Why list price in SaaS contracts is basically fiction?
List price exists for one reason: anchoring.
It is not a reflection of market value, and it is almost never what mature buyers pay.
Why list price still exists
Vendors keep list prices high to:
Anchor negotiations
Inflate perceived discount value
Standardise internal sales metrics
A “40% discount” sounds generous, even if no one ever paid list.
Discount bands are wider than you think
In practice, most enterprise SaaS has:
Entry discounts for new logos
Retention discounts for renewals
Expansion discounts tied to growth
End-of-quarter or end-of-year flexibility
Two customers can be separated by 30–50% on unit price with no functional difference in product.
Why smaller companies often overpay
Counterintuitively, smaller companies frequently pay more because:
They lack benchmarks
They renew late
They accept first offers
They don’t model multi-year trade-offs
Vendors know this.
What procurement-led buyers do differently
Experienced procurement teams:
Ignore list price entirely
Benchmark peers
Negotiate on structure, not just discount
Lock flexibility where it matters (true-ups, exits, reductions)
This is where most savings actually come from.
The uncomfortable truth
If your internal justification references “X% off list”, you’re negotiating against yourself.
List price is theatre. Outcomes are what matter.
Written by AmperStack, a procurement-led software licensing reseller focused on reducing cost, risk, and friction in enterprise SaaS buying.
