Should Six Flags be advertising theirs more expensive as well? Their fee is about $10.
News Enchanted Parks Unveils Pass Program
- Thread starter wasteman
- Start date
In my opinion as a marketer, I generally dislike added fees because they lower the perceived value of what’s being purchased. Someone buying something for $79 anchors to that thing being worth $79, so if they’re hit by an additional $10 fee, that stings. But if the price was just $89 upfront, they’re more likely to accept that the thing is worth $89.
That’s not universally true though, and there can be strategic reasons for charging for fees separately. A key one is to make the initial price more attractive to price-sensitive buyers and not drive them away with sticker shock. For example, a lot of e-commerce companies charge shipping fees so their base price is competitive with a product you’d find in a store (“free shipping” is generally a myth and is almost always just baked into the product price). In a case like this, the company is strategically trading off the benefit of no added fees in order to make their prices more palatable.
I assume Six Flags has made a similar strategic decision. They likely believe their consumer is price-sensitive and will be more drawn to the price if they understand what’s covering the pass itself and what’s covering processing. (I’m skeptical that “processing” actually costs them anywhere close to $10, but outrageous junk fees are another discussion.)
In the case of Enchanted, my point is that the $0.99 is so trivial that it’s not even worth listing separately. It’s so comically low that it makes Enchanted Parks look desperate to squeeze out every last cent they can, and it feels like nickel-and-diming. Even the most price-sensitive consumer isn’t likely to be turned off by $79.99 versus $79.00, so if they really need that extra $0.99, they should just make the price one clean number.
It’s really not a big deal, that’s just my marketing brain nerding out on an opinion I’ve had.
I’m trying to look into what laws may be impacting it. Some states have laws on the books that make places disclose the fact that $79 is the base price and $0.99 is the service fee. That may be the case here (IIRC Florida is one of the states that have a law requiring this and Enchanted Parks is based there.
From what I know, there are laws that if there is a separate fee, that needs to be disclosed upfront. That’s why Enchanted has that awkward “+ $0.99 fee” language on their pass page (which is what triggered my initial reaction — it looks so penny-pinchy being displayed right upfront like that).
But I think that’s separate from whether fees are required to be listed separately versus baked into the total price. A 2-second conversion with ChatGPT seems to support this if you’re curious to review some sources.
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I rather see that there than realize my transaction is $10-20 more at the end because of added admin fees TBH.At least their processing fee is only .99 cents AND they are clearly and transparently advertising it in the price. Unlike Six Flags/Cedar Fair that tack on a much higher fee at the end of the transaction, completely unadvertised.
This indicates that Enchanted Parks has ethics, unlike Six Flags/Cedar Fair.
This indicates that Enchanted Parks has ethics, unlike Six Flags/Cedar Fair.
@Mushroom isn't saying the disclosure is bad—the disclosure is good—he's saying the fee is stupid.
Six Flags' method is predatory, gross, and anti-consumer (and it should be illegal). Enchanted Parks' method is just dumb business—they're onboarding the negative emotions that come with inflicting a junk fee while also essentially profiting nothing from that junk fee (since it's only 99 cents).
Everyone agrees that what Enchanted is doing is better than what Six Flags does—it's just also really silly.