Community Chat

[Puppy Lips]

Most books are priced with an ending of .95 of .99.

[SilleeMee]

A gimmick implies trickery or deceit of sorts. There's nothing tricky about a price. $9.99 is what you see and is what you'll pay.

[lgfan]

"A gimmick implies trickery or deceit of sorts. There's nothing tricky about a price. $9.99 is what you see and is what you'll pay."

Not necessarily.  One definition of gimmick is "c : a trick or device used to attract business or attention a marketing gimmick."

[Sage04]

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@lgfan wrote:

QVC is not the only place that does this business practice.  It is a proven business tactic that people think that they are getting a bargain if a price is 9.99 instead of 10.00 dollars.  All of the stores use this business tactic.  Even realtors use this tactic.  How many houses do you see for sale for 599,999 instead of 600,000. 

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You are so right @lgfan . Our Real Estate Agent does this also. I always say, just round it up and she would say it does not work that way, and it makes the price seem so much better.

[Kachina624]

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

QVC shows a price of $59.98....instead of $60.00.....

Do you by more when they do this? I guess the psychology of the mind seeing "less than"  sells more... like 99 cents instead of a $1.00.

personally I do not.  I see the REAL price. I would only buy it IF I really wanted it...or felt the price was a good fair price.  

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@SeaMaiden    This is the oldest trick in the retail book.  They've been doing this since the beginning of time.  Just this morning I saw an item priced at $46.97.  The host described it as costing $46.  Which is more realistic $46. or $47?

[Venezia]

@Kachina624 -Yes, I've heard the hosts do that more than once - just give the dollar amount as the price and leave the cents off.  Now, to my mind, that is wrong.  If they're going to do that, they should round up, not down.

[Porcelain]

The stated price isn't really the price you pay anyway. You've got tax, and shipping when applicable. If they want to influence me to buy they ought to advertise a perpetual TN-only coupon code for all purchases that takes 10% off, to cover sales tax for everything.

I also think businesses need to stop saying, "Save up to 50% off!" in ads. We all see through it now. We all know that means the majority of items will have a much lower discount. Just say the actual discount amount, not the upper limit that doesn't apply to much. Saying "up to" makes them seem sketchy, like you have to pay attention or they'll try to put one over on you.

[lgfan]

 "also think businesses need to stop saying, "Save up to 50% off!" in ads. We all see through it now. We all know that means the majority of items will have a much lower discount. Just say the actual discount amount, not the upper limit that doesn't apply to much. Saying "up to" makes them seem sketchy, like you have to pay attention or they'll try to put one over on you."

I also see restaurants advertise breakfasts and lunches as starting at $6.99.  You know that the starting price is the minimal bare bones deal and that your economy meal will invariably be higher.

[Foxxee]

Do you by more when they do this? I guess the psychology of the mind seeing "less than"  sells more... like 99 cents instead of a $1.00.

That's why retailers do it.  Retail research shows many shoppers will definitely buy something marked $9.99 before $10.

[Cakers3]

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@rms1954 wrote:

Prices ending in 99 cents are powerful because we are conditioned to think 99 cents is a bargain, no matter how small the saving.  It's interesting that people don't perceive much difference in value between items priced at $20 and $25. But drop the price by one penny, and they perceive great difference between $19.99 and $24.99.

The power of the number "9" isn't confined to the cents column, either.

One American clothing retailer experimented by changing the price of a dress from $34 to $39 dollars and increased sales by over 30%.  Meaning – higher prices ending in a "9" will actually outperform lower prices – on the very same product.

The alluring thing about 99-cent pricing is that it feels like a sale price.  It's a game stores have played with us for decades.

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@rms1954   Source:  Live Science.  Or did you use another one because Live Science is the first one to pop up.