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People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

kenthendricks.com

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Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#181
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true but we don't know that it is true. When I started my selling software, I priced with something.99 too. I did this because everyone else did. I was unfamiliar with these sorts of things so I followed on. I am sure that in some business at some point, there was a big positive in switching to that sort of pricing. When I switched my software to whole numbers, I did not notice a drop in sales. Things con…

Because you are selling software and your target audience are either business, enterprise or computer engineers. The trial of whole number pricing keeps coming up in Consumer and Retail every 10- 15 years and EVERY time the test shows .99 works. Despite how most of us and even my younger self hated it.

The .99 thing is like the placebo effect.

Both work despite people knowing they exist.

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The consumer. $0.01 doesn't make it affordable, it's just a mind trick. You seem to be aware of this, yet you're defending it.

1. To be frank, I'm not dying on a hill for a penny. A fool and his money... 2. Even if you point it out... What changes. Has anyone ever seriously reconsidered buying a product when you tell them it's $500 instead of $499? What's the harm being done here? 3. What call to action are you suggesting? I'd rather work for laws to include sales tax in US goods' prices than fix this "mind trick". I can't tell you how to li…

Regarding point 2, it seems strange to ask 'what changes?' when the point of the article you're commenting on is showing how and why you spend more when presented with 9-ending items. If it was found to make consumers spend 8% more, quite a lot changes - and in a time of unprecedented household debt in the US, it seems like tactics contrived to get people to spend more are very much worthy of discussion.

Either way, it's a bit disingenuous to frame it as 'just a penny' (the actual quantity of money being spent isn't the point, it's the effect on people's spending habits) and bringing up some other problem to nullify concerns around this one is just bald-faced whataboutism. You can say you don't really care, and that may be true about addressing the problem, but making arguments for why this isn't actually a problem suggests you care about the topic in a way that compels you to dismiss it, at the very least.

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#183
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Logic doesn’t explain human actions. And never will.

That's a non sequitor, as I'm not trying to explain human actions at all in this case.

I think their comment is pointless, and would agree with you calling it a non-sequitur, however I feel the need to pedantically point out that when you wrote "... it seems really bad logic to assume that...", that is explaining a human action (assuming).

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. To be frank, I'm not dying on a hill for a penny. A fool and his money... 2. Even if you point it out... What changes. Has anyone ever seriously reconsidered buying a product when you tell them it's $500 instead of $499? What's the harm being done here? 3. What call to action are you suggesting? I'd rather work for laws to include sales tax in US goods' prices than fix this "mind trick". I can't tell you how to li…

Regarding point 2, it seems strange to ask 'what changes?' when the point of the article you're commenting on is showing how and why you spend more when presented with 9-ending items. If it was found to make consumers spend 8% more, quite a lot changes - and in a time of unprecedented household debt in the US, it seems like tactics contrived to get people to spend more are very much worthy of discussion. Either way,…

My argument is different. The article is studying the macro situation, my comment focuses on the micro. You can argue an exploitative strategy on the macro, but the individual themselves is still getting a product they are assumedly fine paying for (and there's a big assumption that "people wouldn't buy it otherwise" if priced a cent above) .

The harm on the micro level is negligible, and you can even argue the macro level doesn't fundentally harm society like so many other modern tactics. Environments aren't impacted, liberties are not breached. Children are not exploited. There's no slippery slope towards some gambling addiction. It's not opening a door for hate.

>You can say you don't really care, and that may be true about addressing the problem, but making arguments for why this isn't actually a problem suggests you care about the topic in a way that compels you to dismiss it, at the very least.

It's a discussion, I care about seeing others viewpoints. But I don't feel very challenged here. The questions above are all the things I'd hope to have more viewpoints revealed on when I made my comment up chain. So far it's simply been 2 instances of "why are you defending this?" a question on me instead of a glimpse into you and the GGP.

It's a conversation, not a debate (invoking privation fallacy doesn't exactly change my mindset here. Even if I'd "lose" a formal debate). So I answered that question. I'm "defending this" because it feels trivial but so many are riled up about this. Claiming they won't even participate in purchasing such products. Which is baffling to me.

I More than free to clarify if that's unclear, but I hope I can hear others' viewpoints as well. Because I don't get the big deal outside of in a moral vaccuum. In reality, it's comparatively trivial even if we only focus on how pricing works (e.g. The US sales tax problem).

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#185
One of my friends always say e.g. a 29,99€ item as "over 20€", while I directly round them up. It has caused several cases of misunderstanding because when I mention something costs 30€ he can't match the 29,99€ item in his mind. I believe thr number perception can be trained and proper calculated can be attached to the moment a number is seen.

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#186
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me 9.99 is 10. I don't know what they tested, but maybe they shall test again.

That's easy to say, but when it comes to shopping at the store, picking up several items and not actively thinking about it, are you really sure you aren't unconsciously interpreting that 9.99 differently from 10? Personally, I like to think that doesn't work on me, but at the same time I've caught myself saying something was '9 dollars' when I've been distracted and it was in fact 9.99. And even if 9.99 really is 10…

I found it odd that my girlfriend would say out the cents, because personally I have always been rounding up, and never considered the cents, for example.

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#187
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm doing that these days at the grocery store. If your shit ends in an odd number, I'm assuming it's been shrinkflated. OJ bottle of 1.87 liter? Pass.

What? Why don't you just look at unit prices instead? That's the only price I ever look at and other than edge cases like trying new things or goods that you can't use up fast enough, there's no reason to look at anything else. If your store doesn't have them, that's a sign you're at the wrong store and everything is overpriced. Teach your kids this PS: Walmart, which has pretty good prices, is famous for odd prices…

We don't have unit prices here.

Re: People spend more when prices end in .99 (2018)

#188
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm doing that these days at the grocery store. If your shit ends in an odd number, I'm assuming it's been shrinkflated. OJ bottle of 1.87 liter? Pass.

1.87L is 0.5 gal. The product is from the US since half gallon is common size and they didn’t bother changing the size. There are products in US that are in nice metric sizes and weird US sizes. Like the 2L soda.

Ain't no reason I should have to buy a US product
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