[drusenko]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing

Many of these issues are covered in basic marketing 101. As to how the pricing scheme is deceptive is beyond me.

There are multiple different psychological price theories in use. As mentioned in the article, the .99 pricing scheme is fairly prevalent, although some retailers use a .00 pricing scheme to reinforce quality. Walmart has used a somewhat random pricing scheme (.32, .67, .18, etc) to try to have consumers come to the conclusion that the only rationale behind the price is that Walmart shaved every possible penny it could.

[albertcardona]

Thanks for sharing. The random pricing scheme reads most evil of all. Perhaps a conclusion is that there is no such thing as a naked price--all pricing schemes have psychological load, whether intended or not, because the consumer will add it.

[fallentimes]

Why is random pricing evil?

[albertcardona]

Because of the pretension of being real--as in, adjusted to the real price--when they are not.

[fallentimes]

Sorry, I'm still not following (I could very easily be missing something so I apologize if this is the case). As long as the buyer isn't being forced to buy, how can variable prices be evil?