this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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Showerthoughts

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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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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I always round up.

I don’t get this idea that 99 makes your brain feel like the price is lower, I don’t know that I’ve experienced it. 99¢ is $1. $49.99 is $50. Plus tax. Who are these “average” people that give themselves a magical mental discount?

[–] Mir@programming.dev 4 points 9 months ago

Sadly I'm one of them

[–] lud@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I love that the article that you didn't read begins with:

Think you're too savvy to be influenced by prices that end in .99, like $4.99? Think again. A 2018 UC Berkeley study found that the average person treats a price ending in .99 as if it were 15 to 20 cents lower.