A/B (Always Be) Testing

This is a test.These are basically the same Foscam WiFi cameras weve sold before, but those were refurbished with a 90 day warranty and these are in new condition with a 1 year warranty. Consequently these are about $2 more expensive. By comparing today’s sales against the previous we should be able to determine, roughly, whether newness is worth $2 more than refurbness for yall. We hypothesize that “newness” (along with that longer warranty) is worth something closer to $5-$10 for most people, which would mean this sale will outperform the previous refurb ones. But a hypothesis is only that until tested. Its not a perfect A/B test because were not holding all the other variables consistent. You can choose from 4 options today 480p, 720p, 960p, and 960p with optical zoom whereas previous refurb sales only had 2 or 3 choices. So that might mess with the results.Theres another factor that neither we nor any mortal can control: time. It could be that the worlds appetite for superior WiFi surveillance cameras has waxed or waned in the 6 months since we last offered it. That could also skew the results. A real test would probably have both new and refurb options in the same sale, but this is the real world and we don’t know if we’ll ever get our clutches on those refurbs again. In any case, were genuinely curious abut the result. We sell a lot of refurbished products and were never totally sure how to properly discount them from their new equivalents. Like we said, we expect $2 to be lower than the appropriate discount, in which case these will sell like hi-def hotcakes. But who knows.Some people take issue with being tested on like so many lab vermin. I didnt consent to this test! They say. Remember a few years ago when people go upset about Facebook testing their news feed algorithms? OKCupid, the online dating service, penned an excellent response on their blog:>We noticed recently that people didnt like it when Facebook experimented with their news feed. Even the FTC is getting involved. But guess what, everybody: if you use the Internet, youre the subject of hundreds of experiments at any given time, on every site. Thats how websites work.And as far as experiments go, ours is pretty benign. Not like the sinister nanny cam experiments youre likely planning to carry out with these cameras.