Re: Nibble DVD

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <_%w7f.7631$Zv5.1943@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>,
Sean Fahey <a2fan@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "Paul Schlyter" <pausch@saaf.se> wrote in message
> news:djluqn$1vi5$1@merope.saaf.se...
> 
>> But I still don't understand why he sets the price at $89.95 instead
>> of $90 ...... there's really only one reason to do that: to try to
>> make it appear as if the product is signficantly cheaper than $90 ...
> 
> I admit I don't know either Paul - but Call-A.p.p.l.e. was doing the same
> thing at $129.95.

I know ... I never said they were any better....

> Maybe it's something that's become inherent in our culture, to price things
> with less than whole numbers (dollars, euros etc...).  I just don't know.

It's indeed inherent in our culture to try to manipulate things to get
something we want.  Pricing is just one way to do that -- trying to make the
product appear cheaper than it actually is.

> By the time I pay tax, even something priced as
> a whole number usually requires me to dig out some pocket change - nothing
> rounds to the whole dollar (well, hardly ever) anymore so it doesn't matter
> to me. Isn't pricing something like this rather arbitrary anyway?

Nope!  If it was, a price tag of $30.05 would be just as common as a
price tag of $29.95 - right?  In reality, the price tag of $30.05 is
extremely uncommon while the tag of $29.95 is very common.  There's a
deliberate selection being made here - so it's not arbitrary at all.
 
> I will state, that in my opinion, I doubt any psychological pricing
> chicanery was implied. Mike seems like a pretty down to earth and sincere
> fellow. And it's not like he's planning to make a ton of money here. Even if
> it was a subliminal marketing nudge, no harm done - he's not some huge
> corporation. Rather than see this as something sinister, personally I would
> have just snickered and thought "smart move Mike..." and moved on.
> 
> Sorry to see you're taking some heat here on this.

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter,  Grev Turegatan 40,  SE-114 38 Stockholm,  SWEDEN
e-mail:  pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW:     http://stjarnhimlen.se/