I think we got away from the original post here. I know how stongly Dave feels about online records, so I won't even go there, plus I will see him down in Clearwater. Plenty of time to chat.......Just kidding Dave..
The whole price thing is very near and dear to all of us in this industry. We need to band together somehow and remedy the undercutting. We have at times lowered only to increase volume, I think we have all done this at one time or another.
But the undercutting at such a large scale as we have seen is ridiculous. If you could make $60 a search and do 7 searches a day, or do the same at $30 you're crazy. I know the folks that do these cheap searches do them from their homes and on the internet. They have no overhead and usually no E & O to worry about. By the way, mine skyrocketed this year. Then when they get a title to do they call me to do the chain. When I quote my price they fall over. Granted we may send out a chain or search every now and then, but we have a great network and vendors that have been with us for years. So what I am getting at? The same as always. Sell your product and service, leave price as a last resort.