One of the most common "lies" is price windowing where you charge multiple prices for something that costs you the same. Like when Intel used to sell a 486SX a

One of the most common "lies" is price windowing where you charge multiple prices for something that costs you the same. Like when Intel used to sell a 486SX at a lower price because the math co-processor was deactivated on the same chip as the more expensive 486 DX. This pricing "lie" allowed Intel to get more total revenue and sell more total units because they could charge more and less at the same time. Airline ticket prices also work like this sometimes. Why I put "lie" in quotes is that prices always reflect more than cost. They also reflect the utility to the purchaser. Some people are always willing to pay more or less. Beyond cost, price also reflects utility. It's true the price of electricity is manipulated to shape behavior, but its also true that 200 kW hours is twice as useful as 100kW hours and the purchaser may be willing to pay twice as much for it.