Superlative Comments & Tea Prices?

The only time I raise prices is if there is a cost increase (pu erh prices go up every year or every few years as the tea gets older).

The 90s loose liu an I carried on the site was flying off the shelves (so to speak) and there was such a limited amount of it that I raised the price and limited purchases to 15 or 50g, tops, per order, since there isn’t any left from that dealer, aside from what I have on hand! I really want more people to try the tea before it’s gone forever, which is why I took steps to limit demand!

I (speculate) I’ve seen it a couple times with very popular and ‘underpriced’ teas sold by western facing vendors, it was the vendor’s house label tea, and those comments were from western tea drinkers. Usually the sentiment regarding a tea is reiterated across multiple forums, then shortly afterwards I saw the prices increase to beyond what I personally thought the tea was worth. As for major labels, factory teas, etc…no. **note: you can never really know for sure, but the speculation comes from odd coincidence and timing

Here’s a prime example:
https://steepster.com/looseTman/posts/357567#comments

Sure, it is possible, but would be a myopic strategy in my opinion. Unless there are underlying reasons for a price increase, many of which have been covered by comments above, the price set by a vendor shouldn’t be inflated as a response to popularity or praise. In the short term that may lead to increased margins, in the long term though, it could perhaps erode goodwill if enough people notice a sudden hike in price.

We are a tiny vendor, even in comparison to small vendors active on this site or elsewhere. Recently, one of our teas was picked up by a very high end eatery in Boston, known for its weekend afternoon tea. We could advertise the praise and quietly raise prices, for absolutely no rhyme or reason, or could keep prices as is and let people know of the vetted quality of tea and perhaps reach a wider audience.

From what I have seen, loose leaf tea drinkers that subscribe to sites like this often seek word of mouth validation from other tea drinkers for new teas/vendors to try. You want to be known as a vendor who provides a quality product at a fair price, not one that raises prices in response to favorable reviews.

If it is in limited supply and people rave about it I do believe that it can affect its market value. Look at Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. 10 years ago I could walk into almost any decent bottle shop and find the entire line with Pappy 20 selling for $99 on any day all day long. Now nearly not available and if it is the price is exceedingly high indeed. Check out the secondary market prices and people are paying them. Interestingly enough the rave reviews were deserved 10 years ago in my opinion but though the price has increased dramatically the quality is just not the same for all kinds of reasons. Supply and demand is the rule.