No price on the table

Text C: an original fiction extract.

For one Saturday, the second-hand book stall would display no fixed prices. Customers could choose what to pay, and the proceeds would buy books for the children's ward. An organiser described the idea as a test of generosity. Tessa, who normally took payments at the stall, was asked to keep a record. She ruled three columns in her notebook: number of books, amount paid and comments. She did not ask customers for their names or incomes.

The first visitor selected a paperback and asked its usual price. Tessa explained the trial. He put the book down, picked it up again and asked whether two pounds would be insulting. Behind him, another shopper waited with six novels. Tessa wanted to make the first visitor comfortable, so she said that two pounds was fine. Afterwards, she wondered whether she had quietly supplied a price while claiming there were none.

At eleven, a woman handed over twenty pounds for one thin book. The organiser smiled and told Tessa to put a star beside the entry. Then a father and two children chose seven books and paid three pounds between them. One child offered a coin from her own pocket after the payment was complete. Tessa thanked her and did not ask for another. Both purchases helped fill the table's empty spaces, though they looked very different in the notebook.

By noon, more books had gone than on the previous Saturday. Total takings were also higher. The organiser began drafting a notice saying that removing prices made people more generous. Tessa looked at the twenty-pound entry. Without it, the total would have been lower than last week's. There had also been a free music event beside the market that morning. Tessa had counted visitors to their table today, but not last Saturday, so she could not say whether a larger crowd explained the difference.

Two customers told her they liked choosing an amount. Another said he preferred a stated price because he could decide privately whether he could afford it. The man who had worried about two pounds returned to ask whether the same system would operate next week. He wanted to bring his neighbour, who rarely bought anything at the market. Tessa did not know whether his neighbour would welcome the freedom or the uncertainty.

At closing, several large reference books remained. Their weight made carrying them awkward, with or without a price. The organiser suggested another no-price Saturday immediately. Tessa asked to keep the notebook until Monday. She wanted to compare what they had recorded, what they had merely noticed and what they had not asked. A higher total was good news for the ward. She was less sure that it supplied the explanation printed on the organiser's unfinished notice.

You are Tessa. Write a report for the stall organisers evaluating the no-fixed-price trial.

In your response:

• explain the sales results and the different customer responses
• evaluate what the evidence allows the organisers to conclude
• recommend how a further trial should be run and communicated

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.