The Price Basement Glitch

A woman bought five hundred hand sewn beaded coin purses from the 1940s at auction. She placed them in boutiques on Sunset Boulevard for twenty dollars each. Almost none sold. A shopkeeper suggested she raise the price by a hundred dollars. Every single one sold out.

Nothing about the purses changed. Only the signal changed. Twenty dollars said these might be junk. A hundred and twenty dollars said these are rare.

The machine running the Price Basement Glitch has it exactly backwards. It lowers the price because it doubts the value. The lower price confirms the customer's doubt. The product sits on the shelf. The owner lowers the price again.

The freelancer who apologizes before quoting their rate. The consultant who discounts before being asked. The business that competes on price because it doesn't know how to compete on value.