Two automated Amazon sellers create a ridiculous upward pricing spiral
Michael Eisen:
A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping).
Apparently two sellers created an automated upward pricing spiral. Basically, one seller is trying to price their copy of the book just below the highest priced alternative on the market — a totally reasonable strategy. The other half of the equation is a little stranger, however:
My preferred explanation for bordeebook’s pricing is that they do not actually possess the book. Rather, they noticed that someone else listed a copy for sale, and so they put it up as well – relying on their better feedback record to attract buyers. But, of course, if someone actually orders the book, they have to get it – so they have to set their price significantly higher – say 1.27059 times higher – than the price they’d have to pay to get the book elsewhere.
Between the two of them, the eventual high point of the book’s price (“The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly”) was $23,698,655.93.