€2.99 or €3.49? Proton VPN's Pricing Test Exposed

cross-posted from: 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.

thecybersecguru.com/news/proton-vpn-ab-testing-price-difference/

Can someone articulate what is wrong with this? It intrinsically feels wrong to me, but when I think about it I dont really have any good reasoning why this would be bad.

We expect a standard price and it feels bad when we find out someone else got it cheaper.

But the consumer should be operating the same, they review the deal and if its a price they are willing to pay they go through with it.

It’s because despite what economists believe, prices are not determined fairly by the market but are dictated supply-side. So this kind of “testing” is one of the more blatant ways in which consumer trust is violated in the name of maximizing profits. It makes it obvious that you’re not paying a fair price for a service or product, but a price that was dictated for someone else’s convenience without taking your interests into account at all, violating the social contract.