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Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

m.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#81

Post by baddox »

mmastrac wrote: post #17
baddox wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Price discrimination only works if people can't easily identity that discrimination is in play. While this specific pricing model seems odd to me, I don't think I agree with your general claim. I think everyone understands the iPhone product line, with different prices for different amounts of storage space. As far as I know, that works really well for Apple, yet it would be difficult to have a more blatant example…

I think what he means is charging different prices for different users for the same product.

"Price discrimination" is widely used to refer to identical or nearly identical products whose cost of production is nearly identical despite being offered at significantly different prices.

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#82

Post by minimaxir »

bazookajoes wrote: post #67
minimaxir wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basic Tinder was crippled (swipe limit) in order to convince people to buy the premium version.

How do you know that Tinder Plus doesn't have the same swipe limit? That is not stated in the Tinder FAQ, in the BBC article or the TechCrunch article.

Via Reddit: http://i.imgur.com/LtHhRbY.jpg

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#83

Post by aetherson »

bazookajoes wrote: post #80
aetherson wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that they're using age as a proxy for attractiveness. Rather, I think they're trying to profit from an asymmetry that they believe exists: that there is a significant population of people over 28 who would really like to hook up with people under 28, and are willing to pay for the privilege. They may also believe that they will be more attractive to their core demographic if there are fewer older people…

The problem with your argument is that basic tinder is still free and tinder plus gives you almost no competitive advantage. It gives you undo, which is a minor advantage, and it gives you passport which can be accomplished for free on any unrooted Android phone or any jailbroken IPhone. In the future it will prevent you from needed to see ads, but I imagine that will also be a minor advantage.

It presumably affects people on the margin.

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#84

Post by hsod »

AdrianRossouw wrote: post #65
hsod wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Movie theaters very clearly show the different prices for different groups (students, seniors, etc.) and no one seems to mind. Same with zoos, museums, etc.

don't those also require the presentation of a valid student id, or some form of senior citizen id ?

student ID-- yes. senior citizen ID is probably just a drivers license with a DOB on it.

not sure if you were agreeing or disagreeing with my point?

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#86

Post by bazookajoes »

aetherson wrote: post #83
bazookajoes wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with your argument is that basic tinder is still free and tinder plus gives you almost no competitive advantage. It gives you undo, which is a minor advantage, and it gives you passport which can be accomplished for free on any unrooted Android phone or any jailbroken IPhone. In the future it will prevent you from needed to see ads, but I imagine that will also be a minor advantage.

It presumably affects people on the margin.

What potential effect and margin are you thinking of?

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#87

Post by bazookajoes »

minimaxir wrote: post #82
bazookajoes wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know that Tinder Plus doesn't have the same swipe limit? That is not stated in the Tinder FAQ, in the BBC article or the TechCrunch article.

Via Reddit: http://i.imgur.com/LtHhRbY.jpg

Thank you, it is interesting that that is not in FAQ

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#88

Post by aetherson »

bazookajoes wrote: post #86
aetherson wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It presumably affects people on the margin.

What potential effect and margin are you thinking of?

Marginal utility of Tinder probably increases for premium users, and I presume that marginal use also increases for those users.

Marginal use of Tinder probably decreases among people who feel excluded by the price discrimination and do not buy into it.

Marginal utility of Tinder probably increases for the college-aged target demographic if marginal use of Tinder by older (especially poorer and older) users declines.

At least, that's what I think Tinder is hoping will happen.

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#89

Post by tracker1 »

onion2k wrote: post #9

I'm reasonably certain the UK's age discrimination legislation under the Equality Act 2010 could be used to take Tinder to court for this. Basically, it's illegal to charge people more simply because of how old they are. http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/your-rights/equal-rights/...

I'm not sure how well this might hold up... there are plenty of places that offer senior, military and under-12 discounts in pricing... It does kind of smack in the face as discriminatory based on a pretty non-traditional division in age.

Re: Tinder to charge older users more for premium facilities

#90

Post by richardbrevig »

bazookajoes wrote: post #32
jfoutz wrote: post #27

I'm surprised they're charging women. Perhaps this just reveals my sexism. They obviously have the data, I guess it's impressive they're able to charge men and women the same price. I'd always put tinder in that category of hookup-ish bar that doesn't charge women cover.

Many people in tinder are using it for real dating, not just hookups. Many bios include "Not looking for a hookup".

My personal experience with these types of apps is that what people post in their profile and what actually happens upon meeting are not highly correlated.
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