People say they’ll pay more for “made in the USA” so we ran a test

Test design and validity

• Several commenters argue this was not a proper A/B test: users were shown both options side‑by‑side and asked to choose, instead of seeing only one variant at a time.
• Others note the company changed two variables at once (country label and an ~85% higher price), making it impossible to isolate the effect of “Made in USA” from the price hike.
• Some think the presentation (radio buttons on a “secret landing page,” US option looking like an upsell) may have made the US product feel like a scam rather than a principled choice.
• Critics say a more meaningful test would have varied the US price over time to find the actual premium users are willing to pay.

Price sensitivity vs “Made in USA” sentiment

• Many comments accept the basic result: when push comes to shove, most people choose lower price over domestic production, especially at nearly 2× cost.
• Others stress survey data already shows willingness to pay only ~10–30% more, not 85%; the test therefore doesn’t disprove that more modest premiums might work.
• Budget constraints matter: a small ethical premium is realistic, but doubling price hits hard limits for most households.

Meaning and trustworthiness of origin labels

• Several note confusion and skepticism over “Made in” vs “Assembled in,” and doubt that labels reliably reflect where value is actually created.
• There’s concern that weakened regulation will lead to more fraudulent “Made in USA” claims.
• Some argue “Made in USA” no longer reliably signals higher quality; without visible quality or durability gains, the label alone doesn’t justify a big markup.

Tariffs, policy, and manufacturing economics

• The post is seen by some as a tariff‑driven stunt: illustrating that reshoring with current cost structures forces massive price hikes if margins are “maintained.”
• Others point out that decades of offshoring, lost economies of scale, and high domestic labor costs make quick reshoring inherently expensive.
• A few argue tariffs really threaten corporate margins more than consumer welfare, and that firms could absorb some cost instead of passing all of it through.

Revealed vs stated preferences and virtue

• Commenters connect this to broader evidence that stated virtues (buy local, green, ethical) often collapse when real money is at stake.
• Some emphasize this does not mean people “lied”: survey answers can express aspirational values that conflict with everyday constraints and temptations.
• For businesses, the lesson offered is to trust revealed behavior (actual purchases) over declarations, and to test with real buying decisions.