I wasn't over-reacting, facts are facts. As long as the local muso community here, young and old, knows the full picture, it will benefit us all.
I know you mean well.
But there are "facts", and there are "truths". Understanding the facts are not enough. One must look at the context to which the facts should be applied to. In this case, if painted in a bad light, people will misunderstand the $10 entry fee and the 50% discount. If painted in the correct perspective, it will make more sense.
There is also another reason for why the prices could have been marked up for the sale: Foreign Currency and Credit Terms. It depends on when SL needs to pay their suppliers. IF they are given a 120 daycredit term, then they will end up paying whatever the exchange rate will be on that date. Recently the Yen and Dollar have become a bit volatile, and the yen has shot up quite a bit. If they needed to recover their margins, I can understand the price increase.
I personally didn't like the way it was applied, but I understood it. Swee Lee was not out to cheat per-se, but I believe they could have done it in a more amicable manner like I suggested earlier for the entry fee.
This was a cash method they used, which is far easier to handle that what I had to do previously in my ex-company's event, which was a $50 entry fee just to sign up chargable through a credit card. Do you know how troublesome it is to reverse a credit card transaction?
Hope they apply this suggestion for the next sale.
