a better followup to Boston...

Don Lindgren has a very nice (and far more articulate than my...) summary of the MARIAB fair. I agree with most of what he said...though it was a pretty good show in the short-term for us...mid and long term remains to be seen.

I was particularly interested in Don's view of "bargaining". As Don notes, I find the tendancy of asking/expecting discounts to be very strange. I extend discounts to dealers as a professional courtesy and think such make prfound sense for many reasons. I strive not to do the same for clients. I try to price my material for what I think is a fair market price and really expect items to sell there. The prevalence of asking for discounts implies that dealers price their material high in the expectation of negotiating it down and, at least for us, that is simply not true.

I certainly do extend discounts sometimes...typically with a very good customer or with someone who is purchasing several things at once or...frankly...when the situation warrents it. I have sometimes extended very deep discounts when it meant putting the right book in the right hands. I really do not, however, think that an expectation of a discount is reasonable.

I suggest that there is a preception issue in play that many choose to ignore. If I agree to extend discounts of 10-20% to "new" customers, I am effectively telling them that I have overpriced my stock to "build in" such reductions. If I agree to "not charge tax" (as I was asked several times over the weekend, usually with a "no one else is charging it") I am effectively telling this potential new client that I will happily violate the law to close a sale. While this may please the client in the short-term...consciously or unconsciously, I am telling them that I am untrustworthy.

I would much rather have clients feel confident than I am pricing material (and treating them) fairly than having clients feel that they need to negotiate every purchase to "see what I will do".

As Don summed up, I think this fair has the potential to be extremely good. I look forward to being there next year.