discounts are essentially no different than the everyday price Faithlife already offers. As such, a two dollar savings isn't enough to get me to purchase this resource. However, if the set was priced at $89 (30% off of $128)...that would be tempting. I'd probably pick it up. 

    Just saying...

  • Jack Caviness
    Jack Caviness MVP Posts: 13,636

    Josh said:

    if the set was priced at $89 (30% off of $128)...that would be tempting. I'd probably pick it up. 

    If that had been the case, the set would now be in my library. As things stand, it is still on the store shelf.

  • Sean
    Sean Member Posts: 1,809 ✭✭✭

    mike said:

    1. Don't bother buying anything till the last week of March.

    2. Don't buy anything except the final 2 contestant's books.

    That's what I do.

    This is probably the best strategy; unless something makes it past the 50% discount level you're not likely to save that much in comparison to other avenues. Frankly speaking, despite all the hype, a lot of MM deals are not all that great (except for Piper/Fee/Wright/Carson fans). This particularly holds in situations like the OP describes. I'd had my eye on a particular set for years. When it went through MM a year or two ago, all broken up it was maybe 2 or 5% cheaper than normally buying the complete set on any regular day. I was mildly disappointed with that and refrained from buying.

    Happily, I got a MUCH better deal picking it up as part of a new L6 base package. There, not March Madness, are where the really good deals are found.

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,523

    Josh said:

    if the set was priced at $89 (30% off of $128)...that would be tempting. I'd probably pick it up. 

    If that had been the case, the set would now be in my library. As things stand, it is still on the store shelf.

    are they collecting dust? [;)]

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
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  • Gene Britton
    Gene Britton Member Posts: 135 ✭✭

    I have seen this set in times past @ $90 but did not pull the trigger.  What about the quality of the work?  Has anyone used these?  I know some of Geisler's work is excellent but I have not even looked at this set.  

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    I have seen this set in times past @ $90 but did not pull the trigger.  What about the quality of the work?  Has anyone used these?  I know some of Geisler's work is excellent but I have not even looked at this set.  

    I wouldn't call this set "excellent", but it is a very thorough and solid work. I tend to agree with Geisler's theology, so I have a slight bias toward this set versus other systematic theologies. I do think it is worth owning.

    On the Logos website, it has 33 ratings for an average of 4.5 stars.

  • Simon’s Brother
    Simon’s Brother Member Posts: 6,831 ✭✭✭

    that's why it's always a case of buyer beware, particularly when it comes to March Madness.  And another case of why I do not trust Logos marketing.

  • Matthew C Jones
    Matthew C Jones Member Posts: 10,295 ✭✭✭

    that's why it's always a case of buyer beware, particularly when it comes to March Madness.  And another case of why I do not trust Logos marketing.

    It should not b an issue of trust since it is clearly stated on the sales details page;  

    Logos 7 Collectors Edition

  • Simon’s Brother
    Simon’s Brother Member Posts: 6,831 ✭✭✭

    I'll give you three reasons I don't trust Logos marketing:

    1. March Madness - a deal is often not a deal because of this policy. Stating the policy doesn't negate that fact nor avert the need to look past their hype and use a spreadsheet to find out if the deal is a deal or not. Hence I do not trust their marketing and do my own sums.

    2. Sales Reps - I've received a number of direct marketing emails from sales reps stating add packages x,y & z to your payment plan for less than what your paying a month now or for $1 more or whatever their pitch but they fail to disclose upfront the cost ill be paying for each product.  The fact they don't provide this without me asking leaves one feeling they are trying to pull one over you.  If you really do have a great offer for be by all means let me know, but fully disclose all the details upfront.

    3. Misleading information on Vyrso website.  - on the page, "What is Vyrso" the following claim is made - "With a simple touch, Vyrso shows you the Bible passages that your ebooks reference. This is a wonderful timesaver, allowing you to read the Bible along with your favorite Christian authors' ebooks".  This is simply not true as Logos does not tag bible verses in Vyrso books and so there are many occasions where you can't look up a verse in a Vryro book with a simple touch.  Every time a verse is referenced in a book it is not always done explicitly and so automatic tagging does not always work.  Anyone who has created a PB knows that.  And yet despite the fact they admit they rely upon automatic tagging with no checking or correction afterwards of whether the scripture references can actually be looked up with a simple touch, Logos continue to make this claim on the Vyrso Website.  

    Three examples of of why I don't trust their marketing and believe one needs to look beyond the hype.  if you feel you can trust their marketing on all occasions Matthew that's great.  Logos offers a product I like and would recommend, doesn't mean I have to agree with their marketing practices.

    that's why it's always a case of buyer beware, particularly when it comes to March Madness.  And another case of why I do not trust Logos marketing.

    It should not b an issue of trust since it is clearly stated on the sales details page;  

  • Josh
    Josh Member Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭

    that's why it's always a case of buyer beware, particularly when it comes to March Madness.  And another case of why I do not trust Logos marketing.

    It should not b an issue of trust since it is clearly stated on the sales details page;  

    I don't consider this work a collection or bundle. I view it as a set.