Signs Someone May Be An Idiot

I am always amused how sales practices are often deceptive. This may be through a misrepresented advertising claim or through outright theft. It's a bit like watching those infomercial products that claim the world and deliver very little. So when I noticed that my book Signs You May Be An Idiot and other musings was posted on an English site for sale at the incredibly overinflated price of $34.06, I had to laugh. The book, available in stores and at Amazon.com, Target.com and so on, retails for $13.95. If you add the $5 in airmail postage costs to England, you still fall way short of the $34.06 they are charging.  So why would you order from that site as opposed to just ordering it directly from Amazon?  I find that to be true for many products, not just books. I recently purchased a case for my Blackberry. After seeing the store prices upwards of $30 for a simple leather case,  I went on eBay and found the exact item for $8 shipped from Hong Kong (where likely the other was manufactured as well) with FREE shipping. It arrived, is excellent in quality and I saved $22. Of course by doing this I screwed California out of $2.47 sales tax; however given how poorly the state seems to control its expenditures I won't worry about that just yet. I wonder how angry iPhone purchasers are over their initial costs when the phone first came on the market. Compared to the prices now, they should feel stiffed. Of course, Apple users are generally of a calmer disposition than users of other overpriced and overrated cellular products. So what is it worth? The answer depends on your point of view.  Designer watches may sell in stores for $350, and yet their not so humble beginnings are more of a mass produced, foreign entity manufacture, regardless of the claims, with an initial cost of about $10 - 20.  The licensee of the product then sells the right to distribute to some person in a country for over twice that amount per watch ($40) who in turn hires regional distribution companies selling them the inventory at twice their cost ($80) who have their salespeople get the items placed in the stores who buy inventory at twice the cost ($160) and then sell to the public, you, at twice the cost ($320). Voila. Designer product price.  But isn't it still a $10-20 watch?  And don't argue about a difference in quality. While that may be true, marginally, the price markup has little to do with the quality as much as the method of distribution and sales. It is about perception. I guess it all comes down to how badly you want something that you are not willing to wait until it comes out cheaper, later, after the first wave of must-have-it buyers have passed through and enjoyed their 'first' status. Hmmmm. Okay! If you want to read my book click HERE MisterWriter