If you get what you pay for, does that make it hard to value things given for free?

Asked by wundayatta (58741

) November 30th, 2010

We all know that we are often given gifts. All the advice provided on fluther, for example, is a gift (as far as I know). I.e., no one pays for it.

There are God knows how many Q&A sites on the internet, and many are free, and some require payment. Do you think there is a bias that if you pay for advice, it will be better than advice given for free? Do you feel that way?

I know it’s easy to think that of course you value things based on their merit, not what you paid for them. But there is research out there that shows that if you raise the price of something, you sometimes make more sales because people look at the price and think it must be better. This is one reason why colleges and universities raise their tuition fees. They don’t want to seem like they are offering less than a competitor that charges more.

So, try to look at this as honestly as you can. Do you value you things more when you pay more for them? Especially if you pay a lot, doesn’t that behoove you to like it? After all, you invested a lot in it, and you don’t want to feel stupid for doing that.

On the other side, if you get something for free, do you value it less, simply because you got it with no effort at all? Like a child getting an expensive gift, and tossing it aside because it holds no interest for them. If they knew how much others value that, and how much prestige comes from having that, would they toss it aside so lightly?

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3 Answers

It depends, of course. I’m going to pay more and value a newer car because it’s more valuable than an old one. I value advice that I feel is good regardless of the price (I wouldn’t pay for advice anyways). I value gifts if it’s something I needed. For example, last holiday I received a nice, warm peacoat and I cherish it because I really needed it, that same holiday, I also got a windshield wiper thingy for the inside of the car. It was not very useful so it’s in my place somewhere and I’ve only used it once. Not because it was free, but because I didn’t need it and wouldn’t have bought it in the first place.

I am aware that sometimes, price does not equal quality, this is apparent when looking at something like Lucky brand jeans. Although some things really are a better quality and I don’t mind paying more for them, and yes, I do have a tendency to value them more depending on what it is.

Blackberry (34157

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I think that phrase simply means you reap what you sow (or something else Biblical) – in that, you get out what you put in so it doesn’t have to be about money and this is why a free gift that someone put attention into means so much to the person receiving it, which gets reciprocated onto the giver.

Simone_De_Beauvoir (39062

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I do not think that it does. For instance, last week I picked up a free puppy for our family. I have a 3 (almost 4) year old and a 7 year old boy. The puppy is a Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix. We named it Eddie. I call it Eddie of New York (for those of you who are Dark Tower fans). It’s hard to argue against the value of that puppy right now, as it has totally distracted the boys and to a lesser extent the adults as to the possibilities that this is going to be a crappy Christmas.

ZAGWRITER (1511

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