Whether they're dick moves is all in how you handle them. In the nonprofit world, these things are well-known and tend to be handled with finesse and even grace.
1. It's not just about items in stock. "Our SomeNonprofit membership program has just 10 places left at the platinum level, where you receive the following benefits..."
2. Social proof is more than just what people are watching. "Fans of SomeNonprofit donate an average of $121 to SomeNonprofit every year." Or, "When we asked SomeNonprofit donors what they liked most, they said it was the way SomeNonprofit does SomeThing. If you like SomeThing, too, then donate to support SomeNonprofit." It's really just about demonstrating that others have done a thing so it's okay for you to do it, too.
3. One nonprofit I'm involved with very successfully does a fundraising campaign for the last 24 hours of every year. It's an artificial time restraint in some ways, but it also capitalizes on being the very last day each year that tax-deductible donations count toward a year's taxes. It's a true time-constraint!
OK, agreed here. I need to specify it a bit more: 1 and 3 are dick moves when they are totally artificial, like saying only 3 left while the stock is around 300 or saying "only 2 hours left" when the time constraints are imaginary.
In your case they are not, so I agree that it is interesting to remind people of actually seeing these.
1. It's not just about items in stock. "Our SomeNonprofit membership program has just 10 places left at the platinum level, where you receive the following benefits..."
2. Social proof is more than just what people are watching. "Fans of SomeNonprofit donate an average of $121 to SomeNonprofit every year." Or, "When we asked SomeNonprofit donors what they liked most, they said it was the way SomeNonprofit does SomeThing. If you like SomeThing, too, then donate to support SomeNonprofit." It's really just about demonstrating that others have done a thing so it's okay for you to do it, too.
3. One nonprofit I'm involved with very successfully does a fundraising campaign for the last 24 hours of every year. It's an artificial time restraint in some ways, but it also capitalizes on being the very last day each year that tax-deductible donations count toward a year's taxes. It's a true time-constraint!