Low-ball technique
Also known as: Low-balling
Get a yes at a low price, then raise it once they're committed.
What it means
A compliance tactic in which a person first secures agreement to an attractive offer, then reveals an added cost or removes a benefit — yet the target tends to honor the now worse deal. Commitment is the engine: once people have decided and feel ownership of the choice, that initial commitment becomes self-sustaining and survives the change in terms, especially when the commitment felt freely made. It differs from foot-in-the-door (which uses a small prior request) because here the very same request is altered after agreement. It matters as a powerful, and ethically fraught, sales and negotiation maneuver.
Examples
A car salesperson agrees a great price, then says the manager rejected it and adds fees — and the buyer still signs.
In Cialdini's classic demonstration, students who agreed to join a study and only then learned it started at 7am mostly turned up — while those told the hour up front declined.
A gym quotes $20 a month and takes your card, then mentions the joining fee and the twelve-month contract. Having already pictured yourself as a member, you sign anyway.
First described in Cialdini, Cacioppo, Bassett & Miller (1978).