SC - Why no incentives?

[nik_kit]

It's been puzzling me for a while now. Why are there No incentives when purchasing higher amounts of Spark Cash?

I mean, SC can be bought in increments of 5,10,25,50 & 100$ giving:

5$ = 3500 SC
10$ = 7000 SC
25$ = 17,500 SC
50$ = 35,000 SC
100$ = 70,000 SC

There's no incentive to spend higher amounts of $ in one transaction,as you don't get a slightly higher % of SC the more you spend!!

Most retailers offering a product or service give slightly more of a product/service the more $ you spend in a single transaction.

Therefore wouldn't it be better to say: SPEND -

5$ and get 3500 SC
10$ and get 7500 SC
25$ and get 19,500 SC
50$ and get 41,000 SC
100$ and get 84,500 SC

I know the numbers may be slightly out but you get my point hopefully. It would be a sure fire incentive for players to spend more money upfront which ultimately Outspark would benefit by aswell as the players themselves.

I'm a UK resident & player and work in £ so the amounts I spend & get back as Spark cash vary anyway depending on the £ to $ exchange rate at the time.

Just a thought. What do you think?

[l0rdplik]

The last mmo I played did that, and I agree with that strategy. Win-win.

[puppy755]

sorry u are the only ppl on i gess but does anyone know how to get a gamepad to work for fiesta?

[Adrichiang]

sorry u are the only ppl on i gess but does anyone know how to get a gamepad to work for fiesta?

Off Topic answer: Sorry, game Pads are not supported by Outspark's Fiesta so they do not work in this game. If you really feel strongly about this and feel lots of players will benefit from implementing the use of 3rd party controllers, try writing down the suggestion on the forum feedback section towards the bottom of the Fiesta forums sections and perhaps an official employee, usually CM Saphar for Fiesta may give you a proper official response.

[FennecFox]

I'd been wondering the same thing myself. It would be especially beneficial for Outspark to encourage us to buy larger amounts of SC per transaction because the credit card companies and Paypal take a transaction fee from every transaction. So Outspark makes -much- less money from five $5 transactions than they would make from one $25 transaction.

[deathpheonix]

i agree with that..the more u spend, the more u can get..

[aarcane]

outspark used to provide incentives for purchasing larger quantities of spark cash, however, they decided to eliminate that a while back. I say boycot sparkcash, and don't ever buy a penny more than you need at any given time until they implement that again.

[devin_nicolai]

I think there set-up is a good idea, it lures me into buying 25$ worth of sc every time though ><

[Roseanna]

Yeah, right now I'll charge $5 as I need it... not enough, charge another 5... etc. If there were some sort of incentive like this post states, I'd be more likely to calculate what I need, and I'd be more inclined to buy a larger amount in general... cutting outspark's credit card/paypal fees down.

[JavierDAngel]

I totally agree.

[shane3x]

You might spend more but then OS loses profit since you when you buy larger amounts of SC you get more points which means you don't have to buy so much in the long run.

Losing profit is a big no-no in outspark's eyes, especially when it might actually make it's players happy =/

[gryphkat]

You might spend more but then OS loses profit since you when you buy larger amounts of SC you get more points which means you don't have to buy so much in the long run.

Losing profit is a big no-no in outspark's eyes, especially when it might actually make it's players happy =/


It's already been covered in the thread that OS probably loses more money on the smaller transactions that people tend to choose because of the lack of incentives.
I agree completely with the OP. The should re-implement the incentives, it makes better business sense, and it's one way of showing some of the customer care that has seemed lacking recently.

[shane3x]

I think incentives are a good idea, of course. But, OS knows there are plenty of players who will pay for sc regardless. Short term over long term/sustainability I guess.

[joecracker]

i dont need any incentive :) i will buy sc for the things i want plain and simple :)

[Roseanna]

i dont need any incentive :) i will buy sc for the things i want plain and simple :)
I will too, but I charge $5 and see what it gets me... then if I need more I charge another 5... over and over until I'm happy. Outspark loses money to paypal fees on each transaction. If there were an incentive and I got more bang for my buck by buying $25 in one shot, I'd take the work to calculate what I needed instead. But since I don't, why bother. :p

[FaytLeonheartOmega]

its a business it makes you want to keep buying the same product regardless whether you spend 5$ or 100$ a week/month they still earn profit off pixle stuff you guys want xD adding incentives would make you buy less SC amounts seeing as you have more in stock so u'd end up buying less and less each week/month since your getting a bit extra xD so i'd say thats why there are no incentives Q.Q

[123boys]

It would make sense to have some sort of incentive to buy online. i mean they had an incentive to drive to target or best buy to buy cash cards(Remi's Rare Find spins or outfits). I quit buying online and bought the cards from Target to get the Remi's spins and I would think that the cost of printing and shipping of the cards would be losing more money then pay pal or visa fees.

[joecracker]

i think its good as it is :)

they gave a chance for a lot of younger people with no cc a chance to go buy cards :)

[DF001]

yeah, what's the point on buying higher ammounts if I can just waste 5$ and then more 5$, etc.

[shane3x]

i think its good as it is :)

they gave a chance for a lot of younger people with no cc a chance to go buy cards :)

Those in North America that is.

[Orchids_Mantis]

The current incentive for this is convenience. Basically, you want an item, but it costs $20. You can buy $10 twice, going through the annoying process of signing in three times and typing out all your info only to realize that you hit a 9 instead of an 8 while typing your card number and now have to do it all over again; or you can purchase $25 once and have some left over to buy more cash items (that, once expired, you may decide you want to buy again).

[Roseanna]

The current incentive for this is convenience. Basically, you want an item, but it costs $20. You can buy $10 twice, going through the annoying process of signing in three times and typing out all your info only to realize that you hit a 9 instead of an 8 while typing your card number and now have to do it all over again; or you can purchase $25 once and have some left over to buy more cash items (that, once expired, you may decide you want to buy again).
xD I use paypal... takes me all of 2 seconds to log in... maybe another 20 seconds to change my payment method around as I want... another 20 to put the payment in and click the button to go back to outspark and refresh the store... and bam another 5 dollars. It would be more inconvenient for me to decide what I wanted, add up all the spark cash, and convert that to dollars. I hate math with a passion. But for a little bonus sc, I'd do it.

[Orchids_Mantis]

xD I use paypal... takes me all of 2 seconds to log in... maybe another 20 seconds to change my payment method around as I want... another 20 to put the payment in and click the button to go back to outspark and refresh the store... and bam another 5 dollars. It would be more inconvenient for me to decide what I wanted, add up all the spark cash, and convert that to dollars. I hate math with a passion. But for a little bonus sc, I'd do it.

I'd do that, except I hate Paypal.
For one, you actually spend more money, as Paypal charges you for the convenience of buying something from someone else, two, their customer service isn't great, and three, their security sucks. I had some guy manage to get into my Paypal account who tried to make a $10000 purchase. The only thing that stopped him was that I had a $200 purchase limit.

After that mess got cleared up (they sent me a notice that I had exceeded my limit and my account got suspended), they took 10 weeks to restore my account (after I faxed them the papers they asked for), after which I had to snail mail them the same papers "for security reasons".

...so yeah...I don't use PayPal any more...too much trouble

[MewMewLina]

They also said the leftover money gets removed after a year.

As it is now, buying more is just a lose unless you plan on using it all then and there.

I buy in increments of $5 and $10 myself and it's been fine so far for me.

[Roseanna]

For one, you actually spend more money, as Paypal charges you for the convenience of buying something from someone else
Paypal charges the merchant, not the buyer. I just double-checked my statements to be sure and nope, I buy $25 sc via paypal, $25 shows up on my account statement. My mom on the other hand is an ebay seller, and she confirmed that paypal does charge her every time one of her customers pays via paypal. So yeah. Sucks for outspark, works for me. xD


They also said the leftover money gets removed after a year.
Wait, what? Where did you see that?

[MewMewLina]

Wait, what? Where did you see that?

I saw it in a few places across the board and maybe the cash shop and stuff.

Just dig around where places talk about the cash shop and stuff, and about the money.

[borednl]

It's been puzzling me for a while now. Why are there No incentives when purchasing higher amounts of Spark Cash?

I mean, SC can be bought in increments of 5,10,25,50 & 100$ giving:

5$ = 3500 SC
10$ = 7000 SC
25$ = 17,500 SC
50$ = 35,000 SC
100$ = 70,000 SC

There's no incentive to spend higher amounts of $ in one transaction,as you don't get a slightly higher % of SC the more you spend!!

Most retailers offering a product or service give slightly more of a product/service the more $ you spend in a single transaction.

Therefore wouldn't it be better to say: SPEND -

5$ and get 3500 SC
10$ and get 7500 SC
25$ and get 19,500 SC
50$ and get 41,000 SC
100$ and get 84,500 SC

I know the numbers may be slightly out but you get my point hopefully. It would be a sure fire incentive for players to spend more money upfront which ultimately Outspark would benefit by aswell as the players themselves.

I'm a UK resident & player and work in £ so the amounts I spend & get back as Spark cash vary anyway depending on the £ to $ exchange rate at the time.

Just a thought. What do you think?

The problem is, it wouldn't look like:

$5 and get 3,500 SC
$10 and get 7,500 SC
$25 and get 19,500 SC
$50 and get 41,000 SC
$100 and get 84,500 SC

It would look like:

$5 and get 3,000 SC
$10 and get 6,500 SC
$25 and get 17,500 SC
$50 and get 37,000 SC
$100 and get 75,000 SC

They would never increase the higher amounts without lowering the lower amounts (or they would simply implement a system like you mentioned, but would increase the cost of items as well).

If you ever pay attention to the "Buy One Get One Free" sales at stores, you'll notice that after the sale, the base price of the item goes up. I know this, because I was in charge of changing prices for a few years in a retail store. There's no such thing as free money.

[nik_kit]

The problem is, it wouldn't look like:

$5 and get 3,500 SC
$10 and get 7,500 SC
$25 and get 19,500 SC
$50 and get 41,000 SC
$100 and get 84,500 SC

It would look like:

$5 and get 3,000 SC
$10 and get 6,500 SC
$25 and get 17,500 SC
$50 and get 37,000 SC
$100 and get 75,000 SC

They would never increase the higher amounts without lowering the lower amounts (or they would simply implement a system like you mentioned, but would increase the cost of items as well).

If you ever pay attention to the "Buy One Get One Free" sales at stores, you'll notice that after the sale, the base price of the item goes up. I know this, because I was in charge of changing prices for a few years in a retail store. There's no such thing as free money.

I note what you are saying but then I did actually admit in my original post :- 'I know the numbers may be slightly out but you get my point hopefully'

[master_roxxor]

Actually, there is a small benifit from buying $25 in SC instead of $10 if you buy it in the form of spark cards. You get 3 free plays of Remi's Rare Finds if you buy a $25 sc card and only 1 play if you buy a $10 sc card, so you get 1 more free play of RRF if you buy 2 $25 cards instead of 5 $10 cards.

[TwistedFreak]

they should at least implement the remis rare find incentive to the online payments like there is on the store cards as alot of players are from outside the US so we dont have access to the cards to get the extra benefits

[nik_kit]

I agree - As a UK player there's no way I can get the Cards & therefore rewards.

[DancingSimmer]

I have another idea that would be perfect for attracting more people to buy SparkCash. I've seen this done on several other games and it works out very well.

After 30 to 90 days, players receive 10% to 40% cash back from whatever SparkCash they've purchased.

For example, let's say I purchased $10 (7,000 SparkCash). In about, let's say 50 days, I get 30% back. That means I would receive 2100 SparkCash for free as a reward for buying SparkCash over a month ago. They should consider this. Now, 30% may be high, but they can always change that. It's up to them. But, it would be a good idea for attracting people to actually purchase SparkCash, especially in today's economy.

[KungFuHobo]

Outspark is the embodiment of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob folks.

They will do anything, even if it means stealing from their own mother's purses, for money.

Look at what they do in game? How many times do i have to hear that you are having a sale? If nobody has bought your junk by then THEY DONT WANT IT!!!!

Seriously, im not allowed to spam the chat, but i get 20 notices from outspark that I could care less about.

They even stopped announcing acheivments no "LittleBilly hit lvl 20, congratulations" anymore, i guess LittleBilly doesnt get to feel special anymore ... but outspark is still making money so its ok :D

So the minute they increase the incentives, is the minute they raise the price of everything in the shop.

Outspark is lucky that the community here is so nice, but since they added pking, even that has changed. Bad Customer Service AND Jerky Community will give a person little to no reason to want to stay very long.
Oh and the fact that this Bad customer service is glorifying the big jerks in this game ...dont even get me started.

http://www.freewebs.com/flowera/untitled.bmp