And would likely work, unless say, a few buddies happened to chat over beers and the subject of 'that crazy guy on the phone' comes up. The element of scarce in

And would likely work, unless say, a few buddies happened to chat over beers and the subject of 'that crazy guy on the phone' comes up. The element of scarce information will then break some of the 'rules', negating much if any of hoped for strategy. How so? If they can collude on price then they can change the outcome of course, but for that its not enough for to all know what you are doing (you have after all told them all everything from the beginning, except what offers the others are making...) In order to collude, they have to know what you are doing, all agree on the same price, and they have to have all players in that market involved. It could certainly done, but has little to do with knowledge and more about the ability for them to come to an agreement amoungst themselves and then stick to it.