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A comment on FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations. Parent comment

Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by Dalewyn on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:28AM (#40714330)
I once read that business is the art of ripping someone off without pissing them off.

For better or worse, I agree. If you aren't ripping them off you're leaving money on the table, but if you go too far and piss them off they're going to take away all the money on the table with them.

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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by amelius on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @03:33AM (#40715042)
Well you can piss people off in some ways, yet in other ways give them value.
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by alickz on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @05:15AM (#40715588)
> If you aren't ripping them off you're leaving money on the table

You're leaving money in their pocket that you might get later

How do you quantify loyalty? Because it seems to me that it's very easy for individuals to prioritise short term gains at the cost of medium and long term losses due to trust erosion

I wonder how much client satisfaction and trust would be worth on the quarterly report, if it could be calculated. I think it would be immense for most companies

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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by Dalewyn on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @06:10AM (#40715913)
Money in their pocket is not money on the table. You are in fact reinforcing my point: Client loyalty and trust is critical in business, you're a lousy businessman if you've damaged that by ripping off your clients too hard angering them.

The most effective business is getting all the money on the table and making your client happy. Thusly the art of business, ripping off your client without pissing them off.

Absolutely nobody gets ahead in business by selling wares cheaper than what they could have gone for, unless you are deliberately underselling the market to gain share by sheer force of will. Likewise by selling wares higher than what they could have gone for, clients will just look elsewhere because you're just another one of many merchants.

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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by queuebert on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @11:01AM (#40718599)
> Absolutely nobody gets ahead in business by selling wares cheaper than what they could have gone for, ...

Explain Costco then.

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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by Bloating on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @11:12AM (#40718719)
Volume. Its all relative to your less efficient competitor
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by BenjiWiebe on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @11:45AM (#40719177)
Didn't Costco get volume by selling things cheaper then they could have?
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by brianwawok on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @07:00PM (#40722991)
They also have less items for sale so each sells more.
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by datavirtue on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @03:25PM (#40721227)
People with Costco memberships view shopping as a sport. Instead of golfing, they go buy shit and eat hot dogs.
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by lupusreal on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @04:56PM (#40722139)
They do have the best hot dogs.
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by 100721 on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @07:57PM (#40723333)
Where both shopping and golf are about getting a low score ;)
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by isk517 on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:36PM (#40720221)
Costco makes the majority of profit from membership fees, they've already profited from you before you have even made your first purchase. Arguable any profit they make from what you purchase is where you are being 'ripped off' but because the savings and return policies are better than the competition they avoid the 'pissing off'.
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by gopher_space on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @06:35PM (#40722808)
Isn’t a membership like $35 a year?
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by brianwawok on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @06:59PM (#40722984)
$60 or $120
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by queuebert on Wednesday June 19, 2024 @10:56AM (#40728913)
Are you sure about that? Their average markup is around 10%, so that would mean that the average member would be spending $600 or less in the store per year.
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Re:FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations by isk517 on Wednesday June 19, 2024 @11:29AM (#40729198)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleykohan/2023/10/24/costco-...

I've seen the same numbers in multiple articles state that 72% of Costco's profits came from the membership fee in a year that they saw record sales.

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