.99 versus whole dollar amounts for price?

[starmasayume]

So I've been debating on this. All other places I sell my art I've used whole dollar amounts to price (most likely stemmed from selling at conventions where that is what everyone does). I sometimes add a dollar to help recover ebay fees when I sell here. Do you feel sales are better when you, say, price at $11.99 versus $12?

I also add shipping as I haven't been comfortable incorporating "free" shipping by overpricing my little art items if that makes any difference.

[simba6]

It's silly but yes, 0.99 is better than 1.00.   Just about any prices you see are set up that way.

[donsdetour]

Its a trained in marketing of the general public (Sheeppeole).

They see .99 under.  1.00 and its over. 

Normal marketing technique.

[fuzzface50]

Quite a few of the original sellers here got used to using .99 versus an even amount when they used to charge the listing fee by the starting prices. for example back in the hay day if you listed something starting at $10.00 it cost you a .50 fee but if you just dropped the price a penny and started it at $9.99 then you are only charged .25 fee.

So some just got used to doing that and still do it today. 

[luckythewinner]

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@starmasayume wrote:

So I've been debating on this. All other places I sell my art I've used whole dollar amounts to price (most likely stemmed from selling at conventions where that is what everyone does). I sometimes add a dollar to help recover ebay fees when I sell here. Do you feel sales are better when you, say, price at $11.99 versus $12?

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Everyone I know who passes a gas station with a sign saying $1.93.9 remarks that the gas is $1.93

[gdiesel70 · Accepted solution]

For me,  charm pricing, or psychological pricing ( prices ending in .99) work best on eBay. That’s just me. It depends on your target customer and what you sell. If you're selling a service or  have a unique OoAK item prestige prices may work best, e.g., $25; $150; $1200, etc. 

When I freelanced years ago, that was not the case. Charm prices  seemed to lure in the worst, scope-creeping, time-sucking,  penny pinching clients.  Prestige prices help weed out  problem customers  when selling in a market where price is not a concern. 

Again, that’s just my $0.02. 

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

[gwzcomps]

I do odd pricing out of habit and to lowball my competitors by a penny. 😉  I wonder if a new study was done if the penny nonsense would still be an effective psychological trick.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@starmasayume wrote:

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Everyone I know who passes a gas station with a sign saying $1.93.9 remarks that the gas is $1.93

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Yea I was gonna say this exact same thing. Too bad ebay doesn't let us charge nine tenths of a penny like gas stations do.

[bigdeals.etc]

I know many retailers like Target and Costco use the cents as a number code. For example, any item ending in .14 is on it's 1st level of clearance price, anything ending in .73 is on it's last level of clearance price... and so on.

[starmasayume]

That's a good view point! I'd have to agree. When I raised my prices for commissioned art (they're still not that high) but it weeded out a lot of problem customers so less stress and felt like I could focus on a better service/product.

I do agree out of anywhere I feel ebay would do better for the .99 vs dollar so I think I'll keep doing it that way. 🙂

[starmasayume]

Ooh yeah I think I heard that somewhere and forgot about it. It always makes you wonder when it seems like an odd number but it makes sense if it's a way to help label a product for clearance.

[coolections]

It's psychological. Crazy but it does have an effect on many people. They would rather pay $11 than $12.

[sandytexas1961]

I have a little coding system of my own for ebay.  I end all my regular prices in .99, but when I send offers or respond to offers, I always end with 0.  That way, if people buy something, I'll know if it was through the offer system.  

[byrd69er]

Anyone with any sense won't be influenced by a price that is 1 cent below a whole dollar amount.

Buyer:  Wow, $19,000 for this car? Gee, I'm not sure I can afford that.

Dealer:  Actually, it's $18,999.99. Will you be financing this purchase?

[iowa_east_coast]

Before all the free listing's a seller would price an item at $9.99 instead of $10.00 because the listing fee went up at $10.00. So seller's priced item's a penny under where the listing  fee price increases. You would lose a penny on the sale but save 35¢ in listing fee's.