How much do you increase / decrease the price

ortak

ortak

Senior Member
Turkey
Turkish
How much do you increase / decrease the price ?

I increase / decrease the price by 5 %.


Hello all,
I'd like to ask you if my question and answer is done well.
Is 'how much' the best choice to ask the question?
Are there any alternatives?

Thanks in advance.
 
    • Let's say we are asking to a estate agency about home prices, but can't we use it in any sector?
     
    In your question and your answer you use the simple present tense, which suggests habitual/repeated behaviour. A customer would not normally ask an estate agent about that. You need to describe the context in more detail, so that we can see if you are using the right tense.
     
    Okay, let's talk about holiday. I want to book a room at an hotel and you know prices vary according to different seasons.

    If you book your holiday in summer, you pay more than an average price but if you book it earlier (may be in fall) you can pay less.


    There also may be some ups and down when pricing houses. As I know, housing market has more movement in summer and sellings are decreasing in fall and winter.

    Therefore, price differs again. I just simply want to learn 'what is the decrease/increase rate?' between these seasons. May be I ask this question to a friend of mine, may be to a proffessional estate agent...

    So, every sector has regular ups and down on its own terms so I think question can be asked in present tense.
     
    In the context of booking a room at a hotel, you would not ask "How much do you increase/decrease the price?"
    You could ask about the high-season and low/off-season or peak and off-peak rates.
    If you have just been given the off-season rate, you might ask, for example:
    What does the rate go up to during (the) high season?
     
    Okay, thanks a lot, but in which context can I use my cool sentence ? :D How much do you increase / decrease the price ?'
     
    I think that How much do you increase the room rate between off- and peak seasons? would be OK.

    If you substituted "price" for "rate" in the example I have given you, I'm sure you would be understood, but I'd recommend "rate", as Language Hound has.

    I assume you know that How much do you increase the price? all by itself, with no indication of what price you're talking about, would probably not be understood.
     
    Last edited:
    srk said:
    I think that How much do you increase the room rate between off- and peak seasons? would be OK.

    If you substituted "price" for "rate" in the example I have given you, I'm sure you would be understood, but I'd recommend "rate", as Language Hound has.

    I assume you know that How much do you increase the price? all by itself, with no indication of what price you're talking about, would probably not be understood.
    Click to expand...


    Thank you srk very much :)))

    May be it is better to ask more specifically like this : 'How much do you increase / decrease the price in your new product?' or 'How much do you increase / decrease the price in your new XXX serie of I-phone?'

    May be it would be better to use future tense here.     'How much are you going to increase / decrease the price in your new XXX serie of I-phone?'
     
    ortak said:
    Maybe it would be better to use future tense here. 'How much are you going to increase / decrease the price in your new XXX series of I-phone?'
    Click to expand...

    That is much better. To be clear, it would also help to specify the circumstances that will lead to the change: ... your new XXX series I-phone now that Samsung has lost/won in court. or ... now that the holidays are coming/over.
     
    ortak said:
    May be it would be better to use future tense here. 'How much are you going to increase / decrease the price in your new XXX serie of I-phone?'
    Click to expand...
    This doesn't sound at all natural to my ear.
    For one thing, we increase/decrease the price of something, not "in" something.
    For another thing, I believe we would say "By how much..."
    I also think that, in a case like this, people would tend to use the somewhat less formal "raise" and "lower" instead of "increase" and "decrease."
    (And we would say "new series," not "new serie.")

    What sounds more natural to me:
    How much is the new iPhone going to cost?
    How much more expensive is the new iPhone going to be?

    As for your "cool sentence" (How much do you increase / decrease the price?),
    I would advise you to forget about it.:)
     
    Last edited:
    What I might say:
    How much are you going to adjust the price of your iPhone 5S now that the iPhone 6 is out?

    As a side note, one of the easiest ways you can gain credibility in a foreign language is by noting form: iPhone, for example, rather than I-phone.
     
    How much cheaper is the new iPhone going to be?
    How much less expensive is the new iPhone going to be?
    How much less is the new iPhone going to be?
     
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