cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50434194
Proton VPN’s pricing page exposed an ab-test identifier linked to two VPN Plus prices: €2.99/month (70% off) and €3.49/month (65% off). Repeated testing produced B → A → B → A → B, with the variant matching the rendered price each time. €12 difference over 24 months.
I’ve always said Proton feels like they just can’t wait to be Google. I don’t trust them at all.
I was posting about these kind proton pricing shenanigans months ago and no one was listening.
TL;DR Proton ran an A/B test for their mid-tier vpn pricing.
Introductory pricing specifically, not their regular pricing.
Yet again Lemmy shows that much of the userbase is young and has little general knowledge. A/B testing is quite standard, and there is nothing shady about testing different prices to see what consumers will purchase more.
A couple of times I’ve been walking in a mall (dating this anecdote back a couple of decades or so. heh) and got asked to participate in product testing where I was shown - in the case I remember better - two cans of soda with different designs. Strawberry soda - one pink can, one red can - which one I was more likely to purchase.
A/B testing is quite common as companies figure out how to sell you more. Assuming it’s randomized, it’s completely ethical.
and got asked to participate
Key difference here.
Do you normally participate in how companies set their pricing? No.
Do companies update their pricing? All the time.
All you don’t like is random people paying different prices. It’s not unethical, it is normal business practice, whether you are ignorant of it or not.
Something being normal business practice doesn’t make it ethical.
Why is “randomized” what makes it ethical?
Companies change prices all the time. Is that unethical? All that happens in an A/B test is that different people get different prices, and the company sees how many people buy at which price. There is no one single ethical price for anything. Thanks to capitalism, you charge what the market can bear. And it’s not like we’re talking something like a million dollars vs a dollar. The amounts are both pretty clearly within a reasonable amount.
