Hassle Costs: The Achilles' Heel of Price‐Matching Guarantees*

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
Year: 1999
Volume: 8
Issue: 4
Pages: 489-521

Authors (2)

Morten Hviid (University of East Anglia) Greg Shaffer (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We show that price‐matching guarantees can facilitate monopoly pricing only if firms automatically match prices. If consumers must instead request refunds (thereby incurring hassle costs), we find that any increase in equilibrium prices due to firms' price‐matching policies will be small; often, no price increase can be supported. In symmetric markets price‐matching guarantees cannot support any rise in prices, even if hassle costs are arbitrarily small In asymmetric markets, higher prices can be supported, but the prices fall well short of maximizing joint profits. Our model can explain why some firms adopt price‐matching guarantees while others do not.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:jemstr:v:8:y:1999:i:4:p:489-521
Journal Field
Industrial Organization
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-02-02