“…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"
If at any point left-digit bias stopped working then merchants would increase the price by a penny or a dollar (when going $99 to $100). Walmart is not going to leave money on the table. It still works.
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.
Not trying to start a debate with you and I know you’re just talking about a $10 item (and I agree with you on that) but your comment about “not looking to haggle” being the reason you’d use a whole number is not in agreement with another psychological trick.
When Negotiating A Price, Never Bid With A Round Number
So, round numbers actually invite people to haggle more than precise numbers.
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.
Not trying to debate you at all. You are free to believe what you want to believe.
The title of my post is that people see those 99 prices and then continue to sell their items using whole numbers without questioning it. So, in your responses you validated my post title.
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.
The marketplace probably matters regarding 99 pricing. On Craigslist it looks different than Amazon marketplace or eBay. I sold books on Amazon and all the big sellers used 99 but then when some college kid (with little or no feedback) listed a used textbook they would use a whole number. So, trustworthiness based on 99 doesn’t work that way on Amazon or eBay. The whole number listers are the ones with little sales history and no feedback for you to judge.
I personally use a nickel less than the dollar or $5 less than $100. If I want to sell something for $400 I will list it at $395.
I understand. But what if you’re selling a refrigerator or laptop for $400? You could list it for $399 or $395. The left-digit bias is not just pennies / cents. It applies when going from $99 to $100…$399 to $400…$999 to $1000 etc.
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?