Reader Lara in Orlando asked: “If rounded offers invite haggling, what about products with fixed prices, like retail or D2C?”

Great question.

I wrote about how Columbia University research showed that precise opening offers (like $5,015 instead of $5,000) make people see the seller as informed and deliberate.

Buyers assume there’s less wiggle room because the number feels like the result of calculation.

In D2C or retail, where prices are fixed, the same psychology still applies.

Just earlier.

Precise pricing signals expertise. It tells buyers: “We’ve done the math.”

It makes the price feel grounded in reasoning, not guesswork.

That’s why some brands land on $189 or $247 instead of clean $200s. Even without negotiation, precision frames value as intentional.

The key is balance.

Go too granular and it feels cheap or manipulative; go too round and it feels inflated.

The sweet spot is “reasonably precise”: believable, but confident.

Because even when there’s no haggling, your price still speaks before you do.

Want to make your product irresistible? That’s just what we do as product marketing consultants at Graphos Product, helping innovators turn need-driven ideas into market-ready successes.