Why do companies sell with 9's (ie, £699 instead of £700)

dwarfer

Woby_Tide wrote: »

wasn't dwarfer in that film "Falling Down"?

(he's probably busy firebombing the corner shop selling penny chews for 2p)

aint walls '99 ice cream's now £1.20?

geordie_joe

Sammz wrote: »

People are fooled?!

And people still "ring up" stuff on a till? Even my tiny corner shop has a scanner these days.

Yes, there are still lots of tills out there. And a scanner won't make much difference in some circumstances.

Take a busy clothes shop during the sales. You stand in the queue with one garment for £19.99. When it's your turn the assistant takes the garment, puts it into a carrier bag and you hand over a twenty pound note. The assistant "just happens" to have a penny next to the till, which they grab and give to you. You take it and walk away. If you do happen to think about it, you just think the assistant did it for quickness as there is a large queue.

But the reality is now the assistant has your twenty pound note and the shop has no record of a sale. It doesn't matter whether the shop has tills or scanners, the assistant doesn't need to do either as they have given you your change.

The practice of pricing items so it is unlikely that the customer will give the right money is there to stop the assistants being able to serve people without recording the transaction. When my daughter got a job in a small clothes shop a few years ago one of the first things she was told was that it was a sackable offence to have small change on or next to her till.

I do realise that a lot of places now use this practice to "con" customers into thinking things are cheaper than they really are, but in most cases it's still to prevent the shop assistant stealing from the shop.

Zazen999

dwarfer wrote: »

No, and this is what I'm getting at, they make more profits by making it look cheaper]

Sorry, but the company is in business to make money...is it not???

I can't understand what the rant is for...

a - yes, they make more profits but be more astute and don't buy them if you don't think it is worth the money
b - make sure you get a receipt and not let the assistant pocket the money.

Job done.

Please don't get angry about it - it's really not worth it.

dwarfer

geordie_joe wrote: »

but in most cases it's still to prevent the shop assistant stealing from the shop.

This is what my dad told me a while ago, but its pretty difficult to believe. Don't get me wrong, I honor your opinion, but if thats the case why do online-only retailers do it? -they dont deal with cash

dwarfer

Zazen999 wrote: »

Sorry, but the company is in business to make money...is it not???

Please don't get angry about it - it's really not worth it.

Hey, no! I really appreciate your opinion, if its one thing I hate its arguing rants (and i get it a lot lol)

To reply to your question, the thing that really gets me is 1) yeah, their job is to make money, and I understand that, and absulootly am FOR it, but the thing I completely disagree with is their attitude towards selling, why sell a product for £9999.99 if not to completely misslead your judgement

I wouldnt mind otherwise, but if its the companys' free-will to sell like this isnt that rather 'norty' of them and somewhat greedy on their part to make money by 'fooling' us? (again i use the word 'fool us' because as I said above thats exactly what they're doing to us, its proven to gain more profits (thats why I believe they do it)) - unless someone can lighten my life by telling me otherwise

shelovestobuystuff

A fool and his money are easily parted.

jackieb

I always round the prices up anyway. If I see something for £599, I won't tell my husband or whoever, 'oh i've seen a TV for £599'. I'll say 'I saw a TV for £600'.

rooth

Shopkeepers or cashiers in pound shops often appear not to put the money through the till, when you pay the exact amount. This could be to keep it from the taxman, or simply to pocket it.

The worst examples of using it to mislead purchasers is in property sales, where estate agents and developers always value property at silly prices like £499,999 (with an eye on their own sales commission no doubt). As if saving £1 will attract a buyer with half a million to spend.

shelly

Good god, if this is all you have in your life to worry about....you need to go out and get another one.


Edit to add~Why even worry about something like this at all? Seriously, letting nines in prices get you so angry you have health issues?

lesley1960

dwarfer wrote: »

No, and this is what I'm getting at, they make more profits by making it look cheaper:

£699 looks a dam sight less than £700, (you see the 6 first in the hundreds)

if it was £700 people would think twice before buying, but companies dont want you to think! they just want your cash because they know if you saw the 'actual' figure (£700) then around 10% of people won't buy it (for example). its impairing your judgement just so they make that little extra for themselvs, proof that companies dont really care about your finances, to make it look a hundred quid cheaper (psylogically) they take a penny off to make it £699.99 (or a quid off to make it £699)

In short more people buy their products when it appears lower than it is.

Say a sofa was £700 at "Preston-SofaStore", but next door theres the exact same sofa for £699 which one would you buy? -personally I would buy the sofa from the company that sells it for £700, my contribution to prevent companies trying to fool us

(again, I say FOOL US because thats exactly what they're doing) by making it look cheaper, impulse buyers dont see the extra quid £700 in £699. - its causing health issues, everytime i see a company doing this (and thats EVERY company (apart from most of asda's items so far) i get very angry

I think the tongue in cheek smiley was missing in my post lol :rotfl:

of course the 99 trick catches our eye , BUT , Its hardly rocket science to figure it out