I am reposting this from a discussion thread, since it is actually a suggestion:
I'm going to agree with this. Personally, I almost never shell out more than 0.99 cents on an in-app purchase. However when there is a 0.99 cent in-app purchase available, I will purchase it many many times over the course of game play.
It's the psychology of it all. To me, a dollar is nothing. Even $1.99 is nothing. After all, what can you get in real life for a dollar these days? But $3.99 is practically 5 bucks, and I can buy something decent with $5 in real life. So I can't justify spending that on a game all in one shot.
I'm fully aware that this doesn't make logical sense, since in the end, I probably shell out twenty to fifty bucks in 0.99 cent purchases over time, but in terms of business, it just makes sense for TL to offer a lower cost gem package. I promise you will get way more money out of me that way.
I have yet to purchase a regular gem package from Castle Story. The only time I've made a purchase was when they offered a bundle for $1.99 that included that an apple tree (which I needed to get Sir Piggy), gems and/or coins and wisp lanterns (I think that's what it was). And then I caved and bought the following $9.99 bundle with gems, lanterns and 50 trade tickets. I've never spent ten bucks on a game at once, but that seemed worth it to me at the time, plus I do want to support the game developers.
Please help me support you even more by offering 50 gems for $1.99 and 20 gems for $0.99!! I promise you will see a major increase in purchases. Just try it out for a week.