A Convenient Truth

Esteemed blog reader(s?),

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I am in the process of migrating all of the Pear Tree Pen Company's shopping cart functions to a new host and new software. The process is slow and tedious, but we are making progress.

One of the new features of this cart is the ability to offer a "hidden" sale price. This is very useful as several of the pen companies whose products I sell (such as Visconti and Omas) do not permit their authorized retailers to advertise discounts on their products (with certain exceptions). I've currently handled this situation by asking shoppers to send me an email asking for a better price. While that has solved the immediate problem, I certainly was not the ideal solution.

The new "hidden price" feature allows the store owner (me) to select one of two options. The first would allow the shopper to request a price quote by email (which would be realtively instantaneous). The second option , simply displays the price once the shopper has placed the item into their cart.

My question to you pen buyers is: Would you prefer to receive an email price quote, or simply to be able to see the item's price once it has been added to the cart? What is the reason for your preference?

I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me to help make your shopping experience a more enjoyable one.


Thank you!
Regards,
James Partridge