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Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

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Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#151

Post by shalmanese »

luis8 wrote: post #114
bogota wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it’s likely not true or the full story.

Why would i lie? I'm pretty sure they also use my destinations to asses my income and factor that into how much i'm willing to pay for a ride

People have been accusing Uber of this ever since it started and Uber has categorically denied that it's doing this [1] "We may price routes differently based on our understanding of demand patterns, not individual riders."

And this entire time, nobody has generated definitive proof that this is happening which is a photo of two phones side by side going to the same location listing different prices despite how easy such proof would be to generate.

It's the same as the whole "Yelp deletes reviews if you don't buy ads" or "Facebook is listening to your microphone and serving you up ads". Proof is easy to generate and yet it never appears, only endlessly more anecdotes and speculation.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/13/uber-l...

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#152

Post by Wiseacre »

Dma54rhs wrote: post #131
Razengan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

Facebook does have a free dating inside their regular FB app.

They are incentivized to maximize engagement just like Tinder. Seems like an awfully ripe place for abuse. Dating should not be handled by a for-profit company.

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#153

Post by hda2 »

barry-cotter wrote: post #141
hda2 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what you're going on about, but this "crap" was in reference to increasing price without offering something in return. If a store sold a woman an specific item for 5x the price they offer to men, they would be sued for discrimination. Unless serving certain demographics costs tinder more (thereby justifying the increase the price), it is objectively unfair and discriminatory. End of story.

The “crap” you’re talking about is the idea that fairness has a place in mating. The thing that justifies tinder charging different groups of people different prices is that they want to and if people don’t want to buy they don’t have to. It’s the same rationale by which tiers of software services that differ in their cost to the provider by little or nothing differ in their cost to the buyer by orders of magnitude.…

> The “crap” you’re talking about is the idea that fairness has a place in mating.

That "crap" is something you brought up on your own. We're discussing unfair discriminatory pricing, not mating.

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#154

Post by nikanj »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #144
nikanj wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering their size, their pricing is probably also based on data. They probably know scaringly well how big the ”risk” of you finding love is, and can price services accordingly

Hmm, you'd think then that they'd charge a higher price for younger, good looking people with the text "not DTF" in their profile then. They're a) far more likely to find a partner and b) leave the platform when they do. So higher "risk" of exiting the platform from Tinder's POV, so you'd want to get their money upfront, presumably? Divorced men who are going to fat while balding, with 50/50 care of three kids and al…

It’s not the exit risk, it’s ”how likely are you to be desperate”. And they have real-time data on it, they know how long the average user views your profile, how often you match, etc

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#155

Post by HWR_14 »

Dma54rhs wrote: post #131
Razengan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

Facebook does have a free dating inside their regular FB app.

His question: Why isn't someone doing something to alleviate misery and a societal problem?

Provided answer: Create a Facebook account.

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#156

Post by Beltalowda »

Razengan wrote: post #108
Beaver117 wrote: post #3

Of 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 th…

meetup.com is probably the closest service; although not for dating specifically, meet enough people and sooner or later you'll meet a partner (and if you don't, you usually still have a good time). They don't do a stellar job, but it's okay.

Dating specifically is a pretty difficult problem space because of the creeps, abusers, asynchronicity of the experience of men and women, etc. This is also a problem in non-dating; for example every city where I've attended Couchsurfing meetups there was at least one "creepy guy", and almost every women I've talked to for some length had at least one story.

Plus, it also depends on the "network effect"; why is everyone on Tinder? Because everyone is on Tinder! couchsurfing.com is a badly run platform but none of the alternatives have taken off because there just aren't that many people there.

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#157

Post by rahimnathwani »

chii wrote: post #81
gruez wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Is that 'unfairly discriminating against a certain demographic'? I suspect it gets a free pass because the demographic being discriminated against is better off (eg. adults who tend to have more disposable income). If it were the other way around (eg. software companies charging elderly people more because they don't know any better), there's going to be more backlash.

It's not that they're better-off, but rather that the movie theater discovered that a movie the child wants to see often forces the parents with them. By discounting the child, they increased the sale of at least 1 ticket for the parent, and therefore, they make more money. If the child wasn't discounted, the parent might choose an alternative source of entertainment (because face it, adults tend not to want to watch…

OK, pretend that I said this instead:

"Most people are fine with movie theatres charging 65+ SENIORS less than they charge adults."

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#158

Post by Beltalowda »

anonporridge wrote: post #4
greatpostman wrote: post #2

Tinder is basically 5/100 guys getting all the matches per 90/100 women.

I believe old OkCupid data (which has since been deleted from their blog) found exactly this. In short, males looking for females are very even in their rating of women along a bell curve. Females looking for males heavily skew towards the top 20% of males, while considering the bottom 80% "below average". Tinder, and every other dating app, absolutely take advantage of this deep truth of human psychology and milk th…

Having looked a bit at male profiles, I have to say that a lot of profiles really are quite bad. For whatever reason, the "average quality" is worse.

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#159

Post by Lewton »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #32
greatpostman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, basically they make you pay to tip the odds so in your favor that you might overcome that terrible ratio I quoted

I'm actually surprised that dating apps aren't doing more with monetization opportunities. There are plenty of whales out there who would be happy to deploy their disposable income for mating opportunities. Why not let someone spend $1000 a day to be the top displayed profile in a city for an entire day?

You can already do this in tinder for about 24x30 usd (prices probably vary)

Re: Tinder’s pricing algorithm can charge users up to 5x more for same service

#160

Post by baobabKoodaa »

Beltalowda wrote: post #158
anonporridge wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe old OkCupid data (which has since been deleted from their blog) found exactly this. In short, males looking for females are very even in their rating of women along a bell curve. Females looking for males heavily skew towards the top 20% of males, while considering the bottom 80% "below average". Tinder, and every other dating app, absolutely take advantage of this deep truth of human psychology and milk th…

Having looked a bit at male profiles, I have to say that a lot of profiles really are quite bad. For whatever reason, the "average quality" is worse.

Are they so bad that the average male profile is somehow below average?
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