Price Signaling

Apples to Apples.

A random pair of brand name sneakers at your local neighourhood shoe store costs $200, but if you are willing to travel an hour roundtrip, you can get the exact same brand and model for $80 on the outskirts of town at a big box store.

Apples to Oranges.

A random software developer in your local neighbourhood co-working space of San Francisco that charges $200/hr, but if you are willing to walk one block you can find a completely different random software developer for $125/hr and if you can put up with 8 to 12 time zone differences, and a different risk profile, you can get a completely different random software developer for $6/hr.

Price *IS* a signaling mechanism, but the signal is contextual, it applies to commodities in a different way than it does to artisanal. The moment you forget or ignore the context, you lose perspective and then you are trying to decide whether an apple is better than an orange.