Stupid Human Tricks
As I mentioned in a previous post, a colleague of my wife's (a psychologist) described an experiment where a 10 dollar note was put up for auction. It was bid slightly higher than $10, demonstrating some irrational consumer behavior. I haven't been able to locate a citation for the experiment and decided to toss $5 in to see if this could actually be true. Obviously, this experiment is designed to:
a. lose money
b. (potentially) make me look stupid
Never being afraid of the latter in the name of experimentation, I didn't hesitate. Listing fees for the $5 auction were 10¢ and I'll pay about 3% of $5 for the final sale. I set shipping at 45¢. Lots at stake. Here goes.
Addendum: My wife informed me the phenomena is known as Sunken Cost. Some economic thing. I've read the entry a couple times, but don't quite understand it yet. As of day 1 of the listing, I'm out about 22¢ for listing and sale fees but have broken even on face value. I defrayed some of the loss by padding the shipping by 3¢, heh, heh, heh.
OOPS: A co-worker provided me with a description of the experiment called the The Dollar Auction. I got it completely wrong. It'll still be kind of fun to see how this winds down, but The Dollar Auction is fascinating reading.
Update: It sold for $4.79 + $0.45 = $5.24 (minus $0.42 to ship). During this time, I also noticed quite a few gift cards selling for a few percent above face value. How bizarre.
See also Escalation of Commitment for another interesting read.
a. lose money
b. (potentially) make me look stupid
Never being afraid of the latter in the name of experimentation, I didn't hesitate. Listing fees for the $5 auction were 10¢ and I'll pay about 3% of $5 for the final sale. I set shipping at 45¢. Lots at stake. Here goes.
NOTE: this widget will self-destruct in 90 days
Addendum: My wife informed me the phenomena is known as Sunken Cost. Some economic thing. I've read the entry a couple times, but don't quite understand it yet. As of day 1 of the listing, I'm out about 22¢ for listing and sale fees but have broken even on face value. I defrayed some of the loss by padding the shipping by 3¢, heh, heh, heh.
OOPS: A co-worker provided me with a description of the experiment called the The Dollar Auction. I got it completely wrong. It'll still be kind of fun to see how this winds down, but The Dollar Auction is fascinating reading.
Update: It sold for $4.79 + $0.45 = $5.24 (minus $0.42 to ship). During this time, I also noticed quite a few gift cards selling for a few percent above face value. How bizarre.
See also Escalation of Commitment for another interesting read.
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