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millennial_entrepreneur

Territory Field Sales

Good Citizen
Fire Starter
Contributor

Charging more than list

Sup Savages! Thought about posting this to Reddit but I'm pretty sure I heard a few years back that there are laws in place that prevents software companies for charging more than their published list price.


Is that an actual thing or is that BS?


Edit: I'm not trying to sell above list but company is mandating an annual uplift each year on multi-year SaaS deals and in some cases it increases the price above list.

☁️ Software Tech
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15 comments

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1nbatopshotfan
Politicker
5
Sales
I would only see this as an issue if selling to the government and deviating from the GSA.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Yes, I think this is the exception. Otherwise what is list? Many software companies don't publish pricing. Not sure how anybody would know the difference.

BTW, this is why overly discounted deals can turn out to be bad deals. If those deals become known by the market, that's your price point.
ZVRK
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Agree, it`s a matter of negotiations if there`s no specific price being listed online etc. Even if so, most SaaS companies will have their highest possible prices on their website, those being a starting point for negotiating a better one as the customer increases the number of licenses...
sketchysales
Politicker
2
Sales Manager
Cant speak for software but i have customers that sell my product above list without breaking the law.
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
IDK if this is legal or not.

But why would you want to charge more than list price?

if there are legit reasons, from a usage, implementation or integration stand point than fine, but then you shouldnt have to worry about it being illegal.

if you are trying to just make more on a particular deal, than ether your pricing model sucks,.......or your approach sucks.
jefe
Arsonist
2
🍁
Seems like BS, but can't know for sure.
detectivegibbles
Politicker
1
Sales Director
I'd lean towards BS.
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
1
☕️
Then someone arrest the entire sales org at ZoomInfo. Those mother fuckers make everything up and it’s often over the price book before discounts.

Not sure if there are laws about it, but if there were then I’d assume it would only gain exposure to published price books.
SaaSsy
Politicker
1
AE
Hm, I've never run into this and I'm not sure how people would get caught. Most software companies I've worked for have complex products and do custom work during onboarding so most of my customers aren't paying the same. Also, never seen my companies openly post pricing info online. But I'm here to learn if others know different!
Maximas
Tycoon
1
Senior Sales Executive
I believe company needs to stick the announced price list always, and if any chance it might go up for a reason, prospect needs to be aware and just to keep it more legal that needs to be mentioned at the T&Cs to avoid any complaints or escalations that may arise!
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
Define “list price” and tell me who are the list price police?

I sell above and below list all the time, based on the competitive environment and a number of other factors.

Also, list price is fairly arbitrary. After your basic costs are covered, it’s whatever you think they will pay.
HVACexpert
Politicker
0
sales engineer
I feel like there is a lot of grey area there? Does the list price include the same features and options than what is being bought? Was there an update to pricing recently that isn’t reflected in the published information yet? Does the list price include fees or other costs typically not captured? Not sure about a law, but it would be hard to enforce I think.
SaaSguy
Tycoon
0
Account Executive
Tack on "Services" charges - keep the software at list
Diablo
Politicker
0
Sr. AE
If the prices are published why do you want to sell above that? It’s BS.
Justatitle
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
It’s called BS. Give you an example. Car manufacturers have dealerships sell their cars and provide an MSRP(manufacturer suggested retail price) meaning the dealership can have an MSRP of 20k for a car and the dealer can go ok but we want 40k for this car.

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