Sanctuary Discussion (Spoilers for the most recent episode)

[RealmOfX]

With all this talk about price differential, does anyone know how much Sanctuary costs for residents in Canada? (in Canadian dollars)

My computer is having issues, so I can't check the site.

I think I read that the single SD was $2.25 so just marginally more than the US.

[minigeek]

Julia,

I think we all agree on this one. I don't think there's a single viewer out here who truly believes it is "fair" to charge different amounts for different parts of the world when the delivery mechanism is identical and the cost of delivery is the same as such.

I hope and believe that the Sanctuary team is going to look into this and revise their structure. I posted in the general folder of their forum about it also, and I quoted a short sentence from RealmOfX's eloquent summary here. They do read those folders, so I'm betting they take the comments and the constructive criticism to heart.

I'm certainly hoping so, at any rate. It would seem that they're progressive and forward thinking in almost every other avenue. Financial progressiveness is always the last to follow. Especially in this particular industry.

geek

[RealmOfX]

I was eloquent? When? where? I must get a copy of it


I just read the excellent Ron Martin interview over on Sanctuaryfans.com, great work Myrth & Ooooober. I love this kind of stuff, the background info of how things happened and tech talk. I'm a happy little vegemite!

[the dancer of spaz]

Hey, does anyone know if the webisodes have titles? or are they going with webisode 1, 2, 3 etc?

I was wondering the same thing yesterday! I was thinking that it'd be cool if they held a contest for naming the webisodes.

[Skydiver]

i can deal with 'ok, iwth the exchange rate, you pay this much' kind of pricing.

it's a fact of life.

but to say 'well, you're a brit, you can afford to pay 16 pounds (32 dollars) for what the yanks pay $8 dollars....ie 4 pounds'....ok, we all know that an underground will develop. It already has. I know that folks have found it on bit torrent and that networks are forming for 'you buy the bundle, make 5 copies adn we'll all split the costs', and that is inevitable.

but by segregating out one part of the world and fleecing them because 'they can afford it'.....rude. It's rude and it'll just encourage more and more illegal underground downloads.

they will cut thier own throats with this.

If they honestly need a quarter million sales to make back their money, the more you tick off, the less that will pay.

It's their business and tehy can, of course, do what they want, but for a show that's so fan based and 'fan friendly', this isn't very friendly.

fans are and will be willing to pay to support it as long as there is good will. treating us like the networks do doesn't brew good will, it breeds contempt.

I for one already feel beyond excluded from the fandom of the show in general because it caters to those on high speed, those with fast computers. (a fatal error of computer designers. just because they do their work on a state of the art computer on a nice T1 line, they design as if everyone else in the world has the same....and we don't)

It wasnt' made for me, on dialup who doesn't have 10 minutes for the simple opening page to download.(heck, even on the T1 line at work, it takes a good 30 seconds for that opening page to download) even the bloody forum is so tricked out and graphic heavy that it's unusuable for me and the few times i've gotten on it when i'm in a hotel and on high speed, it's ponderously slow and unweildy.

too many graphics which bog down my computer adn drive my processor wild, white on black writing which is very hard to read, too much fancy stuff and simply user unfriendly (i'm old fashioned, i like clean and simple)

everyone's gone so gaga making it cool and neat and pretty that they kinda forgot that it also needs to be accessible, and it's not.

I don't NEED to be in a fandom enough that i'll spend a couple of hours a night navigating a page or three of a forum. If it's not easy and convenient, i'll go elsewhere, and i do.

so i'm excluded from the fandom from the get go because i'm not of the technical level they want - and i accept that nothing they do will please everyone and ok, so i'm not in the fandom, big whup. the show will certainly go on without me - and i feel for the brits that are kinda being told to suck up and stuff it cause, well they can afford to support us all.

The OTT graphics and boggage of the site is unavoidable and unchangable, but the pricing issue is easy to fix. Charge a flat rate, altered only by currency exchange. make that playing field level.

[Skydiver]

You also know what is inevitable...if the US pricing is really the cheapest out there...then i see a LOT of brits sending friends in the US money and havinig the folks in the us buy multiple downloads then sending the passwords on.

so they gain little by country specific pricing. Fans are frugal little souls and very creative when it comes to ways to save a buck or ten.

[the dancer of spaz]

I guess I just don't understand why anyone would want to offend any of there potential customers by inflating the prices for a select group of viewers. I know I-tunes does it, but I-tunes isn't trying to build a community. They aren't creating forums for their buyers to sit and discuss what they have viewed. This is the internet and sci-fi community we are talking about. Surely, they didn't believe that this little discrepancy in pricing would go unnoticed? I suppose in part I can understand why they increased the pricing for certain countries slightly, but I think doubling the price like the UK was a bit extreme. As much as I want to be a part of this new endeavor, I'm not sure I would jump on the bandwagon if I felt I were being price gouged.

<snip>

It's all a matter of economics, sure but no one wants to feel like they are being over charged for something and paying double for everything is definitely one way to turn off consumers in my opinion.

Definitely. I should've clarified last night: I understand the pricing model comparison with I-Tunes (when referencing usage and quality), however I do not agree with the inflation of the prices for other geographical areas. It does need to be equal for all. I don't think it's a good idea, and I hope they're able to reconsider it over the next couple of weeks. I doubt they can change the price for the current four episodes, but maybe they'll re-price the second four episodes.

[scarimor]

Definitely. I should've clarified last night: I understand the pricing model comparison with I-Tunes (when referencing usage and quality), however I do not agree with the inflation of the prices for other geographical areas...

Quick lil history lesson on the topic. Back in the 1700s communities were very hot on this sort of thing. Weights and measures had to be accurate and anyone found cheating got clobbered. Vendors caught hiking their prices in one village because they 'could get away with it' while they couldn't in another were also identified as cheats. And they ended up in the pillory.

[antoa]

but to say 'well, you're a brit, you can afford to pay 16 pounds (32 dollars) for what the yanks pay $8 dollars....ie 4 pounds'....

FYI, the price is 8 pounds, not 16.

[Hatusu]

On this pricing thing - after looking at it, I can only assess that the australian ecomony is far stronger than the US, despite the fact that it does not show in dollar value. If demographically, we can afford over a dollar more in australian than the americans can, it makes for some interesting questions on the state of the Aussie dollar.

However, in this instance, it came down to one question to me. Not do I agree with their idea, not do I feel ripped off. no. The question was "Is this show worth AUD$4.19 to me. Only I am in control about how I feel. Their actions cannot dictate my mood to me, and if they feel its worth $4.19 to me, I only have to ask myself, do I agree or not.

I believe it is.

About this pricing thing...If you use your credit card and download it, can't you choose your currency? What does it matter? Pay Pal works the same way.

[Tracy Jane]

About this pricing thing...If you use your credit card and download it, can't you choose your currency? What does it matter? Pay Pal works the same way.

No, the site's "store" automatically detects your server location and adjusts the prices accordingly. If it detects that you are in the US, it will come up as being $1.99 per webisode. If you are detected as being in Australia, it will come up as being $4.19 AUD per webisode. It is AFTER that it is detected and prices come up according to your location, that you purchase.

[jckfan55]

Quick lil history lesson on the topic. Back in the 1700s communities were very hot on this sort of thing. Weights and measures had to be accurate and anyone found cheating got clobbered. Vendors caught hiking their prices in one village because they 'could get away with it' while they couldn't in another were also identified as cheats. And they ended up in the pillory.

Yes, exchange rate issues are one thing. Different pricing based on region is certainly not in keeping with the image they've been trying to put out there. I'm disappointed.

[Mandysg1]

I just wonder about the paying, I'm in Canada, but my IP always makes sites think I'm in the US (not of my choosing though) If I were to order I would get the US price, but my credit card is in Canadian dollars...I wonder how the charge would come up

[antoa]

I just wonder about the paying, I'm in Canada, but my IP always makes sites think I'm in the US (not of my choosing though) If I were to order I would get the US price, but my credit card is in Canadian dollars...I wonder how the charge would come up

Your bank would do the conversion and possibly charge you a small fee for it, so it would probably all come out to be about the same price.

[Skydiver]

i was just using 16 pounds as an example (however if you take into account that folks in teh UK are paying 8 pounds for their bundle, they are really paying 16 dollars for it, while folks in the us are paying $8)

and, to my knowledge, when you use paypal, you don't get stuck iwth the bank conversion fee. at least i never have. if i use my credit card, yeah (greedy buggers...they are the banks that do the conversion, thus they are charging me a fee for them to do the jobs they do anyway....just another way to fleece money from us)

The rub in this is coming from the fact that the AUS price doesn't = the US price, nor does the UK price = the US price...IIRC, the aussie dollar is about 80 cents american, so yeah, it'd be more expensive there, but more along the line of a 1.99 download us = 2.50 aussie or the like while a 1.99 us download should = .99 uk

but it's not doing that. People in other countries are paying more for the download than peopel in the us