What is a brand?

A brand is the unique name and identity of a company and its products. A brand includes such things as name, logo, and unique design. So, basically, you see a product and you immediately have an association with some name and its logo.

Different brands

Nowadays, lots of brands exist, both famous and not so famous. Of the famous ones, I can name a couple such as Nike and Coca-Cola. You have probably heard of these brands, but what if I open any marketplace, like AliExpress, and type "smartphone" in the search bar?

There will be lots of smartphones I have never seen before... And while some of them will be without a name, others will have a brand. Yes, these are all brands, and from this, we move to the next heading.

Brand price

Brand price is a price surcharge which is based on brand popularity, brand's quality bar, and other factors. So, generally, you are paying for the brand's logo on the product you are buying.

Let me explain what I mean. For example, you have two identical pairs of sneakers, but pair number one is selling under the "Good Sneakers" (example) brand on AliExpress, and the second pair is selling under the New Balance brand on the official website. Here is the result: the second pair of sneakers, which is selling under the New Balance brand, will be more expensive because of the brand.

A brand fee,

This is what I will call everything described above. Because you're literally paying more because of the product's brand. To elaborate, a brand is often not only a name and logo but also quality. I think that actually, the same New Balance sneakers pair will be much better than the sneakers pair from AliExpress.

You probably now think, first they say it is the same, and now they say it is different...

The New Balance sneakers and AliExpress sneakers were an example, and now we slowly come to the next heading.

Overprice

This is something we can see when comparing different (but actually the same) products. Some popular brands' quality could be the same as cheap brands' quality. And even worse, if quality does not meet your expectations at all. So there can be terrific overpricing, which simply reaches the point of absurdity.

For instance, a phone's cost price is $300, and under some popular brand, it is selling for $1500. Meanwhile, somewhere the same power smartphone but under a less popular brand can be bought for $500. Some people will buy the phone for $1500 because of brand popularity.

In general,

Brand fee is a thing we have everywhere and which is absolutely normal. Brand fee should exist because this is also part of the brand. However, brands need to know measure; brand fee should not be transformed into terrific overprice. 

And buyers need to analyze whether they are overpaying for a particular product.