The Strangeness of Numbers and Prices

• 

  Ughhh on 26/01/2019 - 12:10

  +18

  It's because the liberals and labour party has brainwashed people into being triggered by the number 399.

• 

  fantombloo on 26/01/2019 - 12:10

  -4

  I've been wanting good vegan ice-cream at a good price at the major supermarkets for years. Nothing. Then this month - bam! - vegan cornettos and magnums.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 26/01/2019 - 12:12

    +19

    It's right what they say about finding the vegan in a crowd - they'll tell you.

    • 

      fantombloo on 26/01/2019 - 12:18

      +2

      Bam.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 26/01/2019 - 14:47

        +11

        … and the dirt is gone.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 26/01/2019 - 12:12

  +1

  Psychologically, we see $399 as a considerably lower price than $400 at first glance.

  This also explains why almost every ticket in a supermarket ends in a '9'.

• 

  myusername on 26/01/2019 - 12:17

  what model is it?

• 

  outlander on 26/01/2019 - 12:43

  I've noticed that when selling too. Whats weirder is how some things will sell at a higher price than at a lower one. Like selling something at 109 vs 89: for some reason the first number seems lower than the second.

  I use the same system of lowering prices btw. Its gotten me some major surprises, when my 'crazy price' turned out to be someone elses 'gotta have it' price

  • 

    djkelly69 on 26/01/2019 - 12:55

    +8

    109 vs 89: for some reason the first number seems lower than the second.

    Wat??

• 

  JimmyF on 26/01/2019 - 12:56

  +2

  Been trying to sell a 2-in-1 laptop on eBay for half a year, wanted as much as possible

  Well there is your problem…. Wanting top dollar and selling quickly don't go hand in hand.

  No bites at all for six months and then the magical 399 number and bam, interest shown and then sold.

  So after dropping is by a 1/3 you get offers.

  $399 appears in seaches below $400….., $400 doesn't ;)

  Always knock a dollar off…. $49 instead of $50, $99 instead of $100 an so on. As you have found out, $399 instead of $400.

  • 

    payton on 26/01/2019 - 13:47

    +1

    our resident commie is actually quite greedy, hmm!

  • 

    Quantumcat on 26/01/2019 - 17:19

    Always knock a dollar off

    He did

    449 to 439 to 429

    • 

      JimmyF on 26/01/2019 - 19:28

      He did

      Sure didn't sound like it all along….

      The price went from 600 (which is ridiculous) down to 500 and then 400 over six months.

      then GASP

      Then I changed the price to $399 with offers and within two days had two offers and someone bought it for $399.

• 

  swapsey on 26/01/2019 - 13:03

  +2

  I personally see a price like 399 as a gimmick price, especially on marketplaces like gumtree. It puts me off cause I think the person is trying to play the marketing game that retailers do.

  But clearly not everyone looks at 399 that way and that's a strategy I may use myself some time. Thanks for the tip!

• 

  ibuy on 26/01/2019 - 13:34

  +3

  Selling on eBay is partly to do with the price, however that’s not the full story.

  EBay works of its own search engine called Cassini. When someone does a search, your item appears in the search based on a multitude of factors. These include

  • sales history of that product
  • your feedback ratings (positive, negative, neutral)
  • the price of your product
  • whether you have completely filled out all the specs of the product
  • the number of pictures and sharpness of the pictures
  • your feedback score
  • the demand for similar products
  • how old the product is
  • how many people are searching for the product
  • if you offer free shipping
  • if you accept returns
  • how much you have sold in the past
  • the detail of your description
  • the use of key words in your listing heading

  And more.

  Do a search on eBay Cassini to understand more.

  What may have happened is that if you have a low feedback score and have not sold a lot on eBay, amongst other criteria, you may find that your listing will not appear in a search in the first three to four pages of a search for that item. This means that no one actually saw the item. As your listing price dropped it may have moved up the ranks to the point that it moved up or someone willing to search through more than a few pages would have seen your item.

  When listing there are a whole lot of rules to get your item to appear at the top or near top of any search.

  If you don’t do them your competitors will and they will be the ones whose items appear at the first page of a search.

  The rankings of your items in comparison to others is actually very formulaic. It’s not some random by chance thing.

  The other issue is that whilst you list your product, others are going to list theirs. If their prices and listings are better than yours theirs will be sold before yours. This means that over time the number of people looking for your item diminishes. Also people will watch your item only for so long before they give up and look at someone else’s listings.

  For example I used to sell Australian open towels. Others were selling at less than me but their listings were terrible. One picture, a few words and a low price was all they had. In a search my price was 25% and sold before theirs because I took the time to have 12 pictures, free post, 30 day return policy, and other criteria as mentioned above. My listing was the second highest behind the top seller of the product and the cheaper listing was three pages away. If you want a good price for your product it takes a bit of work to setup. It’s really no different to anything you do. Put in the effort and reap the rewards.

• 

  Tasmaniac on 26/01/2019 - 20:07

  A $39 product will sell more than a $34 product even if they're identicle. That's the power of sales marketing.

• 

  HeWhoKnows on 27/01/2019 - 14:35

  People obviously searching under $400

  You had your price set too high.

  Nothing magic about that.

• 

  SlickMick on 27/01/2019 - 18:25

  +2

  I've got an item posted at $100. I'm going to change it to $399 and see how I go.