Men Are Paying Sixfold Markups to Feel Cool About Buying Generic Viagra

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-22/generic-viagra-online-sellers-may-not-offer-a-great-deal

by lxm • 7 years ago

33 23 7 years ago

arcticbull4• 7 years ago

Kudos to Hims and Roman. Their branding and comms strategy are on point, and they've tapped into a longstanding insecurity for men. I can't help but feel like this is applying the same sales strategy used often in women's beauty products -- pointing out flaws then selling you a solution -- but with an added premium for discretion and 'hiding your shame.' Then consolidating all your 'shameful' purchases into a one-stop shop by selling hair-loss products? Genius.

I mean, where else are you going to go? Fess up to your doctor? Stand in line at Walgreens? Some shady site on the dark web?

jds375• 7 years ago

There are some potential downsides with the model that they are using with respect to the client-doctor relationship. See here for some more details: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/technology/for-him-for-he...

draw_down• 7 years ago

I don't think it's about "feeling cool", come on. I think the advantage is that you can do it all online without having to go to a doctor and discuss your erection problems in person.

koolba• 7 years ago

Hims charges $28.50 for a monthly supply of finasteride, plus a $5 fee for an online physician visit. The drug can be had for half the price elsewhere.

Good luck finding a doctor to write you a scrip elsewhere for $5. Assuming you’re on the common high deductible plan you’re looking at $100+ for a 5-min appointment unless you can mention it in passing to during your annual checkup.

Can you take the scrip from these online pharmacies to your local one and get the $.15/pill pricing?

arcticbull4• 7 years ago

Can you take the scrip from these online pharmacies to your local one and get the $.15/pill pricing?

I'd wager the bulk of the premium is in the discretion -- bland packaging that just shows up at your door -- so you don't have to look anyone in the face and ask for it. If you were okay with that, you'd just have done it at your annual physical like you suggested.

village-idiot• 7 years ago

And convenience too. I use Harry’s razors because the shopping experience is really nice, even though I could probably find a similar quality for cheaper elsewhere. Sometimes people optimize for ease rather than cost.

jonathanjaeger• 7 years ago

Costco online costs about $35-$40 PER YEAR for finasteride and it comes in just as bland a packaging as anyone else would send. I can't speak to the other products Hims sells. Hims is cheaper than CVS for generic finasteride but is 10x more expensive than Costco online.

romwell2• 7 years ago

The same can be said about many things Costco sells.

And yet people are willingly paying about $100/year for Amazon Prime to buy things from Amazon at a higher price.

Not understanding why people would prefer to do that is a big part in how companies like Sears died.

romwell2• 7 years ago

So you're saying one can pay $35 and get something with a click, and only get charged a few bucks out of that for conveniece?

These guys are Amazon Prime for Viagra.

JauntTrooper• 7 years ago

Not to mention the time it takes to find a doctor, schedule an appointment, fill out their extensive (always hand written) forms, give them insurance info, take time off of work to go wait in the waiting room for hours.... doctors are as convenient as the DMV.

mlevental• 7 years ago

Can you take the scrip from these online pharmacies to your local one and get the $.15/pill pricing?

https://www.getroman.com/faq/#toggle-id-3

You can always use your own pharmacy, although it can be twice the price. It’s also important that your pharmacy is able to receive e-prescriptions and that it’s part of the Surescripts Network. (The Surescripts Network includes 95% of pharmacies across the country).

The "twice the price" thing is a scare tactic. If you're insurance covers it then it'll be cheap.

erikig• 7 years ago

If Veblen Goods are the expensive objects of conspicuous consumption, what will we call the expensive objects of inconspicuous consumption?

arcticbull4• 7 years ago

"Male enhancements" haha

gleenn• 7 years ago

The value prop is not having to have an in-person doctor visit or pay a huge copay to get access to the drug. The per-pill cost is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of cost, especially if you don’t actually want that much of the drug.

glenra2• 7 years ago

The framing of this article is weird. Keeps.com charges $25/month for finasteride; if we look that up on GoodRx it is ONE THIRD the regular retail price at CVS or Target or Rite-Aid or Walgreens. True, it's more than the secret with-special-coupon price nobody knows about, but since most people do pay the original overinflated retail price, those who patronize these services are saving money. They're perhaps not saving the most money they possibly could if they checked the GoodRx rankings every month, printed out those special coupons and stood in line...but that sounds like a lot of work.

glenra2• 7 years ago

I wonder if this article was inspired by a Blink Health press release? The article positions them as the obvious one to switch to if you still want automatic ordering/delivery and don't want to bother with in-person coupons or a doctor's visit: According to the article:

"Blink Health, a drug-discount startup that pitches low prices on generic drugs, recently added a men’s health telemedicine offering that undercuts Hims and Roman, charging $6.95 for 10 sildenafil pills and $8.95 for a month’s supply of finasteride."

Except...I just went through their order form for finasteride and noticed that in addition to the charge for the pills there is also a 9.95/month "subscription fee", making the full price (after a first-month discount) "$18.90 per month with auto-refill."

Which is still a BIT cheaper than the other services, but not THAT much cheaper.

elissawilliams• 7 years ago

All the medicines are not making side effects on the body. But few medicines are making the side effects due to the patient’s body health conditions. But the doctor must aware of the medicine power and patient health condition. My small suggestion is prevention is better than cure. So be care full...before taking the medicine. Men can buy generic Viagra online from a well-known online pharmacy name as Assertmeds.com. This pharmacy gives two-fold advantages to its customers i.e. they get top quality medication at a reasonable price. For more details, you can visit: https://www.assertmeds.com/generic-viagra.html

mangoleaf• 7 years ago

They are making their margin from the fancy marketing, AND from not having to talk with their doc about it. It is called the shame coefficient. Clearly prices can be had for significantly less as seen in a comparison site [1]

[1] vqRN : http://vqrn.com/Compare-Pharmacies-Viagra.html

Men Are Paying Sixfold Markups to Feel Cool About Buying Generic Viagra

Related Stories