Can this be the basis of a class action lawsuit by the affected demographics?
Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
101–110 of 174 posts
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#102This will likely become more normal over time. No one really cares because it’s mostly men who are losing their money. And rich men aren’t often on these apps - so it’s only the working class that is losing. So, working class men are getting screwed over by a corporation? No, you don’t say.
Price discrimination is illegal if it's on the basis of gender, race, religion, or nationality. Tinder isn't charging men more however - just older people. It's unlikely age-based price discrimination will ever be made illegal, because it would effectively outlaw senior discounts.
At least outside the US it was a thing: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8618343/Tinder-Plus...
There's some anecdotes online that it used to charge more for men. I don't know if all those people didn't live in the US.
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#103Uber does the same thing. I noticed this one time when a friend was asking for the same ride. He has a basic credit card and i have a platinum amex card. My ride was 40% higher for the same trip
How the fuck is that even legal?
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because sex, age, and race are statistically significant factors in how much the insurance companies will pay out for each demographic. Personalized pricing for a digital service with a more-or-less constant cost-per-user doesn't make sense here (unless you want to maximize profits by unfairly discriminating against certain demographics).
What’s this “unfair” crap? We’re talking about dating and mating. Apart from war there may be no human activity in which fairness applies less. Price discrimination in dating apps is as problematic as in airline tickets. Twenty year old men moan about actually having to try and ask people out if they want a date. Thirty five year old women complain that they can’t find someone who loves them for their career accompli…
> Apart from war there may be no human activity in which fairness applies less.
Agreed, which is why it was a big collective fuckup for Western societies to migrate from the societies where premarital and extramarital sex was condemned, thus ensuring a far more even distribution of sexual access for men and women.
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#105If your phone is a recent or expensive model, the subscription prices for apps may be higher, or the discounts lower, because you presumably have more disposable income.
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is really apparent in their “Top Picks” feature. They give you a list of people the algorithm thinks you will like, but you’re only allowed to check out one of them in free mode. Even though apparently these people are a great match for you they do not show up in the course of regular swiping. Which makes it obvious that Tinder is keeping a holdout set of people it thinks you are compatible with and never shows…
I think you got that wrong. Top Picks appear to be people who are picked the most, not because I would personally like them. Most of the time I like none of them even if they obviously have a “good” profile (sexy photos, no bio)
Funny you say that. When I was using Tinder I assumed that sexy photos and no profile description or bio were bots or scams. I completely ignored them.
Also, if someone can't be bothered to even write a single word. Meh.
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#107Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#108Of course, also Tinder's profit is directly dependant on you not finding a partner, so you continue to use their service.
Dating, matchmaking, or even just finding friends, is a perfect problem space that is just ripe for a free service to come and try to solve.
Why isn’t there a free platform for dating? (not counting the subreddits and FB groups for that, because they’re retooling something else, not built from the ground up to solve problems specific to this space).
It’s one of the biggest social issues imo, especially in cultures that restrict or repress dating in meatspace, or places with uneven demographics (e.g. there are literally millions of more men than women out there, which means that many will inevitably “die alone”)
If more people could find a suitable partner or even just compatible friends, it would make the world a much better place, if only by reducing misery (and spurring the economy :)
Why isn’t anyone else stepping in besides the wolves that just prey upon loneliness and desperation?
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#109Uber does the same thing. I noticed this one time when a friend was asking for the same ride. He has a basic credit card and i have a platinum amex card. My ride was 40% higher for the same trip
How the fuck is that even legal?
Why would it not be? I’m not trying to be snarky. Under what law would that be illegal? Charging different people different prices for the same thing is perfectly legal so long as it’s not due to that person being a member of a protected class (race, sex, etc.).
Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
"fairness" is an interesting concept in commerce of any kind, which seems to be more prevalent in the US than elsewhere.[1] If one thinks of commerce as "willing buyer,willing seller" then a transaction occurs at the point where both sides are content with the money/product swap. What other people paid for the same product is only tangentially relevant - if I'm happy with the transaction today why should I be less ha…
> if I'm happy with the transaction today why should I be less happy tomorrow based on someone else's transaction? jealousy. Even animal studies have shown that monkeys who sees another monkey receive more reward for the same "work" gets angry (i recall it was some experiment where one monkey got "paid" in grapes, while another was paid in something else less desirable - i forgot what - and initially both were happy,…
This is a useful strategy. If the other monkey is getting paid in grapes and you're getting feed pellets, why shouldn't you make a play for an equally good reward?
Obviously there are cases where you'll never get the grapes, but that's why we have executive function.