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The Price Is a Lie: The Hidden Psychology Behind Every Price You Pay
Paperback
EconomicsInvesting & FinancePersonal Finance
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 2 2026
Pages: 116
Weight: 0.36
Height: 0.28 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
You are not bad with money.
You are just up against people who are very good at their jobs.
Every price you see was chosen. Not calculated but chosen. Someone picked that number, tested it against other numbers, and knows exactly how many people will buy because of it.
They have data on millions of shoppers. They have run the experiment. They know what you will do before you do it.
That is not a fair fight. And calling it a willpower problem is like calling a rigged coin toss a bad streak.
25 short chapters. 25 tricks you meet every day but can't see.
- Why every price ends in .99 - and why it still works after you know
- Why the second-cheapest wine is the one you were meant to pick
- Why the cinema doesn't really care about the movie
- Why printer ink costs more than champagne
- How an $89 flight turns into $214 without anyone lying to you
- Why was $200, now $80 was never $200
- Why the box is the same size but there's less inside
- Why the free trial charged you for seven months
- Why the cashier always asks about the warranty at the last second
Every chapter works the same way. A moment you have lived through. The question nobody answers. How it actually works. Who is making money and how much. And what to do about it the next time.
No budgeting spreadsheets. No lectures about self-control. No advice about giving up coffee.
This book is what happens when you learn the tricks from the inside, then walk into a store as a normal customer again.
What it will actually do for you
It will not make you immune. Nothing does. Knowing how the .99 works does not stop the .99 from working.
What it gives you is half a second. A small pause at a shelf, a counter, a checkout page. A moment where something registers as arranged rather than normal.
It is the difference between a price happening to you and a price being something you decided about.
Read it once, and you will never look at prices the same way again.
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