wine-searcher pro price increase

As the price of wine-searcher pro increased another $10 this year–and that’s happened a couple times now–I sent them the following email: “I’ve been a longtime supporter–from the beginning. I don’t mind the occasional price increase, but it seems as if it is $10 each year. I’ve renewed for this year, but if the price goes up another 10% or more in these recessionary times, I’m not sure about continuing–just a bit of feedback.”

Anybody else have thoughts on it? I think it’s still worth the $39 for pro, but I won’t pay if it goes up, out of principle as much as anything else.

alan

Hey Alan,

Are you sure it has increased $10 each year? I just checked my purchase confirmations from 08, 09, 10 and they all show $29.95. My subscription is up in June and I plan on renewing. This is the first price bump I have seen and at $39 it is still worth it.

You can easily save that in one wine purchase and the customizable wine alerts are priceless IMO.

no, it has not increased $10/yr. I was incorrect. Here’s the email response I’ve already received:

Hi Alan,

Thanks for getting in touch. This price increase is our first price change to our Pro Version subscriptions since 2004. The last 6 renewals on your Pro Version account were all for the same amount of $29.95 USD.

Thank again for the email and if there is anything else we can do please don’t hesitate to get back in touch.

Kind regards,

Melissie Chisholm
Account Manager

I think it’s still worth the $39, though I do hate to pay a 33% increase these days.

alan

I love Winesearcher and have been a subscriber in the past for several years when I was in the acquiring mode. That said Ive always wondered how they started this business model. I cant think of any other item (maybe there are many?) on the internet that has a consumer pay for pricing info? Seems like this sort of thing the retailer always wants to get out there to the consumer in quantity and as cheaply as possible. Is it really a program that requires (not speaking to value) a $40 yearly subscription to in this day and age…meaning someone should be able to do this efficiently via advertising ect?

SUre but if it was entirely ad-supported (they do accept retailer sponsorships I think), then we’d have people wondering if that was influencing who was appearing, etc. After all, if I’m a retailer paying for an ad placement I’d better be getting SOMETHING that the guy who’s not paying doesn’t get.

The value prop for W-S is that you don’t worry about bias - you’re a customer. You get all of their results sorted by price, low to high. If you want that, then why isn’t it worth money? People have this odd idea that they should be able to get something of value for nothing on the web. It’s not sustainable, really.

To alan’s issue… if I was actively buying I’d fork over $40 without a second thought. If I find a few bottles for a few dollars less than I’d have otherwise found them for over the course of a year, I’ll easily save that. If I wasn’t actively buying (and I’m not), then I wouldn’t bother with W-S Pro. The non-Pro version and something like Vinquire are fine for casual use. Put simply… if you’re buying $4000 of wine and save 1% on that, you paid for W-S.

I do think they’re about at their limit though… people will probably pay 1% of their wine budget without much thought, but another $10 increase will be edging into newsletter territory and even though it’s only $10, there’s something about $50 that feels like real money.

You buy two cases of wine and save $2 a bottle…you just paid for it. Not to mention your valuable time. Hell, I’d probably pay $69 a year and think I was getting value.

I think there are pay sites that provide fine art and collectibles auction results, as one example, but why distinguish pricing information from any other kind of information? Several newspapers have a pay-to-view policy now, and, closer to home, the various wine newsletters and magazines have rather expensive subscriptions that provide half the information you need (what wines to buy), while WineSearcher provides that crucial second half (where to buy those wines at the best price).

If we see increased funding in their programming, I will think it is worth it. Still some glitchiness with things like price alerts, but I agree with Chris: a few case purchases where I found a prefered merchant at 5-10% less and I’ve already paid for it in spades. That being said, I have tightened the circle of merchants I buy from, having had some less than stellar issues with random ws merchants, but it is still a favorable tradeoff imo.

Alan-

As primarily a purchaser of Burgundy, I’m surprised that you utilize wine searcher pro. I only use the free version and frankly rarely use it at all. Because provenance is so important to the wines that I buy, I only do business with a few retailers that I’ve been doing business with for a good while and know personally.

If I were buying Napa cabernet, Chateauneuf, or Bordeaux I guess it wouldn’t matter as much and price would be the defining factor.

Anyway, I just assumed you’d have your sources worked out and just be going back year after year.

hysterical.

now we need to question all your posts referencing historical burgundy pricing ad nauseam.

W-S Pro costs more in the end than it saves!

I wasn’t planning on buying 2x 2001 Rieussec for $60/375 ml recently. Sure, I saved $60 based on finding a great deal, but I spent $120 I wasn’t planning to spend.

I have lots more similar stories. W-S Pro is evil…

yeah, and most of those sources–to whom I was very faithful–deserted me in 2005 for newbies waving blank checkbooks. So I found some newer sources via wine-searcher with whom I am very comfortable, U.S. and Europe.
alan

2005 almost ruined Burgundy forever.

Here’s to financial collapse!

!!!

Were you just looking and happened upon it, or did you have a price alert set?

They were $ 24.95 when they started several years ago, then moved up to $ 29.95 within a couple of years and they’ve been there ever since. Based on the $ they save, and the potential sources they provide, I think it’s a no brainer, my principles are much too weak to worry about the $ 10 increase.

To be honest, random hit.

I actually don’t think I’ve ever noticed the price alert feature…and now that I know about it I stand by my original theory - W-S Pro costs me too much money!

I always laugh at posts on how much WS Pro saves. I use it a lot and I am pretty sure it costs me hundreds of dollars every year…

A good example of receiving high value from your subscription, IMO. Sorry, Alan, I think your complaint is unfounded.

I think its a usefull tool but I agree, over $50 and I’m out too. The next few years could shut down the state to state buying as state governments look to collect sales tax on internet sales. New taxs and regulations could make WS obsolete for me in the future if I’m more or less forced to source all my wines locally.