Price Setting

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XX Case XX
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Price Setting

Post by XX Case XX »

I have always wondered how some dealers/sellers set prices on their knives. Even though I still don't get prices like $79.95 or $83.99, they've been around for so long they are generally accepted. What I don't understand is a price such as $46.01. Really? How do you get .01? Why wouldn't you just make it $46.00?

I also see things like $52.31, $37.22, and $87.64. How do they come up with these figures? Is there some secret mathematical formula that I don't know about? I'm sure they calculate shipping charges and things like that but still, why wouldn't you just make it an even price or "round-up" to the nearest dollar?

When I list a knife, it's always and even number like $40.00 or I add the nearest half dollar like $84.50. It's one or the other. Am I missing something here?

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edge213
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Re: Price Setting

Post by edge213 »

Good question.
David
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doglegg
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Re: Price Setting

Post by doglegg »

Mike I bet some do that just trying to catch the buyers eye. Something a little different. Or maybe they are just bored. ::shrug::
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Rusty1
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Re: Price Setting

Post by Rusty1 »

percentages worked out on a calculator and the exact figure is used. ::shrug:: ::shrug::
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KnifeSlinger#81
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Re: Price Setting

Post by KnifeSlinger#81 »

Rusty1 wrote:percentages worked out on a calculator and the exact figure is used. ::shrug:: ::shrug::
That could be it.
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LongBlade
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Re: Price Setting

Post by LongBlade »

Einsteinian physics :lol: ... Seriously the oddball numbers if connected to an eBay BIN is probably derived from percentages and net after a sale - The obvious $9.99 is just the pure psychology of marketing and is why so many items listed in stores are priced as such - certainly sounds cheaper than $10...
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Old Folder
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Re: Price Setting

Post by Old Folder »

Good question Mike;

I've always wondered: "Why do Gas prices always end in 9/10 of a cent?
There has been talk for many years now that America may get rid of the Penny but it has never materialized. In preparation of this, many Americans have been hoarding pennies in hopes that they can turn a quick $ for its copper content.

I believe they did that in England many years ago and the public was requested to turn in all there copper pennies.
When I was stationed in England in 1969-1970, the English even had a "Half Penny"


I obtained the below information within the web.

To answer the most wondered-about question in the history of "I've Always Wondered" "Why do Gas prices always end in 9/10 of a cent?" we headed to Three Lakes, Wisconsin, and meet up with Ed Jacobsen (otherwise known as "Jake the Oil Guy").

Jacobsen worked for Esso and then bought a half-dozen gas stations he ran for decades. Now, he runs the Northwoods Petroleum Museum -- a collection of at least 4,000 items, from drill bits to vintage gas pumps to antique oil company freebies (in Jacobsen's words, "I can’t really put a value on that because then I’d have to tell my wife and then we’d really have a problem. 'You spent how much on what?'").

"We have to go way back to when the oil companies were selling gas for, let’s say, 15 cents, and then the state and federal boards decided they wanted a piece of that to keep the roads going, so they added 3/10 of a cent. And the oil companies said, ‘Well, we’re not going to eat that,’ so they passed that on to the public."

Raising prices a penny would have been disastrous when gas only cost 15 cents. But why did it stick around?

"They found out that if you priced your gas 1/10 of a cent below a break point, let’s say 40 cents a gallon, '.399' just looked to the public like 39 cents…"

You won't find tenths of a cent on your credit card bill. Or even on the pump. But if you buy 15 gallons of gas at $3.299, you’re paying 13 cents more than at just $3.29. Since Americans buy 178 million gallons of gas a day, that’s a half-billion dollars more per year.

Jacobsen says the price of gas is the hottest topic in his museum. But there's a big misconception out there.

"People come in here and they say, 'Oh, $0.185, oh, that’s tremendous. I wish it were that way today.' Well, it is. In fact it might be a little cheaper. If you take just inflation alone, gas at 30 cents then would be about $2.20 a gallon now, but you used to get 10 miles to the gallon. Now, we're averaging over 20 miles to the gallon."

Adjusted that way, gas cost $4.50 a gallon back in the day."
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Re: Price Setting

Post by mrwatch »

Hoarding copper penny's? the U.S. penny changed to a alloy in 1982. I have some English large cents or penny's. Never understood things like "quids or Bobs" Or is that just the Andy Cap cartoons? I seen once in Illinois when we changed the pumps to .06 for a day or two. When you removed the covers and hand changed them and if you didn't cut your hands. A man told me once that it is because to expansion of gas by temperature their is no guaranty of a full gallon. Kinda of makes sense. The bureau of weights and measures would stop in and fill a can and put the stickers on each pump. A dealer by me a couple of years ago told the man to get lost! ::woot:: The judge fined him big time! :mrgreen:
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Steve Warden
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Re: Price Setting

Post by Steve Warden »

That $9.99 sounds cheaper than $10 is all marketing.

Dad went to a salesman seminar years back. They told the attendees to try this... put out one box of pencils marked 10 cents each, put out another box marked 10 for a dollar. Dad tried it - no one touched the 10 cents each pencils, couldn't keep the 10 for a buck box full!

True story, I was with my family down in Arkansas visiting in-laws. Stopped in a Wal*Mart. On the way out they had a rack of snack-size bags of chips marked 25 cents each or 3 for a dollar. Yup, had to ask my wife if I was seeing that right. I grabbed four bags and told the cashier I'll pass on their generous offer of 3 for a dollar and just ring 'em up at 25 cents a piece. She gave me a strange look, then rung up my order!

Marketing ::shrug::
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Steve
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ScoutKnives
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Re: Price Setting

Post by ScoutKnives »

Such questions do not have a definitive answer , old hat with a mix of numbers, pull one out ::facepalm::
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Re: Price Setting

Post by Lansky1 »

seems to me there are two types of sellers on eBay - dealers and guys who really want to sell their stuff. I sell alot of Case knives - set the price at the minimum I can accept and 99% of the time, by adding good pictures and description, the price will far exceed my expectations. Then you have the dealers who set these odd prices - they're not afraid to "let it roll" and wait it out for months in most cases until they find someone willing to pay top dollar. They're in no hurry. Me, the only reason I'm selling is to get funds to buy another knife, so I often run my auctions 1 day & it always works out - there are so many guys looking for Case knives, 1 day auctions seems to work perfectly. I digress ... but the oddball prices guys ask for knives does get annoying. I start my auctions at even numbers - it's not rocket science where a starting bid needs to be broken down to the penny....
pffffft that's not a knife ......... now THAT'S a knife !! Crocodile Dundee

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Mumbleypeg
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Re: Price Setting

Post by Mumbleypeg »

ScoutKnives wrote:Such questions do not have a definitive answer , old hat with a mix of numbers, pull one out ::facepalm::
When I was a kid the local pharmacy had a soda fountain. One of the popular items they sold was an old-fashioned Banana Split. For it you could either pay a fixed price or draw a price written on a piece of paper, starting at one cent, from a jar. There was one marked 1 cent, one marked 2 cents, one marked 3 cents and so on up to a dollar. The fixed price IIRC was $.49. I asked the owner about it one day and he told me 99% of customers drew their price from the jar.

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Old Folder
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Re: Price Setting

Post by Old Folder »

mrwatch wrote:Hoarding copper penny's? the U.S. penny changed to a alloy in 1982. I have some English large cents or penny's. Never understood things like "quids or Bobs" Or is that just the Andy Cap cartoons? I seen once in Illinois when we changed the pumps to .06 for a day or two. When you removed the covers and hand changed them and if you didn't cut your hands. A man told me once that it is because to expansion of gas by temperature their is no guaranty of a full gallon. Kinda of makes sense. The bureau of weights and measures would stop in and fill a can and put the stickers on each pump. A dealer by me a couple of years ago told the man to get lost! ::woot:: The judge fined him big time! :mrgreen:

Personally, I do not collect Penny's, I collect pocket knives.
Below is a breakdown as to why some coin collectors collect penny's:

The prices of most commodities have risen substantially since 2001, and some of the coins you have in your pocket or piggy bank are worth a lot more today than in the past.

Pennies used to be made from 95 percent copper, at least until 1982. The price of copper has risen dramatically since the turn of the century, making the meltdown value of a penny more than the face value of the penny. Commodity prices continue to rise and fall with market changes, which could affect the current metal value of the coin.

The Copper in a Penny
A pre-1982 copper penny contains about 2.95 grams of copper, and there are 453.59 grams in a pound. The price of copper in June 2016 was $2.17 a pound, which made the value of copper in each penny worth about 1.4 cents. The meltdown value of a penny was 40 percent more than the face value. Copper moved to a higher price at the end of 2016 of around $2.70 per pound, making the value of copper in older pennies even higher.

Pennies contain a nominal amount of zinc which adds to the metal value. Pennies were manufactured with 97.5 percent zinc after 1982, so pennies dated before 1982 have the greatest metal value. However, in 2016 the price of zinc also increased in value making the pre-1982 pennies worth even more than their face value and the later pennies have also appreciated.

And here is the breakdown of English coinage terms. Still in use today. Unrelated to "Andy Cap"
I believe today's exchange rate is: GBPUSD:CUR GBP-USD X-RATE:
One English Pound will cost you: 1.3101USD
When I departed England in 1970 the rate was: 1 British Pound was equal to $2.40 (Big difference from today)

farthing – the smallest coinage = 1/4 penny
halfpenny (pronounced “hay-pinee”.) = 1/2 penny
penny – (in conjunction with other denominations is called “pence”.)
threepenny (thruh-pence) = three pennies
sixpence = six pennies
shilling 12 pence (1/20 pound sterling) in slang a “bob.”
two shillings = 24 pence (1/10 pound sterling)
two and six. — two shillings plus sixpence = 30 pence
five shillings – 60 pence (called a Crown)
one pound = 240 pence = 20 shillings (called a “sovereign”; a slang expression was “quid) = £
guinea = 1 pound plus one shilling
It's always important to know what you don't know.
Dan
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