Am I missing something re:Complete Idiot's Guide to Subs - sci.military.naval

Message from discussion Am I missing something re:Complete Idiot's Guide to Subs

More options Mar 17 2008, 1:34 pm

Newsgroups: sci.military.naval

From: DK <Dave.kenwor...@gmail.com>

Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:34:55 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Mon, Mar 17 2008 1:34 pm

Subject: Re: Am I missing something re:Complete Idiot's Guide to Subs

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On 17 Mar, 05:45, Aftermath Fan <survival...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Does anyone know why this book (The Complete Idiot's Guide to
> Submarines) is $450!?!? I can't find a copy for less than that, which
> seems absurd.

> http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Submarines/dp/0028644719/...

The price was set by one seller, the others have price matched using
listing software, thus establishing this "finger in the air" price as
the de facto market price. In fact it's a bubble, in part driven by
pre-orders placed by would-be buyers, most of whom will be dealers
(who have visibility of the Amazon pre-order list) , all chasing after
what may only have been a single genuine customer.

Some of the sellers listed won't have a copy (the generic or absent
descriptions of condition are a dead giveaway), and are pricing
speculatively in the hope that should they get an order, they can pick
one up elsewhere and drop ship it (Amazon buyers often don't
necessarily buy the cheapest copy, sometimes because not all listings
are visible, other times because of factors like feedback, shipping
location, condition, etc).

If somebody with an Amazon seller's account listed a copy at (say)
$20, the prices could well drop accordingly, depending on how astute
the price matching software is (I've seen this work before).

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