you get what you pay for

you get what you pay for

English

Proverb

you get what you pay for

1. In commercial transactions, the quality of goods and services increases as the prices increase, i.e., the more one pays, the better the merchandise.
   • 1991 October 28, Janice Castro and Richard Woodbury, "The Man Who Fired a Dog To Save a Buck," Time (retrieved 4 Nov 2018):

     You get what you pay for. If you want a lower price, you can go to Motel 6..

Usage notes

• Used both to denigrate inexpensive goods as naturally inferior and to praise expensive goods as being of high quality.

Derived terms

• YGWYPF

Translations

quality of goods increases as the prices increases

Chinese: Cantonese: 一分錢，一分貨／一分钱，一分货, 一分钱，一分货 (jat1 fan1 cin4, jat1 fan1 fo3) Mandarin: 一分錢，一分貨／一分钱，一分货 (yī fēn qián, yī fēn huò) Danish: du får, hvad du betaler for Finnish: sitä saat, mitä tilaat French: en avoir pour son argent (fr) German: Qualität hat ihren Preis Hungarian: olcsó húsnak híg a leve Indonesian: ada rupa, ada harga Japanese: 安物買いの銭失い (ja) (やすものがいのぜにうしない, yasumonogai no zeni ushinai) Spanish: nadie da duros a pesetas Swedish: man får vad man betalar för Vietnamese: tiền nào của nấy, tiền nào của đó, tiền nào của đấy

See also

• if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
• money's worth
• value
• who pays the piper calls the tune
• you buy cheap, you get cheap
• you pays your money and you takes your choice