Puzzling? Why do retailers list item prices ending with 99 cents?

They've got to do something with their pennies..........

this is part of an entire article that i found....this part kind of answers your question....the rest of the article is about why they use prices ending in .99 cents... No one knows exactly who invented 99-cent pricing or when it began. One story, Dr. Thomas said, is that store owners in the 1930s who didn't trust their clerks created this pricing so the clerk would have to open the till to give change to the customer, rather than being able to quietly pocket the bills without the owner finding out. A British consumer researcher, Rachel Bowlby of University College London, said she had heard an almost identical story in the United Kingdom, except that the organization credited with the invention was the charitable group Oxfam.

This practice has been going on forever. It's so the consumer will think they are getting a heck of a deal. Sounds better to say, "Look! I got this for $9.99" then it does to say, "Look! I got this for 10 bucks". And consumers logically know that it's only a penny difference but for advertising purposes it looks so much better, too.

It started as a gimmick to make people think they were getting a deal and then it caught on. I wish they would start a trend to include taxes in retail prices and round to the nearest dollar.

'practically' the same thing, but not! It is an illusion to fool the consumer mind. $9.99 = $9

Trickery.

Because it makes people feel like they got a bargin. "A penny saved is a penny earned"

i think because most people wont want the 1cent back so retailers will get it

No you get a penny back.

yes, but it just sounds cheaper, its a psychology thing