The Retriever Field Trial News has just issued a press release
http://www.working-retriever.com/rftentry.html
http://www.working-retriever.com/rftentry.html
Latest Salvo in the EE v RFTN Fight
Ted Shih
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The Retriever Field Trial News has just issued a press release
http://www.working-retriever.com/rftentry.html
http://www.working-retriever.com/rftentry.html
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Thanks Ted
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It seems to me if it turns out that RTFN would be losing money on entries by giving away the catalogs for a period of time, this would be considered an anti-competitive action to destroy the other firm in the arena. I do not know how much income is derived from advertising, so it still may profitable. It seems unlikely, though.
I am not an attorney. Perhaps someone here has some expertise in predatory business practices.
I am not an attorney. Perhaps someone here has some expertise in predatory business practices.
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Seems like competition to me. ShaYne can handle it.
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I am not an Arkansas attorney, but I doubt whether under these facts offering free catalogs consitutes impermissible below cost pricing.
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Maybe they've never had to put on a weekend trial.
From the Press Release...
Free Catalogues
As an introductory offer, RFTEntry will provide free catalogues for the first 75 clubs that select RFTEntry for their event. This approach is the best way to both load our database and to provide the clubs with a significant cost savings! In order to spread the good word, this benefit is limited to one event per club.
Cost to the Competitor
We encourage everyone to load up the profiles of their competing dogs and to use the RFTEntry service. Electronic users will be charged $2.50 per entry. Electronic entries made through our VIP program will incur a $2.00 per entry charge. RFTEntry recognizes that some dog owners do not have access to a computer or simply elect to use paper entries. For this small group of owners there will be no cost in sending paper entries. In our discussion with field trial secretaries, there were generally less than 5 entries per trial that were received from owners in paper form. Agents and other members of “the trade” that file paper entries will incur a $3.50 charge per entry. For professional handlers, alternate handlers, and agents, this charge creates the proper incentive to use our electronic database.
Am I reading this corretly, they are only willing to pay for the catalogs for one trial only?
Big deal!
In regards to the $3.50 surcharge tactic for those that prefer Entry Express, that's what they have to do in an attempt to get Entry Express' business. I'd rather pay the $3.50 (which really comes to $2.50 with the double bonus bucks with Dogs Afield)chump change than be blackmailed!
I will cancel my subscrpition to RFTN.
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Out of curiousity, does anyone think that since RFTN is the "premier" FT (and AKC HT) reporting souce, RFTN feels that they have more to offer than the subscriber who cancels has to lose? Or, in other words, that RFTN doesn't really care if they lose some subscribers???
Doing without a RFTN subscription regards,
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It is my understanding that Retriever Field Trail News has about 4000 subscribers, not many for a monthly publication and there is no large untapped reservoir of potential subscribers.
I would suspect that the potential loss of even 100 subscribers would be significant. In reality a monthly printed periodical with a very small target audience is a dinosaur. RFTN's primary value historically has been the publication of (guess what) retriever field trial results. With the advent of RTF and EE those results are often available in real time so that by the time RFTN comes out it mostly contains old news.
On a few occassions over the years I sought to have pertinent articles about dog health issues published in RFTN but each time I was ignored or rebuffed.
It is unfortunate that RFTN did not invest it's resources into a quality online publication with up to date news, statistics, and real time field trial and hunt test results, that I believe, would have been well received, popular, and profitable.
Ex-Retriever Field Trial News Subscriber Since 1992 Regards.......
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Even though the news is old, I still like the purty pictures.
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Don't plan to renew my subscription next month either Vicky.
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nah, I was still paying for it back then.........my well chronicled break up with RFTN management was in 1992.....
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As always it boils down to service. Giving things away is a perfectly legitimate business strategy and usually done to capture market share. However if the service is lousy it's not even worth free. The market will always decide the relative merits of competing enterprise.
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