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December 13, 2004
Making money on software (twice).
MacMerc.com: Review >> Delicious Library by Delicious Monster
Rick at Mac Merc has done a write up on the new Delicious Library software from Delicious Monster. In it he reveals that their software which is used to catalog all of your media including books, games and dvds has links to purchase more items like those you catalogged from Amazon.com. The software itself costs $40 but by people purchasing things on Amazon through their Amazon Affiliate links they make a commission on that sale. Rick says, "Besides, if it really bothers you, when you get to the Amazon website after clicking the link, just remove the affiliate ID from the URL and buy it that way...but don't be a twit, support these guys and help make it possible for future versions of Delicious Library have new features as awesome as the ones it this initial release."
I disagree in part because they are making additional revenue off the end user. Perhaps the user doesn't pay the commission through their transaction but Amazon prices items according to their return on all items. So if their profits drop because of affiliate pricing they'll naturally increase the price even if it's ever so subtle. I'm sure the Amazon revenue won't account for much of Delicious Monster's profits but if the car dealer were getting a cut everytime I filled up the tank, it would irritate me at the very least.
Update:
I sent Rick a mail with my thoughts earlier and he said he had the same conversation with the folks at Delicious Monster. In a nutshell, their stance is that they originally planned to charge more than $40 but realized few people would pay that much so they're using the Amazon money to supplement the $40. Rick followed up by saying that it didn't cost the customer a penny more for their Amazon transaction which is mostly true but realistically we all know a retailer is going to adjust their costs based on overhead and expenses to meet their targets.
Posted by beamz at December 13, 2004 10:32 AM