jay-h (2/26/2013)
DavidBrown-731687 (2/26/2013)
I resent the notion that, just because I may be more affluent than another person, I should be expected to pay more for everything I buy. I purchased a BMW a few years ago, but sold it when it became obvious that every time I took it in for service the charge was higher than I paid for comparable service on other cars I've owned. ...But that is NOT the situation here. NO ONE was charged more for the same service, they were offered (firstly) more expensive services. A very different situation. This, by the way, is quite different from BMW's habit of charging ridiculous prices for service (and locking down the cars so that independent service is not always possible).
It's more akin to your walking into a store in a quality suit, the salesman will probbably offer the higher quality goods first.
And by doing as you suggest there is a certain risk. Making the assumption that a person will buy higher priced or "nicer" things based on one item such as the suit they wear is silly. Also based on the type of browser, type of machine, or time of day a person comes to the site is not really the brightest light on the block as well.
Statistics tell us that making a conclusion on one assumed fact is dangerous and has a very high probability of failure. This is why corporate america is trying to gather as much information about you as possible. They are mining everything they can get their bots and spiders on. They want to develop a statistical trend to bend the probabilities in their favor. Thus they collect everything, analyze it all, and then make a "best guess" estimate as to what to show you and how to present it. This is based on the idea that you will continue to make similar decisions based on the decisions of the past. And if the statistical base is broad enough then the assumptions have a much higher probability of success.
Is it moral and legal? Yes it is. If you are a business why would you want to waste time and monies showing customers as the first options, things they have never shown an interest in buying. And as a customer you want to get to what you want as quickly as possible and not have some one trying to sell you something you do not want or need.
Lastly, the willingness to pay a higher price for quality and cost of an item may not be related to the type of machine at all. Consider the Apple owner who lost their job 16 months back and is still looking or has had to compromise on a much lower paying job. To assume that they would be willing to pay for the higher priced item in this case would be incorrect. They might want to but they cannot do it. To have the things they would like to have and can no longer afford put in their face each time they come to a site might be quite depressing, and in fact depress your sales.
M.
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!