Die Bräutigamsgabe ist im Vergleich zur Brautgabe selten anzutreffen. Nach Marvin Harris ist das "logische Gegenstück" der Brautgabe, der Bräutigamspreis, "bis auf einen Ausnahmefall (Nagovisi in Bougainville) praktisch nicht existent." [Harris: Kannibalen und Könige. Frankfurt a.M. 1978:83].

Es gibt jedoch im Gegensatz dazu mehrere empirische Belege für die Existenz des Brautpreises als den von Harris genannten (Mapilla/SW- Indien; Minangkabau/W- Sumatras/Indonesien; Ashanti/W-Afrika).

Bei den Mapilla, wo die Sororatsheirat eine bevorzugte Form der Sekundärheirat ist, überreicht die Verwandtschaftsgruppe des Mannes eine Bräutigamsgabe: "Here the wife's group is likely to have paid at the marriage a cash bridegroom price with which the husband entered business, at least partly on behalf of his wife and children. If the wife dies young, the husband wishes to retain his capital and the wife's group wants to obtain him as husband for their second daughter without paying a second bridegroom ealth. If the wife dies later and there are children of the first marriage, there may be added advantages to a sororatic union." [Schneider, D./Gough, K.: Matrilineal Kinship. Berkeley, Los Angeles 1961:625]

"The frequency and circumstances of sororatic marriage in Minangkabau are not described. I suspect that they may be similar to those among Mapillas, since the Minangkabau also combine landownership with trade and with some ability on the part of men to accumulate personal property. In modern times they also pay a bridegroom price similar to that of middle-class Mapillas. Cash payments to bridegrooms, and gifts of personal wealth by fathers to children, have greatly increased in both societies in modern times." [Schneider, D./Gough, K.: Matrilineal Kinship. Berkeley, Los Angeles 1961:625f] Im Hochland bestreitet die Familie der Frau den Hauptteil der Kosten; sie initiiert auch die Eheverhandlungen. Nach Nancy Tanner entwickelte sich jedoch in den zum gebirgigen Kernland peripher gelegenen Küstengebieten die Institution einer formellen Brautgabe: In the highlands most expenses of the marriage ceremony are borne by the bride's family, which also normally initiates marriage negotiations. In the coastal areas, there is a formal groom-price, uang djemputan, negotiated between the kin of bride and groom. Traditionally the amount of the groom- price varied with the man's title rank." [Tanner, N.: Minangkbau. In: Lebar, Frank M. (editor and compiler): Ethnic groups of Insular Southeast Asia. Vol. 1, New Haven 1972:25]