June 16, 2025

The Third Rail of Value Pricing

People often ask me if there’s anything that you can’t value price.

In theory, the answer is no, but in practice, there are plenty of situations where value pricing isn’t worth the trouble.

That said, value pricing does have a “third rail”.

Namely:

When a buyer is in an urgent life-or-death situation, value pricing is tantamount to extortion.

What do I mean by that?

Let’s start with a definition of extortion:

“Extortion—the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.”

It’s not hard to imagine this definition being extended to include:

“...or by withholding lifesaving assistance.”

For example...

<joe_pesci_accent>

“It’d be a shame if you didn’t give me all your money to perform life-saving surgery on this kidda yours here.”

</joe_pesci_accent>

Value pricing in such situations would be bad for the same reasons that extortion is illegal.

So yeah...

There are some things you can’t value price.

Yours,

—J

BackRandomNext