The Price is Wrong : Understanding What Makes a Price seem Fair and The True Cost of Unfair Pricing

Product Description

Fair pricing is an issue that affects us all, whether were consumers or merchants. Throughout her career, Sarah Maxwell has seen how pricing practicesacross a variety of different areas, from mobile phones and airline tickets to prescription drugs and gasolineimpact our everyday lives. Now, with The Price Is Wrong, Maxwell shares her deepest insights on this issue and examines both the psychological and sociological basis of fair pricing.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #298716 in Books
* Published on: 2008-01-02
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 240 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Professor Maxwell asks, "How do you know if a price is fair?" Ultimately, Maxwell believes, fair is in the eye of the payer. What, then, is fair? Fairness can depend on a variety of factors such as local customs. In Spain, it is considered fair to charge for unordered bread if it is eaten, yet to the American visitor paying for what was never ordered, and is typically included in a U.S. meal's price, it seems unfair. Tipping is simply confusing and so is the flow of Maxwell's text. Only in the last chapter does the author offer any guidance regarding what to make of the concepts, definitions and survey results related to pricing theory. There is also a brief foray into pricing history that starts with Aristotle and includes an account of 13th century pricing analysis. Despite tables, a lengthy glossary and reference list and many, many pages of footnotes, there is little insight to be gained here by those who do much paying.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"...will change your views about how pricing decisions are made and whether a price is really fair." Supply Management Thursday 22 May 2008 "...will change your views about how pricing decisions are made and whether a price is really fair."Supply Management Thursday 22 May 2008

From the Inside Flap

The subject of price fairness is one that affects us all, whether we're consumers or merchants. And while concerns about fair pricing are constantly being voiced, this topic has not been explored as thoroughly as you might think.

Author Sarah Maxwell is a pioneer in the field of fair pricing. Throughout her career, she has seen how pricing practices—across a variety of different areas, from mobile phones and airline tickets to prescription drugs and gasoline—impact our everyday lives. Now, with The Price Is Wrong, Maxwell shares her deepest insights on this issue and examines both the psychological and sociological basis of fair pricing.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this book puts fair pricing into perspective by integrating the author's own research with examples of right and wrong pricing, reports from reliable resources, and the contributions of those who have experienced the true cost of unfair pricing firsthand.

Divided into three comprehensive parts, The Price Is Wrong opens with a brief background discussion of this important issue. It quickly moves on to outline a model that explains how personal and social fairness can lead to escalating emotions within consumers. Each element of this model is skillfully illustrated, so you'll become familiar with how judgments of price fairness can increase consumer trust, as well as destroy it—if sellers decide to abuse their power. In the final section, Maxwell reveals how you can effectively apply this model to real-world situations of price fairness such as tipping, negotiations, price discrimination, taxes, and much more.

A fair price is one that is emotionally okay. It is acceptable and just. It has passed the test of personal and social fairness by adhering to the social norms. But when the norms are violated and the price is judged personally and socially unfair, something must be done. With The Price Is Wrong as your guide, you'll come to grips with the slippery idea of price fairness and be in a better position to make more informed decisions when faced with the pricing challenges that are a part of both everyday business and life.
Customer Reviews

Heavy on soft stuff, light on the hard, numbers stuff4
I found this to be an interesting read on price fairness. The author seems to rely a lot on psychologists and sociologists and other non-quant areas to try to quantify what makes a price fair or unfair. Personally I find myself missing seeing many formulas and other mathematical material in it that could help yo set an actual price rather then relying so much on this concept of fairness. I think this is a good book, but I think people in a pricing position need to focus on other numbers stuff more while keeping the lessons of this book in mind as a secondary issue.

Informative look at pricing5
This book looks at our cultural norms in light of fairness in pricing. Its excellent insights are interesting to anyone selling accross markets. It is written in an accessable style that makes you want to read to the end.

Your price will be wrong -- if you haven't read this book!5
I've priced hundreds of products (for myself and for clients) and not once did the question of fairness arise. But not any more.

What is groundbreaking about this book, from a marketer's standpoint, is not that some consumers find some prices unfair. Heck, some consumers find any marketing, not to mention most prices, unfair. It's Maxwell's analysis that there are two categories of perceived unfairness -- only one of which infuriates consumers. And it was the opposite of what you would think.

This book is also an eye-opener as to the extent to which consumers want revenge if your price is perceived unfair in the wrong category.

This is the first book I've ever touted as a "must read" for marketers. Fortunately, it's also a fun read -- even though it is well stocked with research to back up her premises. You won't think about pricing the same again.