Ask HN: The max amount you can spend on marketing without asking for permission?

I'm running a platform that offers promotion of software products for a fixed monthly subscription. Recently, I improved the impact of a paid promo about three times. Consequently, I increased pricing from $99 to $149. It's been a few weeks now without a new subscription on the amended (higher) price. In comparison, there were new subscriptions almost every week at $99. My theory is that many companies have a policy that allows marketing people to spend up to a specific amount (e.g. $100) without asking for permission. Then, if the price is higher, the process of asking for permission becomes a big enough deterrent to make people reluctant to subscribe.