2027 Scott Catalog Digital Pricing

The digital rental pricing for the digital editions is still quite high to me so will not be considering it. It just emphasizes you are paying for intellectual property . I was hoping they would reduce it significantly.

Bleagh. I had hoped that under new ownership they would embrace the digital age and realize that legacy digital pricing models were a significant barrier to adoption.

Hopefully that will come in time, as they've presumably had to prioritize changes and features.

Okay, I will bite.

What is the price you envision for the digital product as we move beyond legacy?

(By the way, $157 for that much paper seems reasonable.)

Well, as a point of comparison, you could subscribe to Yvert's world volumes for €129

https://www.yvert.com/en/bibliotheq...12-mois.html

And you could add its classic and semi-modern volumes for €33

https://www.yvert.com/en/bibliotheq...12-mois.html

So that's around $180 equivalent.

Well, keep in mind that unlike the printed books or even the 1st-gen digital product on the iPad app, where it was a one-time purchase, with the current subscription model you are obligated to keep the subscription active or you lose access entirely.

Not knowing their costs or their purchase/subscription numbers, this is obviously flying blind, but...

Vol. 1-6: $29.99/month or $299 per year (saves $60 over monthly).
U.S. Specialized: $59.99 per year or $39.99 if added to above.
Classic Specialized: $79.99 per year or $59.99 if added to above.

Individual volumes (both parts A & B): $8.99/month or $69.99 per year.

I would like to see them adopt ala carte individual country purchasability pro-rated on the number of pages included, for ALL countries, not just arbitrary country or region choices. Minimum: $9.99/year.

That's just a stab in the dark. There are a myriad of models one could come up with.

A per country pricing would always be a good idea for those of us that only collect certain countries. But the "forced bundle" of an alphabet range helps with their expenses.

Now I don't do the company's books but I have to believe tat the new company set prices at a level based upon prior sales volume such that the company stay solvent and the workers are paid at least minimum wage. If such is the case now, room to cut retail costs does not exist.

Just an observation, but to me, legacy digital was buy it and own it. Modern digital is you can NOT buy it, only rent it, and keep paying forever until you stop. They are following the modern model.

Now if you can buy the paper version which you own and can cut into countries and sell legally. Allow similar in digital would end a company. Especially where the internet puts countries which do not honor copyright a few milliseconds away.

But that could be done NOW anyway. All it takes is labor.

For example, every year I take the entire revenue section from the U.S. Specialized Catalogue form the digital version, make screenshots on a 4K monitor in portrait mode, combine the images into PDF, run text recognition, and VOILA! I have a searchable PDF that I can store locally, keep on my phone for at stamp shows, print out to mark up as needed, etc.

I also want to have a snapshot of listings and values every year that I can compare with prior years.

The entire process takes me a few hours once a year to create a 285-page PDF (screenshot showing sections below).

Cheap Chinese labor could probably turn the entire catalogue into same for the entire catalogue series within a week or two.

The pricing of legitimate digital sales will never be a deterrant for fraudsters, no matter how high or low you set it.

If nothing really changes in the catalogs from year to year except for new issues being added and some editorial changes, it seems, as with the print edition, to be a very high cost if "renting" as with the digital. If the price stayed static for five years, I would be paying $2,750 for the catalogs access. At least with the print I can still read them three years later or sell them when I want, all for a one-time fee. I find it hard to believe that they aren't cutting out a large number of potential customers with the annual access restriction.

Yes, revenuecollector, what you are doing is fair (personal) use and allowed under copyright rules (print version too). Selling or sharing same is what will put the matter into the grey, dark grey, area.

Most folks do not need up to date pricing information nor information on the latest issues. Thus an older catalog severs the purpose for a much smaller outlay. In fact after a few years the real cost is the postage for the "worthless" catalogs. Yes when a section is updated or reorganized, that forces a new updated need for the section

In the long run, digital will kill all publishers of content of an informational value.

For example a library buys a catalog and lets others use it in either circulation of as a non-circulating reference. I believe the library should be able to do the same with digital. Pay for the digital version and allow it to be circulated or reviewed as a non-circulation reference. Except many folks can check it out or view in reference when digital. That is the fight publishers are and have been having.

Information, even new information, has become steadily closer to worthless, the money is made now carrying that information from point A to point B as well as collecting and selling "point B's" information. As to the folks who make money on clicks as content providers, the vast majority is entertainment, not useful and fact based information.

EDIT TO ADD:



The company's problem is it is creating information which as I mentioned above is becoming worthless. It does not matter how much time and effort is devoted to that information creation, its worth is approaching zero. Additionally, the greatest amount of work is not updating the old existing information but the massive work taking all the new issues and then generating the presentation matrix to merge it with the old material.

But just how many new collectors as well as existing ones who collect new issues will be will to buy a current up to date (always at least a year behind) catalog detailing the new issues? Trying to sell that new information at the cost of creation is pointless as it is impossible. In fact most of it is now sold for very little money as part of new issues listing of a subscription magazine. Such installment can be handled as revenuecollector described and with little problem the compilation(s) can be sorted by country and Scott Number.

Lets not start on pros and cons of Scott pricing, especially for the "base minimum price" nor the pricing of new issues be they mint or used.

It may appear the cost is related to new issue maintenance but you do not see a lower price for the 1840 to 1940. Except for a few editorial and price changes, it does not change that much. Yet, it is $125 per year. A typical volume (1-6) is $99 per year. It is market pricing.

Microsoft still sells a one time purchase for Office but not always the current year edition. I still use my 2019 Office but I do see the current one time buy is a 2024 edition. I am sure Scott wants to avoid any downloadable version due to piracy.

Beckett.com charges $350 annually to access all their sports cards (baseball, basketball, etc.) online. Or you could check out Scott and Beckett books at the library for free.

Additionally, the greatest amount of work is not updating the old existing information but the massive work taking all the new issues and then generating the presentation matrix to merge it with the old material.

You got that exactly backwards. New issues you can simply copy from USPS announcements (in case of the US catalogs)..
It is finding/watching all over the new work that is constantly being done on old issues which often leads to new information, changing information or removal of incorrect, existing information that takes most of the time. In the simplest case, the visible result of all that is a few price adjustments in a new catalog which might give the casual catalog buyer the idea that "these people aren't really doing anything all year"...

That is actually doubtful as the "interesting varieties" often don't surface until after release as well as after the USPS boiler plate descriptions.

In the Scott 6 volume set consisting of 12 distinct publications (books), need I remind you that there are a few more countries issuing stamps in addition to the USA?




Yet most of that work is not done by Scott, rather it is done by others and provided to Scott for free. It is then added to the catalog if and when Scott sees a need. Scott doesn't present itself as a catalogue as detailed as some specialty catalog for various parts of the world.

As to the 1840-1940(ish) Classic most of that update work was done by one person who passed 2-3 years ago. What makes the Classic better than the standard is there was new information being added such as cover prices.

Back to just US items Scott will list when they see a good certificate for the new change from one of the organizations they respect.

There is no doubt Sergio Sismondo was the driving force behind the Classic Specialized, and I know that he was responsible for a number of the editorial additions to the catalogue up until his passing.

The Classic Specialized is much more than a distillation of the first hundred years of the regular Scott. There are "countries" and categories that are not included in the basic Scott, at all. And there are countless varieties, shades, etc., expanding on the basic listings of Scott.

As it is, I was buying a Classic Specialized every other year-ish. New things were always appearing, courtesy of Sismondo. I will slow to every 5 years, if there won't be significant new additions. Updated values aren't enough.

If paper goes away, and there aren't new additions, I won't be subscribing to digital. If new additions continue, I'd consider subscribing to digital, and I think my price would be capped at $6-ish/month.

Scott has stated for new issues they do not list unless they physically have the stamps. This is why some foreign updates take years.

In the end this is a very simple equation. What is the cost of ownership for the exact same information in two different formats over a period of time, say three years. Paper wins on an annual basis plus you can resell paper as a hard asset. The digital advantages are real for the right people with portability and customization opportunities such as what Dan did for revenues. The digital premium here seems way out of whack. Intuitively paper should be more given the production and handling costs. Not to mention that while their are different price levels for paper since supply houses/dealers can stock for resale, the digital doesn't have a "wholesale" price, the product not being available for resale.