Including pricing in videos

[ImBleu]

Hello LTT Community,

 

 

Here it goes again...

Basically, I think that for not only some of the PC users but also for mobile users linus could try and include the current price of items in the reviews. While yes I understand his point back a while ago that prices change a lot and he can't keep updating them but for a large chunk of the community (basically everyone who frequents the forums) we watch every video no later than 2 days after it comes out; Prices wouldn't of changed by then. While yes there is also currencies but even if he just puts it in CAD or USD (or Euros) it'd add to the video review.

 

Yes we can just open up Ncix.com or Newegg.com and find the price but to some of us who are not interested in the product, but still would like to know the price having to open a new tab is an uneeded step. Almost all the other reviewers do it anyway so why not?

 

Linus has done it this way for a while but why not leave something to be considered here. I personally think it'd be a good idea to add it in the video, even if its only in the conclusion, it's not like we're going to not watch it because we see the pricetag and run away; Most of us watched a video on a $600 USB cable with no intention to buy it. The only time I recall linus ever mentioning product prices are in the under $100 videos, and it was nicely used there.

 

It could be done like:

"And now it's time for conclusion, _____________________________________________________. And in my opinion; for $340 you couldn't get any better"

 

 

Anyway I've had this idea a few times and I've seen it posted in the youtube comments a lot as well. Lets have a civil discussion about this? Would love @LinusTech & @Slick 's thoughts too.

 

Thanks Guys.

 

 

Afterthought: Since most of the diehard LTT fans watch the Wan Show, could you maybe strawpoll it?

[79wjd]

I do believe prices should be included, as very often (see any gtx 780 or 290 video) reviews are followed with recommendations/opinions based on alternative options. And with the 780 and 290s switching pricing-places (one higher than the other then switching) having a comparable price at the time of the review would've been helpful. However, at the same time, most reviews (of competing products) aren't within a short period of each other, so....unless all prices for all competitors are listed, it doesn't really gain that much extra meaning. 

[Clyne]

I remembered that Linus said in a video that he didn't say prices because they change over time and the prices are different in each country.

[79wjd]

I remembered that Linus said in a video that he didn't say prices because they change over time and the prices are different in each country.

Theres definitely a good reason to not include prices, but watch any 290 vs 780 video and you'll say that having both cards prices listed in the video would be IMMENSELY beneficial for viewers. 

[Clyne]

Theres definitely a good reason to not include prices, but watch any 290 vs 780 video and you'll say that having both cards prices listed in the video would be IMMENSELY beneficial for viewers. 

and again, prices would change over time

[LemonSpice]

The msrp as it doesn't change that much and even though it is more expensive than the actual retail cost.The msrp at least gives a baseline.

[Swndlr]

tbh i have no clue why they wouldnt have just added this by now @LinusTech CMON MAN YOURE SLACKIN DAWG!

[ImBleu]

and again, prices would change over time

 

As I said in my post, yes prices change. But if most of the people watch it in the first week of being published this isn't an issue. For people that watch it later on (a year or so, maybe) they'll know that the price may be changed.

 

As for prices are different in every country, most of us who watch these kinds of youtubers are familiar with conversions and even as someone who doesn't use the USD, CAD or Euro I can still tell the difference between $10 US and $100 US. Not like a 970 will cost you $330 in the US and $33 in some other country, the prices may be different but it'd give a ballpark figure.

[Clyne]

As I said in my post, yes prices change. But if most of the people watch it in the first week of being published this isn't an issue. For people that watch it later on (a year or so, maybe) they'll know that the price may be changed.

 

As for prices are different in every country, most of us who watch these kinds of youtubers are familiar with conversions and even as someone who doesn't use the USD, CAD or Euro I can still tell the difference between $10 US and $100 US. Not like a 970 will cost you $330 in the US and $33 in some other country, the prices may be different but it'd give a ballpark figure.

Just saying in the post above.....

Prices in other countries are more expensive than others, such as New Zealand because of taxes, importing fees, etc...

[ImBleu]

Just saying in the post above.....

Prices in other countries are more expensive than others, such as New Zealand because of taxes, importing fees, etc...

 

Demographic wise, New Zealand is not a major part of his audience. And if the price doesn't help you, doesn't mean it won't help other people.

 

They've mentioned (and I'm fairly certain they've done a graph for it too) of price-performance before, that would've used the price then and not now. In Linus's reviews he does sometimes say other things are better but within reason not everyone can just call Nvidia and ask for 5 GTX980s, Some discussion on price would be nice. 

[Briggsy]

most other reviewers give you prices, along with a caveat by saying something like "the MSRP at launch will be/is expected to be $xxx.xx USD," and then they will often add their own opinion of whether they think the price will stay at MSRP, or whether its a good deal etc.. 

 

I think its a value added feature of a good review. I expect to hear the launch MSRP, including opinions on the price when I watch TTL and other reviewers. If its not given, I go look elsewhere afterwards. One might even say that Linus is helping other reviewers by directing people to them to find out launch MSRP.

[ImBleu]

most other reviewers give you prices, along with a caveat by saying something like "the MSRP at launch will be/is expected to be $xxx.xx USD," and then they will often add their own opinion of whether they think the price will stay at MSRP, or whether its a good deal etc.. 

 

I think its a value added feature of a good review. from someone like TTL or others, I expect to hear the launch MSRP, including opinions on the price. Otherwise, I go look elsewhere afterwards. One might even say that Linus is helping other reviewers by directing people to them to find out launch MSRP.

 

Exactly, 

 

Linus won't lose fanbase for adding price. But he'd stop me having to go to OC3D / HardwareCannuks to find their price. 

 

Personally; I like the way Dmitri adds prices to the videos in the B-roll.

[Clyne]

Demographic wise, New Zealand is not a major part of his audience. And if the price doesn't help you, doesn't mean it won't help other people.

 

They've mentioned (and I'm fairly certain they've done a graph for it too) of price-performance before, that would've used the price then and not now. In Linus's reviews he does sometimes say other things are better but within reason not everyone can just call Nvidia and ask for 5 GTX980s, Some discussion on price would be nice. 

Just pointing out about some of the reasons why Linus doesn't include prices in his videos....

[ShadowCaptain]

No for 3 reasons

 

1 - Prices change all the time, they are different in every country, every shop etc etc

 

2 - The price of a product should not interfere with the review process (unless its ridiculously cheap/expensive), if its bad, its bad, if its good its good - If a product is over priced Linus generally says in the video that alternatives are available for less money 

 

3 - It is not up to Linus to decide what is "expensive" or "cheap", people earn differents amounts of money, $100 might be expensive to somebody, yet dirt cheap for somebody else, and it is not for Linus to tell us "oh this product is expensive" or "this product is really cheap and nasty"

[Archangel1994]

No for 3 reasons

 

1 - Prices change all the time, they are different in every country, every shop etc etc

 

2 - The price of a product should not interfere with the review process (unless its ridiculously cheap/expensive), if its bad, its bad, if its good its good - If a product is over priced Linus generally says in the video that alternatives are available for less money 

 

3 - It is not up to Linus to decide what is "expensive" or "cheap", people earn differents amounts of money, $100 might be expensive to somebody, yet dirt cheap for somebody else, and it is not for Linus to tell us "oh this product is expensive" or "this product is really cheap and nasty"

1 - If he reviews something that causes a hype then it is nice to know what the price is at the time of filming. Also it can be used for reference.

2 - It SHOULD interfere. Price/performance is a very important part of the reviewing process where applicable. Would you prefer a 10$ 100mb/s flash drive or 20$ 450mb/s flash drive (Just an example, assume equal capacity/size).

3 - A $100 USB cable is expensive damn near no matter what. Expensive or cheap is more or less a comparison to something similar. A brand new car for instance: $8000-9000 is cheap for a brand new car. $60000 is expensive.

[ShadowCaptain]

1 - If he reviews something that causes a hype then it is nice to know what the price is at the time of filming. Also it can be used for reference.

2 - It SHOULD interfere. Price/performance is a very important part of the reviewing process where applicable. Would you prefer a 10$ 100mb/s flash drive or 20$ 450mb/s flash drive (Just an example, assume equal capacity/size).

3 - A $100 USB cable is expensive damn near no matter what. Expensive or cheap is more or less a comparison to something similar. A brand new car for instance: $8000-9000 is cheap for a brand new car. $60000 is expensive.

 

1- The product is always linked in the description (also I have heard him mention prices before in reviews)

2- Price/Performance is certainly a factor I agree and can be mentioned, but it can be done in a way that does not mean listing a price, Linus could simple say "this product cost more than double the competing brands"  or say "this item is about 30% cheaper than any alternative we can find"

3- I disagree, $60000 might be somebodys monthly pay and not their annual pay. Therefore $60k to that person is only a 12/th the expensive compared to somebody on a lower wage

 

Like I am about to buy a headset for £230... Honestly to me, I dont consider it that expensive, though to many it will be very expensive.. and to some it is still cheap

[KemoKa]

Theres definitely a good reason to not include prices, but watch any 290 vs 780 video and you'll say that having both cards prices listed in the video would be IMMENSELY beneficial for viewers. 

remember that scrypt coin craze that happened earlier this year?

Yeah.

That's why prices are not included in the videos.

[Archangel1994]

1- The product is always linked in the description (also I have heard him mention prices before in reviews)

2- Price/Performance is certainly a factor I agree and can be mentioned, but it can be done in a way that does not mean listing a price, Linus could simple say "this product cost more than double the competing brands"  or say "this item is about 30% cheaper than any alternative we can find"

3- I disagree, $60000 might be somebodys monthly pay and not their annual pay. Therefore $60k to that person is only a 12/th the expensive compared to somebody on a lower wage

 

Like I am about to buy a headset for £230... Honestly to me, I dont consider it that expensive, though to many it will be very expensive.. and to some it is still cheap

I could counter this again but instead I'm going to say that something can be said for both sides otherwise this will continue endlessly

[ShadowCaptain]

I could counter this again but instead I'm going to say that something can be said for both sides otherwise this will continue endlessly

 

Absolutely, the same can  be said both ways, and thats the problem

 

Damned if you do, damned if you dont, I think just avoiding it as best as possible is a good solution

 

A product can be reviewed on its own merits, price does not have to come into it "is it well built, does it do as described, how long is the battery life, how fast is it" etc none of these require price to be mentioned and the viewer can make up their own mind

[Levis95l]

For subscribers who watch almost every video immediately it would indeed be nice to include pricing. However, Linus' videos have very good search ranking so many random people interested in the product watch them too (often even a year or two later) so I think it would just mess up things for non-techy people.

[LogicalDrm]

Demographic wise, New Zealand is not a major part of his audience. And if the price doesn't help you, doesn't mean it won't help other people.

 

 

Demographic wise, Australia seems to be major part of audience. One reason why WAN show was moved to current timeslot. As I recall pricing there is in pair wit NZ and also way different than in NA or Europe/Asia.

 

I'm also against including pricing in video. And if they start doing it, it should be in CAD. Just to annoy all those US people who are asking for it. Its better to have some links to most common price comparison sites with items pre-searched. Or links to affiliate sites (Amazon).

[virtualTune]

50/50 How about that

 

I said No! 

 

First of all prices depend extremely on region. If a GPU is 500USD then different European countries all have different prices that are usually much higher than simply 500USD converted to £ or € . Linus has a big enough subscriber base now, that there are simply too many viewers from around the world that he would have to include too many prices to inform every region. 

 

Secondly, even within one region prices fluctuate way too much. If somebody were to watch a video for a new GPU and his/her budget was $460 and Linus says in the video the GPU he reviews is $500 the response could look something like this:

"Well shit! I really like what this card has to offer, but $500 is too much for me" And that's where it ends. If Linus wouldn't include the price, the person would go online and find various prices for the product, with a good chance of one being , let's say $470, at which point it might just be close enough to ask for next months allowance in advance and buy the card. 

 

At the end of the day, your first decision of whether or not you like a product should be based purely on its attributes like performance, quality, etc.. Only if you like those, you will even look at the price. And once you do, it won't matter if Linus says it is 500USD on Amazon, because techies (which are only a part of the viewers) will try and likely find a cheaper ®etailer anyways. 

[79wjd]

remember that scrypt coin craze that happened earlier this year?

Yeah.

That's why prices are not included in the videos.

Thats exactly why prices should be included, A lot of the 780 vs 290 videos recomended one over the other based on price, but didnt mention what the price of both of them was -- i.e. if the difference was $5 or $100+ 

[KemoKa]

Thats exactly why prices should be included, A lot of the 780 vs 290 videos recomended one over the other based on price, but didnt mention what the price of both of them was -- i.e. if the difference was $5 or $100+ 

but that scrypt coin craze made just standard 290s more expensive than 780Tis. That's how much the prices can shoot up, and people were still buying them!!!

If anything like that happens again, the comments in the video are going to be full of people saying "well, that GPU is now worth like a grand, so that figure is BS.

I suppose it would help if they said the pricing at the time of filming or something, but let's be honest, it's not that hard to just click on a link.

[beninovak333]

Ok, so I understand the point Linus made a while back with prices changing over time, however I can't imagine it would be too much of a hassle to just say the pricing of a certain product. Also, I can see how many people including me would really like to just hear the pricing so that they can right away determine if they can even afford it and if they should even check the video description for the pricing and availability link. I'm sure people watching in the future for example months from now wouldn't mind.

 

Also, I'm really looking forward to the oil cooled build :-D