One big trend you see in online retail is the ubiquitous discount code. The idea is simple: jack up prices by 25%, and then offer 25% discounts. You see the codes everywhere these days, from shoes, to paint, to makeup. What's not to like?
The problem is twofold. First, we don't have sales staff sitting around to negotiate discounts and generate codes. Every minute we have to spend answering questions about discounts is a minute not spent on designing new enclosures, improving existing ones, and getting orders out the door.
The other problem is those large discounts are offered on Chinese-made products with huge profit margins. They take an item that costs $5 to make, offer 25% discounts and free shipping and they can still get a 75% profit margin.
On the other hand, our niche products are made in the US from premium US-made acrylic and filament and cut on an industrial US-made laser. They come with support and a 30-day money-back guarantee, priced at the minimum we can charge and still make enough money to come out with new models.
But what about schools, libraries, non-profits and a host of other customers who would like discounts? Sorry, but we have priced the products as low as we can and still stay in business. Selling things at cost is simply not a good business model.
In conclusion, sorry we don’t do business like the giant brands. Maybe someday we’ll hire a marketing consultant, but for now, we’ll have to make do shipping a premium product at a fair price.