Re:Ask YC: Auction-based pricing?
by andr on Thursday December 18, 2008 @10:20AM
(#402162)
The problem is the wide income distribution. One freelancer can make as many as 15 times the other one, so what's a fair price for one would be ridiculous for the other, and what's a fair price for the poor one would be under our break-even price. When it comes to apartments, 95% of the households fall within an x to 2x income range.
[ Parent
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However, the way you suggested is automatically unfair. You're assuming that a richer person will want to pay more (and they will) but that they won't feel unfairness when poorer people get a better deal. Unfortunately, even if I was rich, knowing the person next to me was getting cheaper rent just because they were poor (or less successful or less hardworking) would seem unfair.
You might want to offer different services or spaces for different amounts, cutting back costs and offering cheaper/smaller space to make the inequities real, and therefore justifiable.