On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 5:11 PM, Brent Hilpert <hilp...@cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
> On 2016-Mar-01, at 4:36 PM, Sean Conner wrote: > > It was thus said that the Great Rich Alderson once stated: > >> > >> For most hobbyists, even $100 is too much. I was simply astounded at > the > >> chutzpah of the seller--right there on the Amazon list--who was asking > >> nearly $1500 for a copy. > > > > I think that comes from an unchecked computer algorithm, not simple > greed. > > I think what's happening here is someone (some Amazon third party) > offered > > the book for, say, $5. Another third party scans Amazon for such books, > and > > offers it for say, $6, with the hope that you (the potential buyer) will > > only see their their offer for $6 and buy from them, at which point they > > will buy it for $5 from the original seller, sell it to you for $6 and > > pocket the $1 profit. The problem comes when a third third-party seller > > sees the offer for $6 and does the same thing as the second one, only now > > they're offering it for $7, will pay $6 for it and pocket $1 profit. > > > > Keep repeating that process and you end up with books selling for $1500. > > > > -spc (Who knows? If you keep searching, you might find the original > > seller selling it for $5 ... ) > > > For example: > > http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/why-did-amazon-charge-23698655-93-for-a-textbook/ > I've come across other articles about this in the past. Don't know the > specifics of the book mentioned by Rich. > > On abebooks.com, the lowest price is right around $100 with shipping. Yes, this sucks. Yes, this is how capitalism works. :-) I've paid serious money for books that are relevant to my research that aren't available in libraries - one of them was no closer than Paris. (I bought it from India for about $50, and I won't loan it out.) -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
