Originally posted by Eminence
You: (-) supply, (=) demand, (+) price
Him: (=) supply, (+) demand, (+) price
Right, what I was stating made sense with how the CE was being handled. Supply dwindles, demand stays the same or increases, therefore price increases based on said demand and scarcity.
I think Zamp is saying that a sufficient amount of CE on the market has shifted from retail to second hand ownership (rather than simply being committed to use) that the supply itself hasn't really gone anywhere. In anticipation of the impending release, demand increases. Looks like there are strange estimations being made about the number of secondhand CEs being put up for sale compared to the preordered retail stock, but maybe he knows something about this situation that I don't.
But Zamp would be quite wrong because they stated that they created only a certain amount of CE and spread them out through various avenues including second hand ownership. Supply did not change.
And for the record, the CE is in stock all over the fucking place. Sears, Amazon, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Kmart, Gamestop, you name it. I guess the people currently shelling out double were not aware of this, or perhaps there's something special about the preordered package. [/B]There WAS definitely something about the preordered package. I don't think it's the same as the current CE.
Graphed as price against quantity supplied, supply has a positive slope. Increasing the price offered serves to increase the number of units available for purchase. You claimed that a negative supply shock was causing the bidding runs for online editions, when the opposite is true (there has been an explosion in demand for a relatively stable supply).
No, the supply was anything but stable. In fact, they sold out the preordered CE months in advance.
I was under the impression that the preorder was more valuable, as it was for Bioshock, which had limited supplies of schwag to go around.
If you were under this impression, why did you come up with the aforementioned conclusions? First you said the supply was relatively stable, which isn't the same thing as "limited supplies". Granted you were providing an example of bioshock, but the same thing applies in this situation. Also, more "valuable" has two connotations as I'm sure you're aware of. The value based on what the CE possesses (what stupid shit people are willing to pay for), and the value based on scarcity.
That wasn't exactly how I was looking at it, but you make a good point. I was thinking that on the margin the increased price of CEs was driving users to be willing to sell their copies (a la Dave's example of speculation).
Those prices were based on what users were willing to pay because the supply virtually became zero. Of course, we don't know the exact number customers were then willing to pay but Faunus already gave a good example of that. And also, selling on ebay helps to show the price range for said product.