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The latter is a true hypothetical as US law prevents charging different rates to different users for the exact same product/service.

btgeekboy 8y ago
It does? There's quite a few counterexamples to that, such as airline fares, cars, etc.
- everdev 8y ago
  The example above is Facebook charging a single person $1k/year while not charging other people. That's called price discrimination: https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is-it-ethical/ https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is... It would be a slam dunk lawsuit. You can still offer discounts (airline tickets, Adobe, etc.) or negotiate pricing (cars, etc.) legally. But, it is illegal to isolate someone and charge them more without justification as in OC's example. So yes, Facebook charging a single person $1k/year is a true hypothetical. It couldn't happen legally in the US.
owens99 8y ago
Can you show evidence of this? What about airline tickets?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
TimCinel 8y ago
No it doesn't.
- everdev 8y ago
  Yes, it's called price discrimination: https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is-it-ethical/ https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is...
isostatic 8y ago
Different customers get different discounts on all sorts of goods and services, reflecting the various importance of the customer, difficulty of dealing with them, etc. We get an x% discount off list on Cisco network kit, I assume that others get y% or z%.
- everdev 8y ago
  Yes, but it matters who gets those discounts. If you took a prior action to earn the discount no problem. If it's assigned randomly, no problem. If Costco charges $1k for a bagel and gives it away to everyone for free except insists on you paying, that's a problem. You're not allowed to isolate discounts based on race, gender, etc. So Costco would have to have a pretty creative reason for making you pay and no one else. It wouldn't hold up in court and it would be price discrimination.
solarkraft 8y ago
Then Adobe has a huge legal problem.

btgeekboy 8y ago

It does? There's quite a few counterexamples to that, such as airline fares, cars, etc.

everdev 8y ago
The example above is Facebook charging a single person $1k/year while not charging other people. That's called price discrimination: https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is-it-ethical/ https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is... It would be a slam dunk lawsuit. You can still offer discounts (airline tickets, Adobe, etc.) or negotiate pricing (cars, etc.) legally. But, it is illegal to isolate someone and charge them more without justification as in OC's example. So yes, Facebook charging a single person $1k/year is a true hypothetical. It couldn't happen legally in the US.

owens99 8y ago

Can you show evidence of this? What about airline tickets?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

TimCinel 8y ago

No it doesn't.

everdev 8y ago
Yes, it's called price discrimination: https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is-it-ethical/ https://econsultancy.com/what-is-price-discrimination-and-is...

isostatic 8y ago

Different customers get different discounts on all sorts of goods and services, reflecting the various importance of the customer, difficulty of dealing with them, etc. We get an x% discount off list on Cisco network kit, I assume that others get y% or z%.

everdev 8y ago
Yes, but it matters who gets those discounts. If you took a prior action to earn the discount no problem. If it's assigned randomly, no problem. If Costco charges $1k for a bagel and gives it away to everyone for free except insists on you paying, that's a problem. You're not allowed to isolate discounts based on race, gender, etc. So Costco would have to have a pretty creative reason for making you pay and no one else. It wouldn't hold up in court and it would be price discrimination.

solarkraft 8y ago

Then Adobe has a huge legal problem.