Position Prices on the Left or Top

Prices seem most expensive in the bottom-right.

Price toward left of buy button on mobile, and price at top of monthly plan

Overview

Prices feel small or large in different locations.

Typically, prices feel cheaper toward the left or top.

Left Positions Activate a Small Number Line

Every culture has a number line. If you read from left to right, you conceptualize small numbers on the left:

...people typically see small numbers to the left of larger ones, [so] they are likely to associate small numerical values with locations on the left (Cai, Shen, & Hui, 2012, p. 723)

Right Positions Trigger the Pain of Paying

On mobile devices, users need to cross over prices toward the right.

Mobile footer with CTA button on left, and price on right. A user's thumb is crossing over the price to reach the button

A product card with the price in the top-right corner. A user's thumb is tapping the product by crossing over the price.

These thumb paths orient their attention toward prices, discouraging them from buying.

Right Positions Look Heavy

Objects on the right pull downward:

...because our eyes enter a visual field from the left, the left naturally becomes the anchor point or ‘visual fulcrum.’ Thus, the further an object is placed away from the left side (or the fulcrum), the heavier the perceived weight (Deng & Kahn, 2009, p. 9).

Prices might feel heavy toward the right:

A price toward the right side of a fulcrum, pulling it down

Prices Look Lighter Toward the Top

Food seems lighter toward the top of a package (Deng & Kahn, 2009).

Package of cookies where the cookies seem lighter toward the top

This food seems lifted to this location — so naturally it must be lighter.

Prices might inherit this effect.

Cookies seem lighter toward the top of packaging. This layout is replicated to show prices toward the top of a design

One study confirmed that prices seem expensive in the bottom-right (Park & Ma, 2019; though see Barone, Coulter, & Li, 2020 for a competing result).

Barone, M. J., Coulter, K. S., & Li, X. (2020). The Upside of Down: Presenting a Price in a Low or High Location Influences How Consumers Evaluate It. Journal of Retailing, 96(3), 397-410.
Cai, F., Shen, H., & Hui, M. K. (2012). The effect of location on Price estimation: understanding number–location and number–order associations. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 718-724.
Casasanto, D. (2009). Embodiment of abstract concepts: good and bad in right-and left- handers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138(3), 351.
Coulter, K. S. (2002). The influence of print advertisement organization on odd-ending price image effects. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
Deng, X., & Kahn, B. E. (2009). Is your product on the right side? The “location effect” on perceived product heaviness and package evaluation. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(6), 725-738.
Park, J., & Ma, Y. J. (2019). Number-location bias: do consumers correctly process the number on the product package?. Journal of Product & Brand Management.