this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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People live their whole lives watching corporations end prices with 99 yet when they list their own items for sale they choose a whole round number and never question it. (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by sparkitz@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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"...the average person treats a price ending in .99 as if it were 15 to 20 cents lower."

The tendency is called left-digit bias, when the leftmost digit of a number disproportionately influences decision-making. In this case, even though the real difference is only a penny, research shows that, to the average person, $4.99 seems 15 to 20 cents cheaper than $5.00 -- which results in selling 3 to 5 percent more units than at a price of $5.00"

Why Literally (Almost) Every Price Ends in 99 Cents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing

EDIT: The left-digit bias is not just pennies / cents. It applies when going from $99 to $100…$399 to $400…$999 to $1000 etc.

EDIT 2: If you have a car for sale and you want $10,000 for it are you listing it for $10,000 or $9995?

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[–] LZamperini@kbin.social 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

My head went straight to yard sale prices and thought watching someone pull out 99 cents sounds annoying.. in the end the psychology makes sense but a flat number cash or card seems more convenient to the average Joe I'm selling to.

[–] sparkitz@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It's not just pennies / cents. It applies when going from $99 to $100...$399 to $400...$999 to $1000 etc.

If you're selling a car and you want $4000 for it then it's best to list it for $3999 or $3995. Sure, you're giving up $1 or $5 but you're making that price look much more attractive due to the left-digit bias.