Pricing Administration Guide > Setting Up Component-Based Pricing >

Component-Based Versus Attribute-Based Pricing

Siebel ePricer allows you to work with two types of customizable products:

• Component-Based Products. Customers can customize products by choosing components. For example, when a customer buys a computer, the customer can customize it by choosing to add peripherals such as a CD drive.
• Attribute-Based Products. Customers can customize products by choosing attributes. For example, when a customer buys a tee-shirt, the customer can customize it by choosing its color.

In most cases, it is clear that a customizable product is one of these two, but in some cases, the product administrator must decide whether to let users select options as product components or as attributes.

For example, if a PC monitor comes in three sizes, 14-inch, 17-inch, and 21-inch, then those monitors could be offered as:

• Three separate products with three different prices, which are used as three component products within a customizable PC product.
• One monitor product with a "Screen Size" attribute that includes three values (14, 17, and 21), which is used as one component product within a customizable PC Product.

You should decide how to set up customizable products, in a way that will be as the product hierarchy and its circumstances change.

NOTE:  In this example, you can see that if you are working with a component-based product, you may need to set up attribute pricing for the component products. A component of a component-based product is also a separate product in the price list, so you can define attribute pricing for it in the same way as for any other product, as described in Setting Up Attribute-Based Pricing. If components have attributes, Siebel ePricer first applies the component-based item pricing, then applies any attribute-based price adjustments for the components.