Two clocks with a mysteriously huge price difference

[Barbara]

I just sold two large, round clocks to a person in Australia. He paid $33.75 for one of them, which he customized, and $63 for the other one, which he didn't customize. The high-priced one was via self-referral, but that wouldn't make a difference in the customer's price. The single difference in the clocks was that they were two different design images. Again, there should be no difference in price for one image versus another.

Can anyone come up with a scenario in which one of the clocks would cost nearly twice as much as the other clock?

[KeegansCreation]

Maybe there's a sales code he forgot to apply for the more expensive one.

[Barbara]

I just looked again and discovered the two clocks were sold to two different customers. What fooled me was that I glanced at the names and they were both 'Michael' but from different countries. The less expensive clock was to Virginia and the exorbitantly priced one was to Australia.

The poor Australians!

[WHS_Designs]

this is so true. prices of just about everything are 30%-50% more expensive on the Zazzle Australian domain.

W.H.

[KeegansCreation]

Two different currencies. That does explain the major difference.

[Barbara]

All the various currencies and states of individual economies tend to baffle me. This was a huge case of bafflement, mainly self-inflicted.

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[Windy]

Is the Australian buyer paying Australian dollars? 

1 Australian Dollar equals 0.68 United States Dollar ATM

[Barbara]

@Windy  I multiplied the U.S. price by 1.68 and it appears to be pretty darned close to what the person in Australia paid. Here we all are in the U.S. bemoaning the current race to the bottom of the dollar when the Aussies are probably thinking, "If only you knew!" Well, I certainly know at this point.

@WHS_Designs  I sure  hope the people there are earning 30-50% more.

Colorwash's Home

[WHS_Designs]

I don't know about that! 🙂 But Australia consistently occupies the 2nd or 3rd position (after the U.S. in terms of Z customers/sales for me), so obviously they do think the customizability of Z's offerings justifies the prices they pay (to say nothing of the shipping costs).

I watched a documentary a few years back that discussed how the cost of living is so expensive in Australia (especially compared to us in North America). I was under the (mistaken) impression that because they are surrounded by water or at least have great accessibility to large bodies of water that their seafood would not just be fresh but cheap as well. Boy was I wrong. *Everything* is expensive there! By comparison, I certainly don't have any right to complain about the prices of things here in Canada.

W.H.

[orientcourt]

WHS_Designs , Yes could be true re customization ! People with money or not will pay for extra!  Re Seafood products, we are the biggest Island nation in the world, however we live on the edge  , meaning most of our country is arid but for productive regions on our coastlines! Climate change has resulted in a reduction of seafood gathered from our waters!  Hence the big price ! Jilly       

[WHS_Designs]

Jilly,

Thank you so much for clarifying the matter. 🙂 Yes, I should know better (face palm) -- Australia has plenty of arid land and desert (they don't call it the Australian Outback for nothin'). And when natural disasters strike -- drought, locusts, rats --- the cost of living is impacted even more.

W.H.

[orientcourt]

Yes , we are earning more cause'  otherwise there is no way we could afford to pay for American Goods! 😄

[Windy]

I am wondering if this seems like an issue only because Australia calls their currency a dollar? Suppose they called it instead the Australian Wombat or the Aussie Eucalypt? Would it seem less of a concern if the customer had paid 63 Australian Outbacks rather than 63 Australian Dollars?

 I remember my grandmother absolutely freaking out years and years ago when my parents went to Mexico. She was actually hyperventilating, because she was so worried they would not be able to eat. A  cup of coffee was priced in Mexico that year  at $50.

This was years before internet and even so, teenage me was able to look in my atlas and learn that the Mexican Peso is denoted with the $ symbol.  I consulted the financial pages of the newspaper (remember those?) and determined that the exchange rate between the Mexican peso and the American dollar, meant that a cup of coffee in Mexico was going to run my parents a few cents, not fifty dollars.  I assured my grandmother that my parents would not have to take out a mortgage to buy a burrito in Mexican Pesos.

[Barbara]

Windy, you've just described why I look at exchange rates, sigh, and then go look at something less cumbersone. 🙂

Colorwash's Home

[orientcourt]

That would include shipping the clock? Average minimum wage in Australia is Au $812.60 for 38hrs .Average national wage here is Au $1,305 a week.Jillian

[PenguinPower]

No - that wouldn't include the shipping - just the sales price that her royalty was based from. The shipping cost is probably high, if it has to come from the US. Some things I think may be printed locally - paper goods, buttons - normal stuff, but clocks are not your everyday average printed goods. 

[orientcourt]

True, PenquinPower , and Clocks are not one everyone's radar now 🙄 I believe most of Zazzle's products are made in the USA ! With a bit of help from  other countries!🤣  Maybe a Zazzle employee could chime in ! Jillian

[Barbara]

You know what seems strange to me? I often sell clocks there. Without naming names, they have a major POD that also has clocks. I wonder why they're buying from me. Are Zazzle's clocks better quality? They kind of look as if they are, but without seeing both in person, there's no way to judge.

Colorwash's Home

[orientcourt]

Without mentioning the POD , could be that your particular clock designs reach out to younger demographic which is this Pod's main market  Colorwash. Maybe a similar quality to Zazzle's clocks though they offer a wooden frame.That said you have to add numerals to your image as well though! No luck for me there! Have only purchased one clock from Zazzle unfortunately, as shipping is high! Great printing on Zazzle's clocks but current base price for this product is high due to the quality!  My clock sales have plummeted this month after a healthy first start to the year !  But who knows, decor products are the probably the last thing that people are thinking about now!!

[Barbara]

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@orientcourt wrote:

Without mentioning the POD , could be that your particular clock designs reach out to younger demographic which is this Pod's main market  Colorwash.

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The clocks I design are almost exclusively devoted to music theory (musicians come in all shapes, sizes, & age), and also the designs are on both platforms. However, you may have something there, but I think it may be related to something else. The "hip" sorts tend toward the other POD. I do sell a lot of my music stickers there but more of the clocks here. In the end, I've no idea what's going on.

Colorwash's Home