Pricing Statistics

I came across an online debate about price transparency, which I thin is instructive... so I reproduce...

Quote:
Originally posted by M&B:

My local competitor (Yamaha) talks to me in regular basis. Today we were talking about this particular thread.
We believe that as much as this Forum had helped the piano industry, also damages the piano business.
Helping consumers find a reasonable price, it is absolutely fair. On the other hand is damaging to the industry when prices are recklessly quoted on line.
I have my suspicion on how legit the price is, but the way I look at it, the faster the whole industry move towards transparent pricing, the better. The Internet will push you there anyway, doesn't really matter whether it's this website or other websites that do the pushing.

A "suspiciously low" price can wreak havoc only if there's no other credible data point to show that the "suspiciously low" price is an anomaly. If every one shows his real prices, then people can better tell whether a "low" price is "suspiciously low" or not.

Take a row of numbers:

6, 7, 6, 7, 5, 7, 7, 2, 6, 6, 7, 5, 6, 7

Immediately you see that "2" is "suspiciously low," and you would proceed with caution when some one quote you this number when you can see the other numbers are in the 5~7 range.

But if the row of numbers look like:

x, x, x, x, 5, x, x, 2, x, x, x, x, x, 7

and you have no idea what those x's are, then when you're quoted the number "2", you don't know whether "2" is "suspeciously low" or "7" is "cut-throat high." You just don't know where the norm is. That's where the number "2" can do some damage and make the "7" look worse than it really is.

So my response to any worry about "reckless" online price quoting is simple -- counter it with abundant quotings of REAL prices, and let the truth set you free.

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