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Pride and patronage - pay-what-you-want pricing at a charitable bookstore

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  • Gravert, Christina

Abstract

‘‘Pay-what-you-want” pricing has proven successful in some settings while failing to be profitable in others. I conduct a field experiment at a charitable bookstore to investigate what role the relationship between the customer and the seller could play in a pay-what-you-want price scheme. When subtly reminded of their participation in the store’s membership program, members paid significantly more per book than without a reminder, while this reminder had no effect on non-members. Further, I find evidence that prices are sensitive to quantity chosen and evidence that is in line with a decay in prices over repeated purchases.

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  • Gravert, Christina, 2017. "Pride and patronage - pay-what-you-want pricing at a charitable bookstore," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1-7.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:67:y:2017:i:c:p:1-7
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2017.01.009
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    Cited by:

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    2. Egbert, Henrik, 2017. "The Gift and Pay-What-You-Want Pricing," MPRA Paper 82066, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Chang, Chia-Chi & Chen, Po-Yu, 2019. "Which maximizes donations: Charitable giving as an incentive or incentives for charitable giving?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 65-75.
    4. Preeti Narwal & J. K. Nayak, 2020. "Investigating relative impact of reference prices on customers’ price evaluation in absence of posted prices: a case of Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) pricing," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 234-247, August.
    5. Emili Vizuete-Luciano & Oktay Güzel & José M. Merigó, 2023. "Bibliometric research of the Pay-What-You-Want Topic," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(5), pages 413-426, October.
    6. Stoll, Julius, 2022. "The cost of honesty: Field evidence☆," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Bart Neuts, 2020. "Mixed pricing strategies in museums: Examining the potential of voluntary contributions for capturing consumer surplus," Tourism Economics, , vol. 26(1), pages 115-136, February.

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