Hi Rick,

Thanks, an interesting post! :)

> It's not an issue of being smart or not
> smart. It's an issue of psychology. There
> have been numerous tests that have proven,
> in general, people are more inclined to buy
> a product that ends in 99 than one that is
> rounded up to the next dollar.

I agree, I think the fact it works is because most of us are mentally lazy when we think we can get away with it.... It takes a little bit of extra thought to realize that $2.99 is almost $3.00, but it takes less mental work to just ignore the $.99 and round it to $2.00 !

So, I think that's what many of us do.... and that's probably why it works. Like you said, Rick, it's not a matter of intelligence but rather of psychology.

> Ted Nicholas
> went even further and proved that, in
> general, the people that bought from him and
> his clients were more inclined to buy a
> product ending in 97 than the same one
> ending in 99.

Wow, I didn't know this. Is this in "The Golden Mailbox", or in another book of his?

> But like all issues in
> marketing, your mileage may vary and as
> always, we have to test for our own
> situations.

That's true... It seems that as time goes by some of the rules change, though I believe the basics of human nature don't change by too much. :)

- Dien Rice