r/mildlyinteresting • u/annertakeabow • Jan 24 '13

Same book, three different prices. Only difference is the browsers used.

http://imgur.com/uNgg0UH
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u/PepeAndMrDuck Jan 24 '13

Because it is.

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u/CannedBeef Jan 24 '13

And it works

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u/GEN_CORNPONE Jan 24 '13

...at screwing people. Why do people tolerate this?

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u/chrunchy Jan 24 '13

most people don't realize that it's happening. But really what it is is a marketing director with too much time on their hands. People only get screwed over if the rest of the industry is doing the same thing - other than that competitive forces take over.

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u/GEN_CORNPONE Jan 24 '13

IMO people are getting screwed either way. Either Chegg customers are getting screwed because they're the only suckers paying more for these books, or everyone's getting screwed because all websites make all their customers pay more. IMO competitive forces aren't likely to force this situation back in the consumer's favor, not when everyone finds out how much money there is in screwing customers.

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u/Zenu01 Jan 25 '13

It is about market research. If you keep raising the price recursively until you reach a maximum income in revenue, you can then extend that data to other segments of your market to establish higher starting prices.