It’s a dark pattern. Maybe at one point in time people would be tricked into believing $3.99 was emotionally a lot less than $4 but we’ve grown up with it now for several generations. Everyone knows it costs more anyway because of taxes not being applied until the register. The mistrust is built into the system out of tradition more than anything.
This trips you up so many times if you visit the US from somewhere else. The number of times I’d see a snack listed for 99c, have a dollar bill on me and then they ask for like $1.12 is higher than I’d like to admit.
It still works at scale. If I’m selling a couch on craigslist for $10, I’d have to be a massive butthole to advertise it at $9.99. The fuck am I going to do, give them a penny in change? $10 is $10. I only need to sell it once, and I do not have the patience to deal with someone looking to haggle.
That’s not a persuasive argument. I’m not interested in haggling. The price is $10. If you see that and think “Oh, I’ll offer $5” then the answer is “no”. We’re sure as shit not going to meet in the middle at $7.50.
Same argument at $400. That’s what I want to get for it, which is why I put that price on it. I don’t want $399 or $250, because life is too short and I’m not that desperate to sell anything. I’d rather give it away for free than haggle with someone over the price. I don’t need to sell it today, and I’m happy to wait for someone who is willing to pay the asking price. I’m not running a pawn shop.
Right, and my point is that we don’t question it because it would be absurd to sell one-off items on-digit-removed from the actual selling price. I wouldn’t buy anything from someone selling shit on craigslist for $99 because it’s the sort of dishonest advertising that takes advantage of a psychological bias. I understand why Walmart does it, but that doesn’t make it a smart thing that good people do. It’s ths sort of deceptive thing greedy people do.
Then I want $400. Like I said, I onlyhave to sell it once. I don’t need to sell it to more than one person.
And if I saw someone selling a refrigerator for $399, personally it would make me doubt their trustworthiness.
The left digit bias is real over large groups of people. You’re going to sell more laptops at $399 because of left digit bias, but it doesn’t make a discernable difference when you’re only selling one. And again, then I have to deal with making change. Somebody’s going to hand me four hundred dollar bills, and I’m going to dig into my pocket for a crumpled single? Or maybe three quarters, two dimes, and a nickel?
It’s a dark pattern. Maybe at one point in time people would be tricked into believing $3.99 was emotionally a lot less than $4 but we’ve grown up with it now for several generations. Everyone knows it costs more anyway because of taxes not being applied until the register. The mistrust is built into the system out of tradition more than anything.
Well, that’s only if you’re in the US.
This trips you up so many times if you visit the US from somewhere else. The number of times I’d see a snack listed for 99c, have a dollar bill on me and then they ask for like $1.12 is higher than I’d like to admit.
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It still works at scale. If I’m selling a couch on craigslist for $10, I’d have to be a massive butthole to advertise it at $9.99. The fuck am I going to do, give them a penny in change? $10 is $10. I only need to sell it once, and I do not have the patience to deal with someone looking to haggle.
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That’s not a persuasive argument. I’m not interested in haggling. The price is $10. If you see that and think “Oh, I’ll offer $5” then the answer is “no”. We’re sure as shit not going to meet in the middle at $7.50.
Same argument at $400. That’s what I want to get for it, which is why I put that price on it. I don’t want $399 or $250, because life is too short and I’m not that desperate to sell anything. I’d rather give it away for free than haggle with someone over the price. I don’t need to sell it today, and I’m happy to wait for someone who is willing to pay the asking price. I’m not running a pawn shop.
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Right, and my point is that we don’t question it because it would be absurd to sell one-off items on-digit-removed from the actual selling price. I wouldn’t buy anything from someone selling shit on craigslist for $99 because it’s the sort of dishonest advertising that takes advantage of a psychological bias. I understand why Walmart does it, but that doesn’t make it a smart thing that good people do. It’s ths sort of deceptive thing greedy people do.
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Then I want $400. Like I said, I onlyhave to sell it once. I don’t need to sell it to more than one person.
And if I saw someone selling a refrigerator for $399, personally it would make me doubt their trustworthiness.
The left digit bias is real over large groups of people. You’re going to sell more laptops at $399 because of left digit bias, but it doesn’t make a discernable difference when you’re only selling one. And again, then I have to deal with making change. Somebody’s going to hand me four hundred dollar bills, and I’m going to dig into my pocket for a crumpled single? Or maybe three quarters, two dimes, and a nickel?