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During COVID I reported a bajillion eBay sellers for selling masks above MSRP, they did nothing.
by dheera 3y ago
During COVID I reported a bajillion eBay sellers for selling masks above MSRP, they did nothing.
- QuarterReptile 3y agoAnti-price-gouging laws are an incredibly bad idea.
- dheera 3y agoI disagree, people hoarding life-saving equipment people can use during a pandemic just to make a quick buck should be punished and publicly shamed.
- niij 3y agoDemand is the signal to create more supply. Anti price gouging disincentivises more production.
- jmopp 3y agoCreating more supply is hard. Jacking up the price is easier. Sure, someone will see the opportunity and undercut your inflated price, but you will have made your money by then and there will be a lot of collateral damage in the interim.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- niij 3y agoIn what way does a higher equilibrium price cause collateral damage? Can you explain what collateral damage you're envisioning?
- messe 3y agoI would have thought: a lack of access to masks during a pandemic due to their in-affordability? But who am I to question the wisdom of the free market…
- niij 3y agoIf you don't let people price goods at what they're worth the buyer is decided by random chance and you get shortages instead. Is there really a human right for "the fastest buyers on eBay should get the goods"?
- Nullabillity 3y agoClearly the old unit price was already profitable, or there would have been no supply rather than insufficient supply. Rewarding this kind of greed also isn't exactly pushing society in a positive direction, longer term.
- niij 3y agoDo you see any downsides to government's setting prices? There have been a few examples of this in the 20th century.. > Rewarding this kind of greed also isn't exactly pushing society in a positive direction, longer term. Call it what you want, but they're the ones making and providing goods we all agree are necessary :) money is the tool our society uses to incentivize more of that behavior.
- Nullabillity 3y ago> Call it what you want, but they're the ones making and providing goods we all agree are necessary :) Bullshit. The owning class doesn't make anything, and the actual workers won't see a cent of that surge pricing.
- niij 3y ago> The owning class Ok lol. I see I'm not revolutionary enough.