The cost of Upgrades: Bait-and-Switch and modified Bait and switch pricing Tactics

Picture Courtesy Pixabay.com

In 1987, I was a Sales Executive for a company that marketed electronic typewriters, sold in 14-inch and 17-inch carriage sizes. The product line 400 we marketed was as follows:

1. Network 400, 14-inch carriage size: Basic electronic typewriter that functioned like a manual typewriter. Its advantages included replaceable daisy wheels for font change and a correction facility. Cost: Rs 9,990/-

                    Picture Courtesy: Pixabay.com

2. Network 401:  An upgraded model that had a small 20-character LED display. Cost: Rs 11,990/-

3. Network 411: This model featured a one-line display and 8KB memory, allowing users to store standard letter formats. Cost: Rs 13,990/-

4. Network 431: Same as the 411 model, it had 32 KB memory but priced higher at Rs 15,990/-

Now, one might ask, what's the big deal? The big deal is that the chip controlling the display and memory was the same across models. In the lower-end models, the display was simply disabled. And for those models that offered memory, the cost difference between an 8 KB chip and a 32 KB chip was marginal—perhaps Rs 500/- at most (considering 1987 prices).

The Pricing Tactic: Customers were led to pay increasingly higher prices for incremental feature enhancements. During demonstrations, the salesperson would often showcase a higher-end model with a display, bold facility, and memory. However, if the customer ended up purchasing the basic Network 400, they would receive a simple typewriter—one without bold typing capabilities.

Some customers may have felt disappointed, but they never explicitly asked if the Network 400 had bold typing. Since they didn’t ask, salespeople remained diplomatically silent.

The E-Commerce Parallel: A modified bait and switch happens on e-commerce platforms today. For instance, a Facebook advertisement may display a Timex watch for Rs 1,285/-, but upon clicking, the actual product page would list it at Rs 1,956/-—an increase of almost Rs 700/- (over 50%).

This kind of pricing deception creates false expectations, luring customers in with an attractive price—only for them to discover the real cost later.

Keywords: Hidden costs, Marketing tricks, Deceptive E-commerce pricing, Selling tactics, Product differentiation, False advertising, Customer perception, Pricing deception.