I browse various eCommerce niche websites looking for ideas. One of the funny things I see are instant coupons directly posted on the site.  This seems to be everywhere.

The raw psychology.

Here is how it works, the user browses the items they like and they get a mental picture of how much these items cost and this becomes “the price” mentally.  After this acceptance of the “the price” the internal conflict takes place as the user continues to browse, they are weighing the typical pro’s, con’s and other obligations.  After some more browsing, suddenly they notice a coupon for %10 off anything on the site, usually this coupon has been been in plain site the whole time. Now suddenly the user feels this rush of victory in their internal debate because that $50 item is now only measly $45.  The user has been struggling justifying the $50 price point and at a low $45 is now just a “no brainier.”   Sorry folks this is the hook!

The Sun-Vaper Hook.

At Sun-Vapers we got rid of paid shipping and we sell at lowest price always.

Still our web analytic’s shows users inputting outdated coupon codes in the cart from various other websites.  People really like a coupon even if the savings is a wash.  Now here is the ripoff part, many websites (its an old tactic, long before there was internet or eCommerce) actually raise the price %10 prior to posting the coupon so your really just paying the price they wanted you to pay, and if you miss the coupon they made an extra %10 or you will come back just to buy a bit more stuff at a discount. Very clever.   The worst part of all this the strategies work and are quite profitable. You did not save much and if you browsed harder some lonely eCommcerce site may already have that low price without the need for a coupon.

We get it smart guy, your prices are low blah blah blah, now what?

So I guess what I am saying is we are that lonely site with the low price without needing a coupon. All our products are legitimate.  Actually I change my mind, if you can’t beat em, join em.  I do have a coupon spend $30 and use the coupon code NO-GIMMICK for an extra %10 off the entire cart. And it gets better!  We didn’t raise the price to offset the loss which means you save, so lets cut the crap and the mind games.  You save, we earn and the world keeps turning…. around the sun that is ;).  @ Sun-Vapers.com

Coupon: NO-GIMMICK is good until 8/24/2012