Sea-to-sky-games wrote:In the Soviet Union you had shortages of everything and long lineups.. and this was precisely because the goods were free. People would buy more than prices were ultra low.Just as in the US, when we imposed price controls on gas in the 70s, you had to weight around the block to buy some.These are all cases of the law of supply and demand working perfectly. I don't think I've used other theories.. but if so, what other "theories" have I used that don't apply?
Thats said, because of these factors the theory behind supply and demand are not as applicable because of these controls in place.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:No worries. We have just 100% different understanding of what constitutes the theory of supply and demand. All I've ventured is that people are price sensitive. Simple as that. That won't change wherever you are, or whatever system you are in.
deimos3428 wrote:Can we all just agree that BadMike summed that up perfectly? If I were to guess he's also a little bit drunk, but that's not an insult coming from a Canuck.
bclarkie wrote:In case no one told you this, the theory of supply and demand is a pure capitalistic theory. This country however is not a purely capitalistic one with govermental control on a multitude of things from pricing of items, to safety and secrurity requirements on businesses, to wellfare for the poor, to interest rates set by the fed, to the stock market trading and disclosures as insider trading forbidance. Under a system of pure capitalism this things will not be regualted one bit, as it all fair game. Fortuantely, we have these things in place to prevent people from taking advantage of others. Thats said, because of these factors the theory behind supply and demand are not as applicable because of these controls in place.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:Actually this very thing occurs! When goods get stolen from a store, they raise their prices. When janitor expenses (cleaning) goes up, they raise their prices. This happens whenever costs are borne by the seller.. they always find ways to impose it on the buyer.
is that you have actually been to a store, picked up an item off the shelf and gone to pay. At this point they add new fees onto your bill for janitor expenses, stolen item expenses? I'm sorry but again in the real world this just doesn't happen. These extra fees get incorporated into the sticker price - the cost of doing business is incorporated into the sticker price. What I am saying is that there is no place for these fees to be added in any other place in any consumer based business so why should it be there on Ebay?
MShipley88 wrote:You should be wary of any seller who does not list shipping and you should absolutely refuse to deal with any seller who will not give a firm shipping quote...including a "handling fee."
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:Precisely because there is a 3rd party (eBay) that is setting the rules in such a way that sales aren't affected symmetrically. These rules give sellers an incentive to act by slightly increasing s/h fees and lowering initial bid prices. I'm not saying its widespread, but on the margin, sellers will do so.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:Many non-eBay businesses that are subject to special treatment of the law or unusual costs do add in a fee on the final price. A lot of times they will disguise it, just as online sellers do by incorporating it into s/h which is highly subjective. Other times you just get slapped in the face with them, c.f. your cellular phone bill, water bill, among many other instances.
Xaxaxe wrote:Hey, has anybody seen The Acaeum forums around here? It used to be this cool site for discussing D&D collecting and doing research. And I could have sworn it was at this URL, but I seem to have stumbled upon a forum concerning economic theory.Anyway, could someone PM me with a link?
What? That is nonsense. Two things here first. 1) You can't slightly increase the shipping cost - it is what it is. Anything above the shipping cost is a handling fee.
2) There is always a 3rd party setting the rules! The store you bought an item from is also a 3rd party - they did not make the item. Their management determines how to sell such things. How long do you think a store would last if everytime you went to a cashier to pay you got a list of additional charges? This is precisely symmetric to how Ebay works. The "cost of doing business" is incorporated into the sticker price/starting auction price.
Your statements don't seem to make any sense to me. Yes some non-Ebay businesses have extra costs or special treatment. That makes sense. But your statement "A lot of times they will disguise it" makes absolutely no sense. How exactly do retail stores do that? You buy an item off the shelf, bring it to a cashier, pay your going rate of tax on top and are done.
The examples that you give for cell phone and water, hydro etc are all commodities and do not apply here. Many fees they charge are percentage fees which are completely illegal in most states for retail purchases including the state in which Ebay is run in.
gyg wrote:Reading through all of this I realise that I am - a)not as clever as I thought I wasor b)bored,bored,bored of it all(And I never thought that I was that clever in the first place )
gyg wrote:(anyone want to sum up?(J/K please don't)
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:I wasn't aware we were restricting ourselves to a very narrow definition of "where else does this happen?". If you want to restrict whether fees are assessed in only retail markets, then I would probably agree. At this point I can't think of a certain example (unless you don't consider buying a phone "retail").My point was only that adding fees not inherent to the price of the good or shipping does occur elsewhere. Hence my post.
Mars wrote:If you we are talking about Ebay which is essentially a retail store then you have to compare it with similar businesses.Telephone, hydro, water, etc are all utilities and are governed by a completely different set of rules.
