Ethics in Arbitrage
10Ran across this article about a person bragging on social media (TT) with a video of them buying all of the stock on hand for a cookware set that Walmart had on clearance.
Buying Walmart Clearance Items for Resale Debate
Is what this person did/does (aka “arbitrage”) ethical?
When you think about it, how is that any different than what Meh/Mercatalyst does?
I honestly didn’t get the shade thrown towards the person. It wasn’t like they were buying all of Walmart’s clearance stock nationwide and that others couldn’t do the same in their local stores. Which is pretty much what Meh does every day.
If your WM was the same as the person in the article, then yeah, I can see the shade as really just entitled jealousy because they found the deal before you did and you’re not entitled to jack squat. (I’m using the generic “you”, not the specific “you”, dear gentle reader).
Also, the haters don’t mention carrying costs now that this person has all of this clearanced inventory in their stock instead of Walmart’s. There’s a reason WM had it on clearance. It wasn’t selling and they weren’t going to sink any more costs, including shelf space, on an item that isn’t selling through enough to keep it in stock (and therefore keep generating positive cash flow for WM).
Arbitrage is not a risk-free profitable business, no matter what @snapster says… 
Just some food for thought and discussion.
We’re all here because we’re mostly receiving the benefits from Meh’s arbitrage at scale. It occurred to me that the ethics of the industry at the large scale operations Meh, Woot, resale stores, etc. seem to be comfortable to people, but at the individual proprietor or “side hustle” scale, it turns into something capricious and taking advantage of people. That just seemed like a dissonance to explore why that is.
It’s OK for a company to do it, but not a person? But aren’t companies people? According to the Supreme Court the people we elected to Congress said so.
Discuss. Or brag about your latest successful arbitrage hustle. I hear some people are parting out IRKs for resale, and IMO, good on them! Not mad because I didn’t think of it first. Why would I?
- 13 comments, 56 replies
- Comment
Anyone grousing about someone trying to profit from - or hoard - a closeout of a product discontinued due to unpopularity is going to get no sympathy from me. I know first-hand just how dicey such speculation can be.
@werehatrack That’s kinda my take on it. They’re just pissed they didn’t get entitled special treatment and “get in” on the deal.
It’s like getting pissed your neighbor bought a winning lottery ticket and doesn’t share the winnings. The level of entitlement in people these days is just baffling and inexcusable out of ignorance. It doesn’t help that there are prominant people modeling this narcissist sociopathic behavior and sycophants who idolize them and normalize it.
Not really sure this qualifies as arbitrage.
But in any event I think that snapping up the stock of a clearance item (whether for re-sale or personal use) is entirely ethical. If I was the one buying up the items I might be willing to ‘share’ if you were there at the same time as me, but as for only buying some of them so others can benefit from the deal, I don’t think I would feel compelled. I have seen lots of things go unsold and to the dumpster.
For instance my local WM does an “ooops we baked too much” rack with bakery good offered at a discount close to the ‘best by’ date. I have no compunction about buying up the inventory of discounted pitas when they have the ones that my wife likes because they are low points on Weight Watchers. They go into my freezer for later. If you are at the rack when I get there I will gladly split them with you if you want some, but if not, they are going home with me. WM is quite capable of doing the sales analytics on their inventory, and reducing their “oops” stock so they don’t have to mark down stuff that sits too long.
As for buying items for resale, that is a gamble, and unless you know the market can bear whatever markup (over the discounted price you are paying) you plan to charge you may or may not make money. Such is life. Where I might have an issue (and feel more like it is arbitrage) would be if you buy them at WM #1 and take them across town to WM#2 (or even Target etc) where they are NOT discounted and try to return them for the non-discounted price (by claiming they were a gift etc).
Of course, the scale of the transactions is pretty small, and you will have trouble keeping groceries on the table doing just that for a living.
@chienfou low WW points you say? Which pitas do you speak of? I may be starting WW Tuesday
@tinamarie1974
Joseph’s oat bran etc pita like this
@chienfou gracias mi amigo
@tinamarie1974
de nada…
About to expire food: buy all you want.
Food and critical items in short supply, such as baby formula (which I don’t need): I’d limit my purchases if the store didn’t already do that. Maybe I’d re-think that in a true survivalist situation, but we ain’t there yet.
Cookware sets: the person was rude and idiotic. But likely more stupid than truly evil.
I doubt the person will profit much on something like that, discounted cookware isn’t all that uncommon. And there’s the time it takes to sell it, time that could be spent doing something else.
And how likely is it that the stuff won’t be fully sold for a good while, and will take up space?
Rude to the other slickdealers or Redditors in that area: certainly. Since other persons might have needed something close to exactly that.
Community-oriented conduct is partly obvious, partly local or cultural agreement complete with all the psychological and social and individualistic and enlightenment values one can bring to bear, partly complex and nuanced, partly individual judgment.
I’d say WM hardware sales fall nearer individual choice as to whether to hoard, in a non-emergency, non-survival, or non-life-essential situation.
Mostly I think the braggart was an idiot, unless that person is kinda full time in the thrift biz.
@f00l
PS
Mercatalyst picks up stuff more from warehouse stock than from store shelves. Mercatalyst isn’t taking stuff from another private consumer’s wishlist.
It’s wholesale. Diff beast.
/giphy “I can get it for you wholesale”
@f00l
Key word: “YET”. The way society is going, it’s a matter of time. I’ve got my weeklong bug out bag prepped and await impending zombie apocalypse (i.e. woke democrat liberals, yeah, i went there LOL)
@f00l
If they’re items that are in short supply, critical or not, why are they going on clearance? That’s usually reserved for things that are in long/tall/opposite-of-short supply.
Basically I’m having a hard time imagining a realistic situation where clearing out a “clearance” item would be harmful to a market. If it’s “vital” to people by the time it went on clearance, it was surely vital to them at regular price. /shrug
However, I agree with pretty much everything else you said.
@xobzoo
Yeah. Necessary items unlikely to be in clearance.
Was speaking about “grab all you can get” purchases of desirable items in general, not just of items on clearance.
@hammi99
Why wait for the Zombie Apocalypse? We’re already ramping up considerably within the ongoing Stupid Apocalypse, and that one is just getting started.
But the Stupid Apocalypse has not yet changed my Walmart shopping habits.
This terrible crisis mostly causes me to wear earbuds, listening to an audiobook or podcast of choice, when I’m in public.
@f00l I’m already fully prepped and ramped up.
clearance items are by their very definition priced to get rid of inventory. From the stand point of WM they don’t really give a shit if one buys 50 of them or 50 buy one of them. They just want them off the shelves.
@chienfou Exactly. So whoever “loads up” is essentially taking over to unload what Walmart couldn’t. I doubt anyone has a consistent track record of doing a better job at being able to move
crapunwanted stock than Walmart, especially at an individual scale.Even a broken clock is right twice a day. So the flex that someone is a “pro” Walmart clearance reseller is a bit skeptical for me.
I collect whiskies. I spend A LOT per year: I hoard. Why? Because back then, I discovered a $400 bottle (Yamazaki 18) which jumped to $600 in the 2 weeks it took me to finish it. So I snatched up the ENTIRE $600 supply in America (some were selling higher than $600, I didn’t buy those). Now, the same bottle goes for $1,200 on the low end and $1,600 as the mode (most frequent occurrence). Since then, I have done the same for many more bottles across Yamazaki, Hibiki, Nikka, Blanton and Whistle Pig Boss Hog lines. My collection is worth nearly 7 digits now and I am in discussion with Sotheby’s to auction the lot.
So, am I arbitraging? Heck no. I am taking an insane amount of risk especially if the entire whisky industry bursts its bubble. But it’s a calculated risk because at this point I know what goes up and I snatch up ALL supply at the price I’m willing to pay. Having been stationed in Singapore for a few years, I had access to rare Japanese/Asia whiskies, most of which have easily gone up 10x what I paid (an understatement still). Many major retailers and distributors knew me as I always bought up entire country’s supply.
Ethical? Why not? I had no special access to inside info or special pricing (sadly to both), I just knew and understood the market. I spent the time and dedication (and liver) to “arbitrage” the market. Therefore I would not understand why it’s unethical to do so.
In my view, the complainers and whiners are those with a chip on their shoulder. Either they are not successful (i.e. can’t afford because they have no money) or they didn’t pounce quickly (spent no time to research and dedicate to understanding trends). Entitled pricks in my view - much like most of woke idiots these days. So NO, not unethical.
You snooze, you lose. I make no excuses for my deliberate success and take pride in my competency and anyone who disagrees or is jealous - you can FUCK OFF.
@hammi99 So, tell us how you really feel… lol.
Agree with last two paragraphs.
@hammi99
Since you seem to have experience in whiskeys, I’ll try to glean some info from you.
Any of your contacts have info on (1) why Lochan Ora supposedly “went out of production”, (2) other similar (but inferior) scotch whiskey liqueurs seem to no longer ship to USA (a trade issue, or what?), and (3 – most importantly) where in USA is any for sale? [also read the comments there for the general angst]
About the time I got quite attached to this beverage (absolutely
LOVED a rusty nail made with it and regular Chivas), I found I could not replace my empty bottle with a new full one. I even asked my wife’s cousin who had been operating a small local chain of beverage stores, since retired, for a bottle or two for a wedding present (almost 30 years ago) but he had no luck in locating any.
It still seems to be for sale internationally, but not stateside. Even (you can buy anything on) eBay doesn’t have it (except empty bottles!)
In the meantime, I have to be content with such as Wild Turkey honey liqueur, which I enjoy occasionally (almost makes a sore throat desirable). Also, any take on why the small bottles are about 25% cheaper by the ml than the larger bottles? (Seems counter-intuitive.)
@phendrick Unfortunately I have to plead ignorance on Lochan Ora’s fate. I am knowledgeable only on the whiskies I drink. e.g. I am not a fan of Macallan, don’t drink it, don’t buy it despite its popularity in auctions.
What I do know as examples are:
In short, I feel a lot of these decisions are purely to limit supply artificially in order to boost demand - I mean, it is a business after all and while I get irritated and frustrated at not being able to secure certain bottles, I also know I’ve been lucky in securing countless other bottles. COVID fucked up my travel plans and so I’ve missed out on a lot of limited edition stuff in Asia that I used to procure regularly. So, you win some, you lose some.
And in conclusion, that is why I hoard up supply as soon as I strike gold on my taste buds - knowing supply might change overnight. So if you see your Lochan Ora again, stock up big time.
P.S. I have yet to sell a single bottle of whisky LOL
@hammi99 OK, but thanks, anyway. I won’t even blame you for this situation.
Macallan: Good grief! I never heard of it, but wish I had, when it was cheap. Auctioning here for over $50,000 USD and “reserve not met”! For one bottle. I’ll tell myself that I wouldn’t have liked it either.
Lochan Ora: Don’t worry. If I see it, I’ll buy it. But I don’t think that’s likely to happen.
Best wishes in your enterprise. Thanks again.
@phendrick I’m almost offended you didn’t blame me! I wanted to add another IRKcoin to my piggy bank!
@hammi99 @phendrick
Turns out the last time they made Lochan Ora was over a decade ago.
Maybe blending Bārenjāger with something will get you to an approximation.
@mike808 @phendrick where’s dr strange with his time stone when you need him. Instead of ripping open the multiverse LOL
@hammi99 @mike808
Chip: “Yeah, we’re selling too much of this stuff. We better quit making it!”
Dale: “Great business decision! You rule!”
Chip: “And then we also won’t have to pay out so much in taxes on our income.”
Dale: “No doubt our whole country will appreciate that! I can’t wait for the party they’ll throw us.”
/giphy smacking my head
@mike808 @phendrick it’s for the new liberal world order. Just like inflation is transitory.
@hammi99 @phendrick
Thankfully conservative “trickle-down” and “job creator” myths are also transient. Unfortunately, as PT Barnum pontificated, “There’s one born every second”.
@mike808 @phendrick who is John Galt?
@hammi99 @mike808 @phendrick …and why would anyone with two brain cells give a rat’s ass?
@mike808
Barnum’s memory may own that quote, but the evidence available provides no verification that he ever said it, or even said anything close to it. The sentiment predates him in any event. He was probably familiar with it, but was a canny enough businessman to have not wanted to show his hand by making such an utterance, even in private.
@werehatrack You should publish your research in a peer-reviewed journal instead of wasting it here on a bunch of internet chuckleheads.
Where can I subscribe to your newsletter?
@mike808 @werehatrack I’m so confused. Shall we move on to lighter, more fun topics? Open to suggestions LOL
@hammi99 @mike808 @werehatrack
How about capital punishment, as in the way the Fed is doing it.
Sorry, I guess that’s a jackass of the same color.
@mike808 @phendrick @werehatrack haha, nice pun intended! I had a feeling even before clicking to the wikipedia link on capital, which confirmed it.
and it’s more like:
Sorry, I guess that’s a GOAT of the same color.
Interesting topic. Food for thought (or whiskey?)
Better than the usual drivel on these forums.
Thanks.
@phendrick YW. It started as a “grinds my gears” thing that folks were bent in one scenario, and when the exact same thing goes on in other scenarios, we applaud the hustle (like @Hammi99) or it’s completely normal activity (like meh). And it seemed weird this is the case.
@mike808 @phendrick I’m pretty certain the same folks complaining about that original post wouldn’t be applauding my “hustle” either.
My endeavor started only because I am frugal and got annoyed at ever increasing prices whenever I finished a bottle. I have enough whisky to easily last a few livers, so I figure it’s time to monetize, although that was not the goal initially.
People that buy all the clearance items to resell generally put a bad taste in others’ mouths, but it’s not wrong of them to do it. That GoPro in the second video in the linked article is an example from this past week. I actually went to Target looking for it even as I saw brickseek inventories going to zero. But it was because I wanted one for myself.
Just about every time I would see something on clearance and buy two with the thought of selling one to cover my cost for the one I would keep, I would just wind up with two of that thing or giving the extra one away. I generally don’t buy two anymore unless the extra is for a family member or someone I have a plan for when I buy it. I think 2019 was the last time I sold something on eBay, and it has become an increased hassle with increased fees and scam buyers who take advantage of one-sided policies to screw sellers out of their product and their money. So anyone who wants to navigate that ordeal, more power to em. By the time you can buy that set of pots and pans for $3.50 and sell it for maybe $30, shipping, eBay, and PayPal fees can bring you down to about $15. At say $12 profit per times what, two dozen sets, you’re talking about a lot of work, risk, time, and space to make $250-300 total. It probably works out to maybe $25/hr. Now there’s probably entertainment/hobby value in that time spent for many, but it’s not like that person is getting rich off those low end cookware sets.
The only person I know IRL who is “successful” at the resale game told me that he only buys things he believes he can 10x his money on. Clearance at the big box store is rarely going to yield that kind of return. He does more stuff like American Pickers than buying from clearance endcaps. And I’m sure people on the Internet would badmouth his business model and say he is ripping people off, but the sellers are happy, the buyers are happy, he’s happy, and everyone involved has participated in a consensual economic activity.
I’m not sure buying clearance deals counts as real arbitrage, either. It’s more an educated guess but it’s lazy arbitrage. You see anything that was an amazing deal on Slickdeals show up on eBay the same day, but all the people that do it cause a glut on eBay and then are slow to move them. It’s not nearly the same thing as knowing that X market will bear Y cost for this thing that you can obtain in unrelated market Z at a fraction of Y and have the logistics in place to get it from Z to X and turn a consistent profit. Especially when every person that does it is making the same moves to eBay and Facebook Marketplace and suddenly that thing that was rare in that market is now very plentiful and not worth Y.
@djslack indeed, the laws of supply and demand are rarely violated. Sounds like the folks here agree that it is not unethical, just risky.
In a way, I see the point that this small scale arbitrage isn’t really arbitrage. The more I think about it, it’s more like the “long tail” of a market capacity/demand curve.
As in WM has a cutoff (X std deviations or they meet their profit targets), and after clearance, it’s folks like the one in the article or “slickdeals flippers” that occupy the next range of the long tail until you get to giveaways, recycling, and landfill at $0 options.
Or in Meh’s case, a point where they stop “do again sales” and “unload this crap over on MorningSave or SideDeals” until it gets to “sell that shit in $5 IRKs”.
So, now that there seems some consensus that it’s not unethical to buy up the market to drive up prices for remaining buyers.
What about corporate investors doing exactly this in the housing market? At scale, like they’re doing. And landlords boosting rents because renters are just failed home buyers that could afford a hefty mortgage, but not the jacked up prices, so landlords charge that for rent since you know they were willing to pay that for owning - except they own squat by renting.
Or clearing out baby formula stocks. Or “Plan B” contraceptives. Not so clear cut.
@mike808
Not sure where that consensus came from. The OP was about buying close out and reselling them. Not exactly cornering the market.
In fact I think this is a pretty good example of the risk that is being taken on the housing market. If you price it out of range of people you will next have to drop the prices to dump the inventory.
@chienfou That’s the problem for people that need a place to live. They don’t have to dump the inventory. They turn it into a rental and the rent amount is same amount as a mortgage payment would have been.
It’s essentially extortion. Unconstrained capitalism degenerates society into the question “how much is your life worth to keep living?”, or, a race to the bottom of what’s left over after the price of housing has extracted the maximum at the expense of all other necessary costs.
This is why insulin costs $800 per month when it costs $5 to make and there is no amortized development costs left. It’s pure greed and market control, which in and of itself, distorts the market. i.e. the supply is being artificially constrained to drive up the price, which is not a “free market” is it, then?
@chienfou The article was about someone cornering the market - the supply from Walmart’s clearance.
@mike808 I’m not so sure that counts as cornering the market. Walmart already determined there wasn’t a market, and was trying to pull out of the marketplace for that item. I didn’t see any evidence that the buyer was trying to control prices or anything else.
There was lots of speculation (reported in the article) about what they might do with it, but no evidence of anything but getting hassled by a store employee. (In fact, we’re just assuming they bought all available inventory, but that’s never actually claimed.)
@xobzoo Different definitions of “market”. There’s the housing market and then there’s the housing market in your county and then there’s the housing market in your neighborhood.
I meant that for the market of people shopping at that Walmart, anyone looking to get one of those clearanced cookware sets could not do so anymore, as one person snapped up all that local supply. It didn’t mean others were doing the same thing at other walmarts or that it was a nationwide thing. Or even a global thing, as in the case of @hammi99 and his entrepreneurial whiskey hoarding (it seems he hasn’t gotten to the reselling part yet …
).
@hammi99 @mike808 @xobzoo
So by your logic nobody should ever buy the last one of an item at Walmart…
@chienfou @hammi99 @mike808 @xobzoo
When did “logic” start to apply to my purchases at Walmart?
I resent your accusation of my possibly possessing intellectual competence!
@f00l @hammi99 @mike808 @xobzoo
Affront accepted
@f00l you’re allowed to blame the goat . . . LOL
@hammi99
I blame you for any suggestion of intellectual competency directed toward me.
I will pay you in some personal e-currency for which the wallet and access information has been lost forever.
@f00l you mean you blame me for someone ELSE’s suggestion of intellectual competency directed toward you. LOL. I’m innocent!
IRKcoins only!
@hammi99
You don’t look innocent.
/giphy “innocent goat”
@f00l
/giphy what-who-me
Additional points to consider in direct defense of people buying up WallyWorld clearance items…
Unless the buyer explicitly says that the purchases are being made to resell at a significant profit when the closeout causes scarcity, what of it? Perhaps these are being bought to use for charitable purposes, or being bought to establish a personal back-stock of an item that the buyer finds useful but is certain that they will have trouble finding later because it’s discontinued now. I’ve bought a few things because of both such reasons myself.
And if they’re buying the closeout to resell, they’re essentially betting that the world’s largest retailer knows less about the current and near future market for the item than the buyer does - which is a poor wager. Where that bet reliably works is in the narrow field of collectible toys; Wal-Mart regularly gets exclusives in quantities that are greater than what they will sell at initial and promotional prices, and I know several specialists who haunt the clearance aisles watching for the overage to get marked down. They expect to sit on that inventory for two to five years before making a sale, and they hope (but cannot always expect) that it will sell to a real collector at several times the original list price - which the market does not always bear. Sometimes, a collectible series falls into disgrace for one reason or another, as happened with the Beanie Babies; when that happens, even the clearance price may not be recoverable.
I find that most such outrage results from an abundance of assumptions and a dearth of verified facts.
@werehatrack I think most, if not all, of the outrage is entitled jealousy - as in “I am entitled to everyone else’s forced benefit-sharing with me, … because … reasons.”
@werehatrack There’s also some legitimate outrage in purchasing entire supplies of essentials with the intention of artificially manipulating the market - local or at scale.
Things like food, housing, medicine, baby formula, etc. That’s extortion and profiteering, not free market capitalism. That’s when the big hand is necessary, because the market is not free or fair by the choice and actions of suppliers.
@mike808 That, too, but even the superficially expressed “reasons” display a surfeit of assumptions and a dearth of actual knowledge.
@mike808 The big hand of the greedy supplier who has eliminated his actual competitors (leaving only the ones of like mind) also warps the market dramatically, as has been stated farther up.
To all concerned:
I’m going to keep reading this forum as long as it is active, but there are lots of good posts, and I’m tired of “liking” them. So I might like it without being obvious (unfortunately, I did that too much with the opposite sex in high school, but not the same thing here).
@phendrick It’s cool. I don’t know anyone that
whorescompetes for likes. This isn’t TikTok or Instagram, in case you hadn’t noticed.Incidentally, the posts about housing/renting struck a chord here.
In my community, there are more investors than available properties. This has really forced prices up. (Big rental area for university students.) And, of course, property values for taxes have shot up, so innocent bystanders suffer as well. (Tax rates don’t go down; even in my fairly well-to-do city, the ruling elite can always find more ways to spend money. Here they always think they need more federal money also, though we have a very high per capita income level. – If we can’t afford to pay our own way, then nobody can. People are just too dense to understand the effect of the middleman on brokered money.)
Real estate agents and investors both seem about to go to open warfare and/or cannibalism with each other. Once or twice a week I get unsolicited mails asking me to sell my house to them. Where do they think I will live? I don’t think I’d be able to afford to replace this one with new construction, even if I moved to a less convenient part of the city.
My son lives on the other side of the extended city. I tried to convince him a few years ago it was the time to scrimp and save and buy at least a starter home to get some buying leverage for better later. But he and his wife always seemed to have a more immediate use for any extra cash. Now I fear it is too late for them. Prices are up, mortgage interest rates are rising FAST, demand for decent housing will not subside. I’m betting they will be lifetime renters, unless they pack up and move a good distance away. But then, employment will be an issue. I feel for his wife as it is; she is holding two low-level jobs and also trying to finish a college degree. But I’ve learned it’s better if I don’t offer my two-cent opinions to them unless asked for.
@phendrick I feel you. My son is a teacher, and this state is hellbent on keeping the citizenry stupid enough to keep getting screwed and never get smart enough to catch on about this “cycle of poverty” thing. Plus it keeps the options for poor POCs limited and they can brag about keeping those limited funds in the hands of “the right” people. Yeah, there’s a bunch of racists (and Christo-fascists) in this part of the country, the heartland of the Hee-Haw Jihad. But, I digress. (What? Moi?)
On top of that, he’s got a 40 mile one-way commute for a sub-$40K/yr job (i.e. under $20/hr) that will suck at least $500/month and a work week of his life every month because he can’t afford to move even to put more money in his pocket.
Speaking of rising prices:
A local Tex-Mex restaurant has now increased their prices on margaritas, from $2.99 each to $3.99. That’s 25% inflation, m.o.m., folks!
But, as they put on their outdoor sign, that’s still cheaper than a gallon of gas.
As gas prices have gone up, has the cost of the ethanol also risen? (And does that horizontally affect the cost of tequilla as a substitue commodity?)
I guess I missed my chance to stock up and get some arbitrage on product. (Ice probably would have melted, anyway.)
@phendrick
Dammit
Now my v annoying car is harassing me to go get a tankful of margaritas.
/giphy “frozen margarita”
@f00l @phendrick I’m glad my local restaurants can still sell “to go” drinks post-pandemic. Grabbing a margarita when you go pick up dinner is easier and cheaper than making cocktails from scratch at home.
@phendrick $2.99 to $3.99 is a 33% jump, not 25%. The old price was 25% less than the new one, but the new one is 33% more than the old one. “Inflation” is a “more” thing.
@werehatrack Yeah, I realized my mistake after the fact! But was past the edit window and figured this was an old thread so nobody would notice, so didn’t bother to post my own correction.
As a retired math prof, I’ve seen this mistake a lot and actually do know better. I guess I was thinking more of the margarita than the arithmetic process.
/giphy hanging my head in shame
I used to ask the “warm-up” question in my math of finance class: Would you rather
(A) see the price of a product reduced temporarily by 20% and then go back up 20% from that or
(B) increased temporarily by 20% and then go down 20% from that or even
© see the price not change at all over this period?
The most chosen answer was © – i figure people just don’t like the idea of price increases at all. But (A) or (B) are more favorable to the consumer and give the same final price. [(B) was more chosen than (A) – again disliking price increases and trying to postpone them (?)].
I imagine there is a lot of psychology going into pricing strategies, but I have never been exposed to that.
My final advice to the students was to actually calculate things out and don’t go by the “sound” of things. (Advice I should have followed in my earlier post…)
@werehatrack Huh! I went through several edits trying to get a decent giphy. It was only in the last one that the ( C ) got changed to a copyright symbol. I give up. Before that, I just had the letter then a closing parenthesis. But then the B ) got changed to an emoji.
One of these days, I’ll figure out all the quirks of Meh’s markdown parsing.