So much for the market clearing price
On this last half-day of the holiday shopping season, I gazed upon my son with horror as he broke the spine of The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. This has symbolized my reaction to my son’s recent interest in my paperback Calvin and Hobbes collections — joy at watching him read combined with a mild dose ...
On this last half-day of the holiday shopping season, I gazed upon my son with horror as he broke the spine of The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. This has symbolized my reaction to my son's recent interest in my paperback Calvin and Hobbes collections -- joy at watching him read combined with a mild dose of horror at the way he's treating the books. [Dude, he's only five--ed. I didn't say I blamed him -- I said I watched him, mute and helples, as it happened.] However, I decided to take this as a sign to go online and buy The Complete Calvin and Hobbes from Amazon.com. They were listing used & new from $149.99 with the following note: Due to the number of copies printed, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is currently unavailable. The publisher is planning to reprint this title in April 2006 and copies will become available soon afterward. On a lark, I checked to see if Barnes and Noble had it. Not only were they carrying it, but at bn.com it was marked down to $105. I confess to being surprised that there was this much of a price and quantity spread between Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It does make one wonder if the Economist is correct to crow about the advantages of being number two in a business. Readers are hereby encouraged to post the greatest price spreads they've ecountered in their shopping activities among established online merchants. UPDATE: Thanks to Rhett in the comments section for offering a plausible explanation for the discrepancy in prices.
On this last half-day of the holiday shopping season, I gazed upon my son with horror as he broke the spine of The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. This has symbolized my reaction to my son’s recent interest in my paperback Calvin and Hobbes collections — joy at watching him read combined with a mild dose of horror at the way he’s treating the books. [Dude, he’s only five–ed. I didn’t say I blamed him — I said I watched him, mute and helples, as it happened.] However, I decided to take this as a sign to go online and buy The Complete Calvin and Hobbes from Amazon.com. They were listing used & new from $149.99 with the following note:
Due to the number of copies printed, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is currently unavailable. The publisher is planning to reprint this title in April 2006 and copies will become available soon afterward.
On a lark, I checked to see if Barnes and Noble had it. Not only were they carrying it, but at bn.com it was marked down to $105. I confess to being surprised that there was this much of a price and quantity spread between Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It does make one wonder if the Economist is correct to crow about the advantages of being number two in a business. Readers are hereby encouraged to post the greatest price spreads they’ve ecountered in their shopping activities among established online merchants. UPDATE: Thanks to Rhett in the comments section for offering a plausible explanation for the discrepancy in prices.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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