The Saving Advice Forums - A classic personal finance community.

Why Things Cost $19.95: psychological "rules" of bartering

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Why Things Cost $19.95: psychological "rules" of bartering

    people appear to create mental measuring sticks that run in increments away from any opening bid, and the size of the increments depends on the opening bid. That is, if we see a $20 toaster, we might wonder whether it is worth $19 or $18 or $21; we are thinking in round numbers. But if the starting point is $19.95, the mental measuring stick would look different. We might still think it is wrongly priced, but in our minds we are thinking about nickels and dimes instead of dollars, so a fair comeback might be $19.75 or $19.50.

    Why Things Cost $19.95: Scientific American
Working...
X