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I am not really sure how I feel about this. Yes, charging $1000 for a Nintendo Switch is insane, but who will buy it? I guess the same process goes for ticket s

I am not really sure how I feel about this. Yes, charging $1000 for a Nintendo Switch is insane, but who will buy it? I guess the same process goes for ticket scalpers too who resell tickets on insane markups trying to snag people desperate enough to get it. I think as long as it doesn't affect cleaning supplies and similar items then I am okay with it, despite it being extremely slimy.

izzydata 6y ago
What about real-estate? Theoretically someone could buy up every property in an area and then price gouge anyone who wants to live there. They "could" just live somewhere else that is cheaper.
- apacheCamel 6y ago
  I guess that just adds more to the "I don't know how I feel." part. If the demand is there, then they will sell. Otherwise, this person would own a bunch of empty property. But is there something already stopping that? Is there anything stopping Jeff Bezos from just buying up a small community and disallowing anybody to live there without paying a ton extra? I am very unfamiliar with real estate so this is a genuine question.
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    If I got wind that Bezos was determined to buy up every property in my neighborhood, I'd quadruple my price. Heck, 10x! Bezos would pay plenty. I'd buy my neighbor's house for 2x and jack that up 10x for the sale to desperate Bezos. This is why such attempts to corner the market fail. See Hunt Brothers.
    - kd5bjo 6y ago
      Similarly, Disney bought the land in Florida for WDW quietly, using a bunch of shell companies, to avoid exactly this situation.
- tomc1985 6y ago
  That is much more difficult. Land is not owned by a single entity that's willing to give it up at the right price
- coryrc 6y ago
  Isn't that what people have already collectively done in cities? It takes $2k/mo to live in Seattle. The land I live on is valued at 5x what the house is worth and I'm not allowed to build an apartment on it.
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    > collectively done I.e. the market, not a monopoly.
    - coryrc 6y ago
      That's what we've outlawed -- we've outlawed all gas stations and supermarkets from raising prices regardless of monopoly. They have diverse ownership. Tripling prices of TP so you don't hoard during a shortage seems less detrimental to society than locking generations of working class people from being able to ever join highly-productive areas.
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      I guess with a land value tax you can be sure the land is being used economically efficiently. As it is, the land is being used inefficiently. So I suppose it’s a market, just not an efficient one.
- yed 6y ago
  "Gouging" in this context means raising a price to take advantage of a temporary emergency or people in a desperate situation. I can't imagine how buying a house in a particular neighborhood would be an emergency. If people are willing to pay massive amounts of money for property in a given area then that is the market value for that area whether there is a single owner or multiple.
solotronics 6y ago
some of this is money laundering
mjayhn 6y ago
I had to buy a monitor and webcam during covid. I had camelcamelcamel price watching them for months waiting for sales. I have my alerts at $99 for the webcam and $750 for the monitor. Their typical prices are $130 and $1150. The prices of those right now are $199 and $1999 respectively if they're in stock anywhere. People are hoarding these and selling them on Ebay now for 50% markups. I've even had to take to Ebay to buy Xbox controllers from Best Buy themselves.
- cortesoft 6y ago
  There is also just a lot more people who need those things for working from home, which would explain why their are shortages. It isn't just hoarders, there is an actual increase in demand. Toilet paper shortages are caused by hoarders, since demand hasn't actually increased.
  - syntheticcorp 6y ago
    Demand for consumer TP probably would have increased given many people are no longer at the office
    - TeMPOraL 6y ago
      In case of TP, I'd lean strongly towards the problem being caused by the supply chain being bifurcated between consumer and business markets. From what I anecdotally hear, there's plenty of TP available for cheap in the US, just all of it is in absurdly-sized rolls you would struggle to fit in your bathroom. I can compare that to Poland, where we didn't really have much of a TP shortage. Here, from my observation, most businesses buy the same type/size of TP as regular consumers do, so I suspect our market isn't as strongly bifurcated, and so there was no problem shifting supply from businesses to the stores.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
wincy 6y ago
I’m thinking about selling my well used Nintendo Switch on Craigslist because the prices are so high (like $450 in my city) I don’t really play much anymore and maybe someone will like it. If I can’t charge a higher price I’ll just hold onto it because I don’t really need the money. Am I being slimy by making a Switch that otherwise wouldn’t be available up for sale for someone who really wants it? It doesn’t feel that way.
- elindbe2 6y ago
  You dirty, evil price gouger! Crawl back into your cave.
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  I don’t see anything wrong with someone selling theirs that they have no intention of using again. I have a problem with people who clear out the shelves of Switches with the express intent of reselling them at a higher price. Everyone says “the supply chain will ramp up” is ignoring that supply chain has been backed up for almost two months. This doesn’t apply just to the Switch, but to everything.
- hnick 6y ago
  To me entertainment feels like a basic human need (though a lot further down the hierarchy), but that doesn't mean we have the right to an individual form or brand of entertainment. There are a lot of alternatives so I don't think there's a real issue here.

izzydata 6y ago

What about real-estate? Theoretically someone could buy up every property in an area and then price gouge anyone who wants to live there. They "could" just live somewhere else that is cheaper.

apacheCamel 6y ago
I guess that just adds more to the "I don't know how I feel." part. If the demand is there, then they will sell. Otherwise, this person would own a bunch of empty property. But is there something already stopping that? Is there anything stopping Jeff Bezos from just buying up a small community and disallowing anybody to live there without paying a ton extra? I am very unfamiliar with real estate so this is a genuine question.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  If I got wind that Bezos was determined to buy up every property in my neighborhood, I'd quadruple my price. Heck, 10x! Bezos would pay plenty. I'd buy my neighbor's house for 2x and jack that up 10x for the sale to desperate Bezos. This is why such attempts to corner the market fail. See Hunt Brothers.
  - kd5bjo 6y ago
    Similarly, Disney bought the land in Florida for WDW quietly, using a bunch of shell companies, to avoid exactly this situation.
tomc1985 6y ago
That is much more difficult. Land is not owned by a single entity that's willing to give it up at the right price
coryrc 6y ago
Isn't that what people have already collectively done in cities? It takes $2k/mo to live in Seattle. The land I live on is valued at 5x what the house is worth and I'm not allowed to build an apartment on it.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  > collectively done I.e. the market, not a monopoly.
  - coryrc 6y ago
    That's what we've outlawed -- we've outlawed all gas stations and supermarkets from raising prices regardless of monopoly. They have diverse ownership. Tripling prices of TP so you don't hoard during a shortage seems less detrimental to society than locking generations of working class people from being able to ever join highly-productive areas.
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    I guess with a land value tax you can be sure the land is being used economically efficiently. As it is, the land is being used inefficiently. So I suppose it’s a market, just not an efficient one.
yed 6y ago
"Gouging" in this context means raising a price to take advantage of a temporary emergency or people in a desperate situation. I can't imagine how buying a house in a particular neighborhood would be an emergency. If people are willing to pay massive amounts of money for property in a given area then that is the market value for that area whether there is a single owner or multiple.

solotronics 6y ago

some of this is money laundering

mjayhn 6y ago

I had to buy a monitor and webcam during covid. I had camelcamelcamel price watching them for months waiting for sales. I have my alerts at $99 for the webcam and $750 for the monitor. Their typical prices are $130 and $1150. The prices of those right now are $199 and $1999 respectively if they're in stock anywhere. People are hoarding these and selling them on Ebay now for 50% markups. I've even had to take to Ebay to buy Xbox controllers from Best Buy themselves.

cortesoft 6y ago
There is also just a lot more people who need those things for working from home, which would explain why their are shortages. It isn't just hoarders, there is an actual increase in demand. Toilet paper shortages are caused by hoarders, since demand hasn't actually increased.
- syntheticcorp 6y ago
  Demand for consumer TP probably would have increased given many people are no longer at the office
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    In case of TP, I'd lean strongly towards the problem being caused by the supply chain being bifurcated between consumer and business markets. From what I anecdotally hear, there's plenty of TP available for cheap in the US, just all of it is in absurdly-sized rolls you would struggle to fit in your bathroom. I can compare that to Poland, where we didn't really have much of a TP shortage. Here, from my observation, most businesses buy the same type/size of TP as regular consumers do, so I suspect our market isn't as strongly bifurcated, and so there was no problem shifting supply from businesses to the stores.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

wincy 6y ago

I’m thinking about selling my well used Nintendo Switch on Craigslist because the prices are so high (like $450 in my city) I don’t really play much anymore and maybe someone will like it. If I can’t charge a higher price I’ll just hold onto it because I don’t really need the money. Am I being slimy by making a Switch that otherwise wouldn’t be available up for sale for someone who really wants it? It doesn’t feel that way.

elindbe2 6y ago
You dirty, evil price gouger! Crawl back into your cave.
colejohnson66 6y ago
I don’t see anything wrong with someone selling theirs that they have no intention of using again. I have a problem with people who clear out the shelves of Switches with the express intent of reselling them at a higher price. Everyone says “the supply chain will ramp up” is ignoring that supply chain has been backed up for almost two months. This doesn’t apply just to the Switch, but to everything.
hnick 6y ago
To me entertainment feels like a basic human need (though a lot further down the hierarchy), but that doesn't mean we have the right to an individual form or brand of entertainment. There are a lot of alternatives so I don't think there's a real issue here.