MarvinMouse's Journal: Supply and Demand... reversed?

It is humourous what happened today. I was at the local store looking at some products that I was interested in purchasing (Actually it was a used CD store with CDs for sale, anywaiz).

It was actually the first time I have ever purchased used CDs. I commonly am the guy who downloads the few songs that he likes by an artist, and when I pass a certain number of songs, I go out to the HMV or go to amazon.ca or chapters.ca and purchase the CD. (I feel that when I have the entire album on MP3, then it is unfair to the artist... Plus, obviously I love the entire album, so it becomes worth the money. But this is an argument for another time.) Well, a friend of mine brought me to this used CD shop, and overall a lot of the products were priced only a few bucks under a normal CD ($11-18). So, I didn't think I saw any really good deals... Then I noticed some CDs that were less then $10, and they were by artists I really like, so I was quite excited...

Unfortunately though, I realized that I have also been trained not to trust "cheap" products... I looked at these products, CDs that I know I've wanted for a while, and stopped... thinking with some trepidation... "Why are these CDs so cheap? Is the music worse than I thought? Should I really buy this?"

Then I realized how often I really do that in real life. I have a set price range for almost all the products I purchase... a max price which I would never consider (for CDs it is usually around $25-30 depending on the quality of the CD), and apparently I have a minimum price as well.

Anything above the max price I look at warily thinking that its someone trying to mess me out of my money...

And, ironically, I look at anything below the min price as well with that same point of view. I think to myself "obviously, this person wants to get some money for this, but cannot get rid of it, so he's lowered the price... Thus the product must be bad."

It's kind of a reverse supply and demand. (Unfortunately, I haven't taken economics, so I don't know if this is actually included in the theory or not.) But it is interesting to note that if you sell a product, don't offer it for _too low_ a price... People won't buy it, and think you are trying to scam them as much as the people who overcharge for the same product.

Just some interesting insights...

On the + side, I did buy the CDs of the artists I like, and they are amazing. So I was wrong. :-)