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Everyone is absolutely consciously aware of it, and this has always been true. It still works just fine via your subconscious.

Part of it is that people want to be tricked. If I want to buy something but I'm on the fence about whether it's worth $5 then I think the $4.99 price works as like a semi-subconscious plausible deniability mechanism to let me allow myself to buy it.

Imagine two apps you’re scrolling by in the App Store. One is $5, the other is $4.99. Barely going attention (essentially picking subconsciously rather than consciously), you choose one to click first. What are the odds you clicked the $4.99 one?

Zero