We dropped the price. So what?

So nothing, that’s what. If you bought this SteelSeries gaming headset when our price was higher, it was because you made a judgment that it was worth that amount to you. Maybe you’re satisfied with the product, maybe not. But the deal is done. It really shouldn’t matter what we’re selling it for now, or next week, or next year.

“But I could have saved a few dollars if I’d waited,” you might say. But not really. You bought a headset because you wanted a headset at that moment. You can’t pay today’s price and have it delivered to you back in time. It’s like NASA ruefully adding up all the money they could have saved on computers if they’d waited 50 years to start the space program. They could run the Apollo program on a few $300 desktops! Or finishing up a good lunch, noticing the lunch special on the board that sounds better, puking up your meal, and demanding a free do-over.

All that matters is whether you were satisfied at the time. Isn’t a little demeaning for a retailer to baby you in a warm blanket of insurance against the consequences of your own decisions? Especially when - big secret here - retailers will always pass the costs of those refunds back to you in the form of higher prices on other things? Do YOU want to subsidize other people’s price insurance policies?

Followed to its extreme, the logic of price regret means you should never buy anything ever, because the price might drop. Indeed, for virtually anything tech-related, it’s almost certain to drop. If everybody went around demanding refunds when that happened, it’d be the end of civilization. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.

A pair of headphones is not an investment. And even if it were, nobody is guaranteed a return on their investment. We read it in the fine print on all those Sunday morning financial commercials. And if you’re still not convinced, if you still think we owe you a refund…

What if we raised the price on something you had previously bought? Would you send us the difference? Does the invisible thread of culpability for rising and falling prices run both ways? If not, why not?

So forget the past. Ignore the future. Right now: is this item worth, to you, what we’re asking for it? Would you rather have a headset with 50mm drivers, interchangeable cushions, a retractable mic, and the seal of approval of the Fnatic gaming team (yes, Grand-dad, that’s a real thing) - or hang on to that amount of money?

Your call. Just keep in mind: no refunds if we sell it tomorrow for less. We probably won’t. But don’t tempt us.