Rounding up prices or .99?

[misspinky]

I can't decide whether to round up my prices to .00 or to have them at .99.

.00 makes it much simpler and sort of looks neater I guess haha! But .99 is that old trick of the trade to make it seem cheaper so I dunno :/

What do you do?

[Biomech]

Believe it or not, most people round down when they see 99, instead of seeing 599.99 and going "its 600", a good 60% get confused and, seeing the 5, think it's 500.

Anyway, either is fine, personally I round off to .00 - easier for the finances too.

[misspinky]

Yeahh that's what I meant, makes you more inclined to buy something if it's .99 coz your brain thinks it's cheaper than it actually is.

I think .00 would probably make everything a whole lot easier both for myself and clients!

[SusanH1970]

Maybe it's just me, but that whole "$xxx.99" thing gives me a Walmart mentality. Well, granted, Walmart uses the "97" thing, but still. Eww.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by misspinky

Yeahh that's what I meant, makes you more inclined to buy something if it's .99 coz your brain thinks it's cheaper than it actually is.

Anyone who thinks that way may actually not be in possession of a brain.

[mokka]

I think it's fine for shops where people just grab things and put them in their basket, but people are more likely to scrutinise the price when buying something one-off and expensive. That said I see plenty of car dealers advertising a car as £5999.99. Still, it may not benefit you so much to use the 99p trick.

It may not harm you much either, it's so common people don't really see it as a trick any more; though it is possible it could devalue your product in the eyes of some people by associating it with things such as supermarkets.

I guess it depends how you display your prices, the more you're depending on a big price sticker to grab attention the more it will help you. Even if the customer recognises that £599.99 means £600, their attention has already been grabbed. Most photographers don't advertise like this though, if the customer only sees your price after they've already enquired about your product / browsed your gallery then there really isn't much need for the whole 99p thing.

[digirebelva]

Remember that only works if the prices are under a certain amount, there are various cutoff prices starting at $10, once you go above it, then the price is perceived to be higher..

[NathanFranke]

The nice restaurants I've been to use rounded numbers.

Spaghetti Carbonara $17
Filet Mignon $35

etc.

Just a thought. Rounded numbers can connote quality.