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Ask HN: Why is this C Programming Book Worth $674.99

7 points by the1iplay 7y ago

the1iplay 7y ago
This is an old C programming book. I'd like to know what's so special about this book?. It's not just 1 seller that has high prices, there are different sellers, selling it for $600-$700 and on abebooks I've seen a $1000. Am I missing something here?
- mindcrime 7y ago
  Am I missing something here? When I see weird situations like this, I usually assume it's a consequence of algorithmic pricing driven by bots, and that there's a bug, or the bots got caught up in some weird feedback loop or something, and the prices got set to some goofy value. It could also be that demand for the book did temporarily spike for some reason (maybe somebody famous mentioned it in a popular Youtube video or something) and the pricing algorithms were reacting, but just overshot the mark. I think something like that happened with Human Universals (https://www.amazon.com/Human-Universals-Donald-Brown/dp/007008209X/ https://www.amazon.com/Human-Universals-Donald-Brown/dp/0070...) a while back... it's not really all that notable a book in general, and there are plenty of used copies available. But Alan Kay recommended it in his Startup School videos and when I went to look for a copy, the prices were all totally outrageous. Like, on the order of several hundred dollars for even the paperback edition. But it eventually settled back down... but even now, the cheapest used paperback copy is around $65.00. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I suspect it was related.
stochastimus 7y ago
Price discovery is not rational, it's sociological. I still remember the "I Am Rich" iPhone app.
Someone 7y ago
That’s not what it’s worth, it’s what some seller asks for it. It could be a scammer trying to make the book look rare (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/technology/amazon-used-paperback-book-pricing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/technology/amazon-used-pa...), or it could be price-setting bots derailing each other (http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358 http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358)
- the1iplay 7y ago
  These are legit sellers. And different ones too. Doesn't make sense.
  - Someone 7y ago
    What makes you think they are? I, for example, find it weird that both “From My Family To Yours” and “Chris's Bargains” have over 100,000 items on sale. That, at least, seems like misrepresentation of a business as an individual seller. ”And different ones, too” How do you know they are? 2 of the 3 ship from Florida; the third doesn’t mention where it ships from. Could be chance, could be a sign that some of them are the same seller. (And no, I have no idea how common it is for a merchant to have multiple stores on Amazon. It is fairly common on other stores on the internet, though, as it doesn’t cost much to create another web store, and it allows you to target different market segments)
watergatorman 7y ago
Try this, it is highly recommended: "C Programming: A Modern Approach," 2nd Edition by K. N. King is selling for 111 USD, covering C89/C99 but the First Edition, covering C89 is only 60 USD But if you want his "Modula-2: A Complete Guide", its only $300 new!
ksaj 7y ago
A lot of people think this is an Amazon thing. But every bookstore that lists this book have it for similarly high prices. Even used copies are a couple hundred bucks.
- the1iplay 7y ago
  exactly
- mindcrime 7y ago
  But every bookstore that lists this book have it for similarly high prices. It's the same batch of sellers, selling across most all of those sites. Or to the extent that there are sellers who are, say, on Ebay but not Amazon, or vice versa, they have bots tracking the prices across all the sites. In either case, I find that you just don't get much price variance across book selling sites these days. I mean, sure, there are occasional exceptions, but by and large, prices tend to converge to a common value, or at least to a small range around that.
billsimms 7y ago
I have seen two different ideas about this in the past. One: money laundering. Anyone can say they are a book seller and sell to themselves or an accomplice, pay the fees and taxes and the rest is then legitimate income. Two: warring bots. One bot keeps raising their price slightly above the most expensive other copy for sale. And when there are two such bots there may be no upper limit. In the past I've seen books priced for $1000 U.S. or more when identical copies were for sale for a few dollars.

7 points by the1iplay 7y ago

This is an old C programming book. I'd like to know what's so special about this book?. It's not just 1 seller that has high prices, there are different sellers, selling it for $600-$700 and on abebooks I've seen a $1000. Am I missing something here?

mindcrime 7y ago
Am I missing something here? When I see weird situations like this, I usually assume it's a consequence of algorithmic pricing driven by bots, and that there's a bug, or the bots got caught up in some weird feedback loop or something, and the prices got set to some goofy value. It could also be that demand for the book did temporarily spike for some reason (maybe somebody famous mentioned it in a popular Youtube video or something) and the pricing algorithms were reacting, but just overshot the mark. I think something like that happened with Human Universals (https://www.amazon.com/Human-Universals-Donald-Brown/dp/007008209X/ https://www.amazon.com/Human-Universals-Donald-Brown/dp/0070...) a while back... it's not really all that notable a book in general, and there are plenty of used copies available. But Alan Kay recommended it in his Startup School videos and when I went to look for a copy, the prices were all totally outrageous. Like, on the order of several hundred dollars for even the paperback edition. But it eventually settled back down... but even now, the cheapest used paperback copy is around $65.00. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I suspect it was related.

stochastimus 7y ago

Price discovery is not rational, it's sociological. I still remember the "I Am Rich" iPhone app.

Someone 7y ago

That’s not what it’s worth, it’s what some seller asks for it. It could be a scammer trying to make the book look rare (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/technology/amazon-used-paperback-book-pricing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/technology/amazon-used-pa...), or it could be price-setting bots derailing each other (http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358 http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358)

the1iplay 7y ago
These are legit sellers. And different ones too. Doesn't make sense.
- Someone 7y ago
  What makes you think they are? I, for example, find it weird that both “From My Family To Yours” and “Chris's Bargains” have over 100,000 items on sale. That, at least, seems like misrepresentation of a business as an individual seller. ”And different ones, too” How do you know they are? 2 of the 3 ship from Florida; the third doesn’t mention where it ships from. Could be chance, could be a sign that some of them are the same seller. (And no, I have no idea how common it is for a merchant to have multiple stores on Amazon. It is fairly common on other stores on the internet, though, as it doesn’t cost much to create another web store, and it allows you to target different market segments)

watergatorman 7y ago

Try this, it is highly recommended: "C Programming: A Modern Approach," 2nd Edition by K. N. King is selling for 111 USD, covering C89/C99 but the First Edition, covering C89 is only 60 USD But if you want his "Modula-2: A Complete Guide", its only $300 new!

ksaj 7y ago

A lot of people think this is an Amazon thing. But every bookstore that lists this book have it for similarly high prices. Even used copies are a couple hundred bucks.

the1iplay 7y ago
exactly
mindcrime 7y ago
But every bookstore that lists this book have it for similarly high prices. It's the same batch of sellers, selling across most all of those sites. Or to the extent that there are sellers who are, say, on Ebay but not Amazon, or vice versa, they have bots tracking the prices across all the sites. In either case, I find that you just don't get much price variance across book selling sites these days. I mean, sure, there are occasional exceptions, but by and large, prices tend to converge to a common value, or at least to a small range around that.

billsimms 7y ago

I have seen two different ideas about this in the past. One: money laundering. Anyone can say they are a book seller and sell to themselves or an accomplice, pay the fees and taxes and the rest is then legitimate income. Two: warring bots. One bot keeps raising their price slightly above the most expensive other copy for sale. And when there are two such bots there may be no upper limit. In the past I've seen books priced for $1000 U.S. or more when identical copies were for sale for a few dollars.