Bargains that aren't

written by Tim Harford; translated by

贷记卡(信用卡)消费
信用卡的免息贷款购物看上去的确是个精明的选择, 可是它更有可能使你忘记精打细算哦! MIT的研究者D.P.和D.S.设计了一个实验, 让两组研究对象参与一场比赛门票的竞购. 一组对象必须在24小时以内用现金支付门票, 另一组则是刷卡. 结果呢, 用卡的一组对象平均要多花一倍的价钱去看一场热门比赛啊! 还有些其他的研究表明刷卡消费的人们更容易多花钱, 而且容易忘记花了多少, 呵呵..

MANUFACTURERS’ REBATES
Many electronics are sold with a rebate, and those tempting discounts can sometimes sway buyers to particular brands. But studies show that less than half of all rebates are successfully redeemed. That’s no accident, says Prof. Richard McKenzie of the University of California, Irvine, author of Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies. Companies can introduce an obstacle by manipulating the window in which a rebate can be redeemed (for example, making it 10 days long, starting three weeks after purchase). Then there’s “slippage”—customers are mailed checks but never cash them because the checks expire first or people throw them away without realizing what they are. “Rebate checks can be mailed in envelopes designed to look like junk mail,” McKenzie says, adding that “rebates are fading out. People are beginning to learn.”

淘宝的拍卖交易
拍卖总使人兴奋, 人一兴奋就会多花钱. "近半数拍卖充斥着过高的竞价," University of California, Berkeley的教授U.M.如是说. 这很容易看出来, 因为卖家通常会给某一商品设一口价. 教授和他的同事李发现淘宝的人可从口碑好的卖家那儿用一口价买到物美价廉的商品. 如果你想拍卖竞购, 那么建议你设定一个最高出价(别高于其他卖家的一口价), 要是被超过了, 那就去别地儿买咯~ (这段有点白痴).

中档货
觉得一部中档相机-或洗碗机或别的什么-是个理想的奢侈与低价的折中之选是吧? 再想想. 一个经典的实验: 一组实验对象要在一部高端相机和一部便宜实用的相机之间进行选择. 如果在有第三种选择(更贵, 更多功能于一身的相机)的情况下, 大多数人会选择第一部. "商家会拿一款奢侈的型号摆在一款他们更希望出售的产品边上.." 这下你懂了吗~ 哈哈

免费午餐?
Duke University的教授D.A.发现, "免费"会刺激消费者的神经而降低防备. 大多数交易都存在正面和负面效应. 一样东西如果免费了, 人民就会忘记其负面效应. 比如说: 免费送货需要更大的订单金额时, 你可能买些不需要的东西来满足金额限制; 免费DVD影碟和随之销售的高价DVD播放机; 甚至博物馆的免费开放日会让你花很长的时间去排队...

YEARLY GYM MEMBERSHIPS
We all know people who sign up for a 12-month gym membership- in January—and give up their fitness regimes by March. Why do they enter into such costly commitments? “People make a choice that suggests they’re too confident about their future attendance,” says Ulrike Malmendier of UC Berkeley. Malmendier and colleague Stefano DellaVigna found that four out of five of the gym-goers they studied could have saved money by paying per visit instead. So before joining for a year, be realistic about how much you’ll go.