Luxury brands keep their 'cool' factor much better by giving digital stuff away for free than by selling it for cheap.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
Free Isn't Cheap: Zero Pricing Protects Luxury Brands in Blockchain-Based Digital Collectible Extensions
SSRN · 6195219
The Takeaway
Usually, luxury is equated with high price tags, but in digital markets like NFTs, a 'cheap' price creates a permanent low anchor that devalues the brand. Giving items away for 'free' bypasses the consumer's price-quality math entirely, allowing a brand to maintain its elite status even while distributing items widely.
From the abstract
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) present luxury brands with a pricing dilemma: high prices sustain quality inferences but invite visible failure on transparent blockchain markets, whereas low prices stimulate demand but anchor perceptions downward. This research investigates zero pricing (free distribution) as a strategy to navigate this dilemma. Analysis of 65 NFT collections from 32 brands on OpenSea and 22,841 posts on X is followed by six experiments (N = 1,924). Low-priced NFTs inflict the most s