Update to Ecommerce Skills

{
  "description": "Use when pricing or promoting a digital product sold online — an ebook, online course, template, printable, download, or gated content/lead magnet — e.g. \"how much should I charge for my course\", \"$97 or $100\", \"should I discount pre-orders\", \"how do I label the free PDF\", \"should I let people pay what they want for the ebook\", \"pricing my Notion template\".",
  "included_files": [
    {
      "relative_path": "reference.md",
      "size_in_bytes": 1497
    }
  ],
  "name": "digital-product-pricing",
  "skill_md_contents": "---\nname: digital-product-pricing\ndescription: Use when pricing or promoting a digital product sold online — an ebook, online course, template, printable, download, or gated content/lead magnet — e.g. \"how much should I charge for my course\", \"$97 or $100\", \"should I discount pre-orders\", \"how do I label the free PDF\", \"should I let people pay what they want for the ebook\", \"pricing my Notion template\".\n---\n\n# Digital product pricing\n\nDigital products have no cost signal from materials or shipping, so the price digits carry more of the quality judgment than for a physical good. This skill is the delta versus `pricing`, `promotions`, and `discounts`. Memberships and recurring plans → `subscription-pricing`.\n\n## When to use\n\n- Choosing the digits of a one-off digital price (rounded vs just-below)\n- Pricing a freemium→paid upgrade or wording a lead magnet\n- Designing a pre-order or launch offer, or deciding whether to let buyers pick a price\n\n## When not to use\n\n- Recurring plans and memberships → `subscription-pricing`\n- Working out *how much* people will pay → `price-research`\n- Shared digit, gift, \"$0\", deadline, and depth rules in isolation → `pricing`, `promotions`, `discounts`\n\n## Inputs\n\nCollect, or state your assumption: product and candidate price; individual vs known publisher; whether the buyer has already used a sample or free tier; launch date; results-driven vs pleasure-driven.\n\n> **Classify the product first.** *Hedonic* = bought for enjoyment, pleasure, or the experience (chocolate, fashion, decor, travel, spa, perfume). *Utilitarian* = bought to do a job, judged on function and value (detergent, appliances, insect repellent, tools, accounting software). If it's mixed, decide by what the buyer is optimizing for at the moment of purchase.\n\n## Procedure\n\nOnly the rules that change for digital products. Shared catalogs live in the Depth skills.\n\n1. **Unknown or individual seller → rounded.** No materials or shipping to signal quality, so a rounded price ($100, not $97) is one of the few quality cues available. Just-below reads as price-led. Depth: `pricing`.\n2. **Buyer already knows the quality → just-below.** After a free sample or a freemium upgrade prompt, quality is already experienced and a low-price ending is fine — and the left digit must actually drop. Depth: `pricing`.\n3. **Distant pre-orders: gift, not discount.** Launch 3+ weeks out → bonus module or extra pack at no cost, not a percentage off. Within about a week, either works. Results-driven courses tolerate only short pre-launch windows. Depth: `promotions`.\n4. **Lead magnets: \"for $0\", never \"FREE\".** Depth: `promotions`.\n5. **Pick-your-price, never pay-what-you-want.** 3–4 fixed options; most pick the lowest, so set it deliberately. PWYW is for donations. Depth: `promotions`.\n\nShared, unchanged: sale-price just-below, same-left-digit upgrade tiers, deadline not a seat cap, discount ≤ 40% (quality is hard to judge before buying a file). Depth: `pricing`, `discounts`.\n\n## Worked example\n\nIndividual creator, LinkedIn-growth course, plan: $97, \"FREE download\" checklist, pre-orders 6 weeks out at 20% off, pay-what-you-want ebook.\n\n- $97 → **$100** (unknown seller, quality is the decision driver). Keep a just-below figure for launch-week only.\n- \"FREE download\" → **\"Download it for $0\"**.\n- 20% off, 6 weeks out → **bonus module at no cost**; keep the window short for a utilitarian course.\n- Pay-what-you-want ebook → **three fixed options**.\n- Never \"first 50 spots\"; use a dated deadline.\n\n## Output\n\n| Item | Value |\n|---|---|\n| Price | $100 (rounded — individual seller, quality signal) |\n| Sale/upgrade price | $79.99 during launch week only |\n| Pre-order offer | Bonus module at no cost for orders before launch |\n| Lead magnet wording | \"Get the checklist for $0\" |\n| Participative pricing | Ebook at $9 / $15 / $25, not pay-what-you-want |\n| Why | one line per choice |\n\n## Common mistakes\n\n- $97 \"because creators do it\" — for an unknown seller it signals price-led; round it.\n- Keeping a pre-order discount for a launch weeks away — a gift wins.\n- Calling a lead magnet \"FREE\" — write \"for $0\".\n- Pay-what-you-want with a floor — still pay-what-you-want; use fixed options.\n\n## Quick reference\n\n| Situation | Do | Depth |\n|---|---|---|\n| Individual / unknown seller | Rounded | `pricing` |\n| Freemium / sample already used | Just-below | `pricing` |\n| Pre-order, 3+ weeks out | Gift, not discount | `promotions` |\n| Lead magnet | \"For $0\" | `promotions` |\n| Let buyers choose | 3–4 fixed options | `promotions` |\n| Discount / urgency | ≤ 40%; dated deadline | `discounts` |\n\nEvidence and effect sizes: see [reference.md](reference.md).\n"
}