Are people inherently stupid?

[Dogberry]

OK I cant figure this out.

I sell stuff on ebay and here are a few merchandising tips.

If I sell something for £20 it sells OK. Sell it for £19.99 and it really does sell better.

I offer something for £5.99 + £1.49 postage, that is a total of £7.48. it sells OK.

But if i sell the same thing at £7.99 and advertise FREE Postage it sells better.

Even better than that I offer combined postage, so buyer one buys two items on the first desription ends up paying £13.97. The buyer who buys two with the 'free' postage pays £15.98

To experiment i have put the two side by side and the 'free postage' one wins eveytime.

Figure that out

[GROFF200]

I think people are just easily distracted for the most part.
How this differs from stupidity, if at all, I am not certain though.

[pavlos]

"theres one born every minute" is the old saying, and given that four fifth of the world population have below average IQ, what do you expect.
there is another statistic I could use, but I wont.

[Shadoglare]

I've done similar experiments with my ebay sales. And yes, all most people care about is the sticker price, regardless of the shipping.

I switched from "true" shipping, to reducing the "sticker" cost of the item by a few bucks and then "padding" it into the shipping cost, and my sales pretty much tripled. Same total cost, but people still saw it as "cheaper."

[soylentgreen]

I've been having a good time on ebay too. It is the greatest thing ever. People will pay way too much for stuff.

One recent example was a HVAC book I had. The price to buy the book new from the publisher is $55. Mine was used and in fair condition and I noted all the flaws.

I started the bidding at $9.99 or something...thinking that the book was meant to be used on the job site, so someone wouldn't mind one that was a little used if they could save significant money on it. I even included a link to the publisher's web site so the buyers could see the description of the book there. They could also see the price to buy the book from them.

Well...the idiots paid $75 plus shipping for the thing!

Truly amazing... Why would you pay more for something used than something new?

I've noticed that people are paying more for gold American Eagle coins than they could get them for from a reputable source like Blanchard and Co (www.blanchardonline.com)

[Shadoglare]

I see that all the time too - people spending more for a used item than they can buy it for at the store down the street, new.
But hey, they "won" the bidding war, I guess

[Ponycar_302]

Originally Posted by pavlos

... and given that four fifth of the world population have below average IQ, what do you expect.

If 4/5 of the world population were below the average IQ wouldn't that then lower the average IQ thereby placing them in the norm?

[Feenix566]

Yeah, unless the one fifth who were above average were four times smarter than the four fifths who are below it...

I think somebody's making stuff up.

[pavlos]

Originally Posted by Ponycar_302

If 4/5 of the world population were below the average IQ wouldn't that then lower the average IQ thereby placing them in the norm?

you are absolutely right, I apologise my bad, I misread the figures, when I reread it, it said 80% are between 80-120 rating, must have had my mind on something else.
http://www.geocities.com/rnseitz/Definition_of_IQ.html

[IFF]

Originally Posted by Dogberry

OK I cant figure this out.

I sell stuff on ebay and here are a few merchandising tips.

If I sell something for £20 it sells OK. Sell it for £19.99 and it really does sell better.

I offer something for £5.99 + £1.49 postage, that is a total of £7.48. it sells OK.

But if i sell the same thing at £7.99 and advertise FREE Postage it sells better.

Even better than that I offer combined postage, so buyer one buys two items on the first desription ends up paying £13.97. The buyer who buys two with the 'free' postage pays £15.98

To experiment i have put the two side by side and the 'free postage' one wins eveytime.

Figure that out

it's very much a psychological thing

and plus people are inherently stupid

[Ice Pick]

Are People Inherently Stupid?

Watch some reality shows on TV to answer the question.

[TheLateGreat]

ZOMG FREE SHIPPING? Link me to your sales please!!!11!!1!!1

[Stone]

"are people inherently stupid?" "I can't figure this out"

You should probably re-evaluate the need to post this question in the first place. The point of view that people are wholly inherently stupid is not a topic that warrants much thought because it's something we have no control over. It doesn't matter, and further, it's relative. People are inherently animals, just like a rat or a monkey or a snake. Are snakes inherently stupid? If you're a snake, then humans are inherently smart and you're comparatively stupid.


Is our culture inherently stupid? There's a topic worthy of proper debate.


The $9.99 mentality is cultural. to not think closely about purchases is learned behavior.

[tinhorn]

If I can't find it on Amazon, then I go to eBay. I avoid jerkoffs who pad their shipping costs and lowball the BIN price - if they're going to screw eBay out of fees, they'll probably screw me. And I buy the first BIN that's reasonably priced, as long as their terms and other bullshit aren't longer than the item description. Who has time to sort through a hundred different auctions for the same crap, looking for the cheapest price?

I just bought my first car on eBay - will be picking it up this weekend. A five-second snipe. Hahaha - two other SOBs though they had it in the last minute of the auction.

[Dogberry]

Originally Posted by Shadoglare

I've done similar experiments with my ebay sales. And yes, all most people care about is the sticker price, regardless of the shipping.

I switched from "true" shipping, to reducing the "sticker" cost of the item by a few bucks and then "padding" it into the shipping cost, and my sales pretty much tripled. Same total cost, but people still saw it as "cheaper."

Yeah I went that way too, try one or teo items with the headline FREE POSTAGE (or SHIPPING) in the title and see what happens.

Originally Posted by soylentgreen

I've been having a good time on ebay too. It is the greatest thing ever. People will pay way too much for stuff.

One recent example was a HVAC book I had. The price to buy the book new from the publisher is $55. Mine was used and in fair condition and I noted all the flaws.

I started the bidding at $9.99 or something...thinking that the book was meant to be used on the job site, so someone wouldn't mind one that was a little used if they could save significant money on it. I even included a link to the publisher's web site so the buyers could see the description of the book there. They could also see the price to buy the book from them.

Well...the idiots paid $75 plus shipping for the thing!

Truly amazing... Why would you pay more for something used than something new?

I've noticed that people are paying more for gold American Eagle coins than they could get them for from a reputable source like Blanchard and Co (www.blanchardonline.com)

It's amazing isnt it.

I was selling some items with a buy now price of £5. I put a lower bid price on of £4. Poeple started bidding and went up to £7 where it sold, regardless of the fact they could have bought another in my shop for £5.

Originally Posted by TheLateGreat

ZOMG FREE SHIPPING? Link me to your sales please!!!11!!1!!1

[soylentgreen]

Originally Posted by Dogberry

It's amazing isnt it.

It really is. But, hey, a bid on an auction is an agreement to buy it at a price you set. Right? No one is forcing people to bid. If you overpay because you didn't do your homework, you're only screwing yourself. That's the way I look at it. If you're on ebay, you have internet access. If you can't get the information to make an informed decision even with that level of access...you deserve to be screwed.

The marketplace is fascinating. I started selling on ebay to get rid of some old toys, books and sci-fi collectibles. Then I started watching other people sell stuff for crazy jacked-up prices. I mean, one collectible I saw sell last week for $100 Buy it Now (plus shipping) can be purchased directly from the source for $60.

[Stigger]

Originally Posted by Ponycar_302

If 4/5 of the world population were below the average IQ wouldn't that then lower the average IQ thereby placing them in the norm?

This is just conjecture on my part, but I think the meaning was that 80% of the worlds people would score below 100 on an IQ test, which is often considered to be average even though the true world average is somewhere around 90.

Edit. I should read the entire thread before responding.