Hurry, hurry, hurry! Get Your $98 CDs on eBay!

General Questions
#1

Unless someone on eBay is conducting an undergrad psychology study on gullibility, is there any reason why a seller on eBay is listing some of his CDs for $98 each? What’s more, he has 14,024 sales, though not all at the $98 level, I suppose. Excuse me for asking, but is inflation THAT bad?

The seller: bestcdhead.

The link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Lurkin-in-the-Shadowz-Shadow-People-CD_W0QQitemZ4034599266QQcategoryZ307QQcmdZViewItem

He’s even offering a “FREE UPGRADE TO FIRST CLASS! sj**”–whatever the hell that means. Presumably he’s not talking about the QE II.

Several of these same $98 CDs sell on Amazon.com for about $16 each. Are these CDs molded from white gold? Do the musicians give live performances? Does this CD boast a super-high sampling rate–if so, how would he fit it on a standard CD?

#2

Maybe it’s a typo? That’s all I can think of.

#3

Shipping via first class mail, I’d guess, rather than something slow like Media Mail. (If he’s selling a CD for $98, he should throw in overnight FedEx for free!)

If they aren’t rare imports or something, it sounds like an experiment in price discrimination, like the story about the roadside trinket stand: “You’re selling these blankets for $5, but over there on the top shelf you have the same blankets for $20.” “Some people want to pay $5 for a blanket. Some people want to pay $20.”

Have you asked the seller what makes the CDs so special?

Sounds unlikely. The same person is also selling many other CDs for that price, and some for $40-$50, though most of his CDs are under $15.

#4

I don’t have any answer to the question, but I can tell you that Record Head is a music store that has been in business for a long time. The last time I was there was about 15 years ago to get some sheet music and even then I belive it was a fairly well established business. So whatever the story is, I would assume it’s legit. The easiest way would probably be to just email them and ask.

#5

My theory is that he’s re-pricing CD’s to that unsellable price to temporarily make them defacto out-of-stock, for when he doesn’t have any more copies. Presumably it’s easier than deleting and recreating the auction. When he gets some more, he lowers the price back down to the realistic one.