
Ask HN: I want to charge $50 for some service. Should I set the price to $4X.XX? - juskrey
Some context - purely electronic one-time (with potentially returning customers) transaction for pretty common type of website&#x2F;informational services
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taprun
Go to a fast food restaurant and look at the prices. They'll probably end in
.99 because the owners are competing (at least partially) on price.

Now go to a fancy restaurant and look at the prices. They'll probably end in
.00 because the owners don't want to look like they're competing on price.

What kind of brand are you trying to build?

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switch007
Also fancy restaurants:

    
    
      Soup du jour 8
      Pork belly 24
      Cheese selection 12
    

(One is left to assume it's a price, in your local currency...)

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EADGBE
Go somewhere fancy enough and there's not even a price on the menu...

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IpV8
Go somewhere even fancier and there is no menu...

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thedevindevops
...buffet?

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Nadya
For example, at Sukiyabashi Jiro you get whatever the chef has prepared for
the menu that today. Part of this is practical, the fish that will be used is
usually purchased that very morning, and part of it is the quality of the
restaurant. This isn't unique to Japan's concept of "choose to leave it to the
chef" (omakase).

[0] [https://www.sushi-jiro.jp/dining-at-jiro/](https://www.sushi-
jiro.jp/dining-at-jiro/)

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ggm
Sales taxes and other costs are going to get you to $50.01 somewhere,
sometime. So, you need to be mindful the mythical exact-dollar-units price
probably won't exist for many purchasors (think forex)

That said, $49.99 is .. its just evil. Its playing on psychology of numbers.
and $49.95 is even eviler.

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juskrey
> That said, $49.99 is .. its just evil. Its playing on psychology of numbers.
> and $49.95 is even eviler.

Everyone seem to agree on this, but is it, well.. really so? Does it have real
benefits out of the veg souk? Or even worse, if people see it as evil.. I can
lose customers instead..?

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EADGBE
> Or even worse, if people see it as evil.. I can lose customers instead..?

In my experience, customers leaving over $.01 or $.05 are customers not worth
having.

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EADGBE
Yes. The price "seems better" even if it's a penny less.

When I was 8 or 10 I worked on my grandparent's farm. We grew hydroponic
tomatoes. We sold them in ~1 lb bundles for $4 a piece. One day we switched to
$3.99. It was a noticeable difference in how quickly we sold them. Folks
perceive a lesser price as better value, even if it's in the smallest
increment possible.

If it works on tomatoes, it'll work on anything.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=psychology+of+selling+at+.99...](https://www.google.com/search?q=psychology+of+selling+at+.99&oq=psychology+of+selling+at+.99&aqs=chrome..69i57.6448j1j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

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saluki
For online info products and SaaS subscriptions go with a price of:

$49

(no cents)

$49 gets more signups than $50, I don't have a source handy but I've seen it
in multiple articles and have tested it with SaaS apps I develop/maintain.

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jklein11
Why not A/B test it?

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kardos
Because if any of the A group discuss with the B group your going to get
confused people that think you're price discriminating

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jklein11
Are they really going to complain about the $.01 or $.10 or $1 price
difference? And even if they do can't you just give them the lowest price?

~~~
kardos
It doesn't matter if they would complain, I just said they'd be confused. Why
add a potential sticking point? It sounds like OP is trying to sell a new
product, playing pricing games at these early stages is a big distraction.
Someone up thread said charge $49 without cents -- go with that and get on
with making the product better.

