Pricing niche products • Hacker News Board

Re: Pricing niche products

#361

Post by SamBam » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

izietto wrote: post #316

SamBam wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You should put in a bid where you're exactly neutral between buying-vs-not-buying. Otherwise, you're leaving money on the table. This is asking people to make purchasing decisions whose outcomes will leave them explicitly not happy - a state of mind that every person hates putting themselves in. It seems that this is a problem the Vickrey auction solves. By charging the price offered by the 11th highest bidder, the…

> so actually the 11th will feel slightly miffed that they weren't able to purchase at that price. Why not including the 11th in the winners? That would solve the "unhappiness" of the 11th bidder; am I missing something?

There are only ten widgets for sale.

So it's not really "why not include the 11th in the winner," it's "why charge the 11th bid and not the 10th?" I think the reason is that everyone feels like they have a good chance of it going for less than they bid (and so they feel happy), but it probably also incentives higher bids.

Re: Pricing niche products

#362

Post by LyndsySimon » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:22 PM UTC

idealstingray wrote: post #301

LyndsySimon wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My $60 GMMK, with 20 minutes of easy modifications, a $30 set of keycaps, and a $90 set of healios switches was the smoothest linear keyboard I've ever used. Wow. Thank you. I flirted with the "mech" community for a while a couple of years ago, and ended up with two boards: A KBParadise V60 with Gateron Browns that I use as my primary keyboard for my desktop. That's mostly a gaming machine for me, but I do code on…

By way of warning, GMMK uses a proprietary keyboard layout editor that only works on Windows (I tried running it in WINE and got nowhere). If editing your keyboard layout in firmware is important to you, I would recommend the Massdrop CTRL (TKL size) or ALT (67-key), which are similar keyboards with hot-swappable switches that run QMK firmware. (In addition to changing the backlighting colors and basic remappings lik…

Ah, then I'm glad I didn't order yet!

I run Windows 10 on my desktop at home when it's in "gaming rig" mode, but ArchLinux when I'm hacking on something. I have Manjaro on my personal laptop and macOS on my work laptop. Firmware mapping is definitely a requirement for me.

In fact, my experience is that what firmware a keyboard uses isn't always clear. My KBParadise V60 is almost perfect for me. I'd like a numpad sometimes, but I can always get an external one. The bigger problem is that keymapping can only be done through some DIP switches on the bottom or via flashing the firmware. The firmware isn't open source and is fairly obfuscated from what digging around I've done on it. the arrow keys are mapped to a cross arrangement on the right side of the keyboard, and I'd much prefer to use hjkl. I've not found a reasonable way to do it on that keyboard that doesn't require configuring it on every device I use.

Re: Pricing niche products

#363

Post by Seirdy » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 2:49 AM UTC

pstuart wrote: post #173

emgee_1 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go for Emacs. It is niche, belongs to the oldest softwares, and a true mark of professionalism:)

And make sure you use tabs!

Heresy! Always indent using spaces so that you can easily use Vim's `conceal` feature to replace the spaces with the 🅱️ emoji. /s

Re: Pricing niche products

#364

Post by Filligree » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

kragen wrote: post #95

Filligree wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never once broken a keyboard. I can't imagine how I would -- sit on it? It's fixed on my desk. If I did need a stronger keyboard, I'd rather have it reinforced with steel. That would have the extra benefit of keeping it in place.

Steel is a lot heavier and a lot weaker than carbon fiber. For you that's an advantage, but not for those of us who use our keyboards on trains, in cafés, in hostels, and in tents. The comforting weight of an IBM Type M keyboard gets old fast when it's stuffed in your backpack on a bike. That probably also helps explain how we break keyboards.

Ah, okay. To me that's what my laptop keyboard is for, but I think I understand better now.

Re: Pricing niche products

#365

Post by edisonjoao » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 10:47 PM UTC

this is real

Re: Pricing niche products

#366

Post by aeorgnoieang » Thu, Oct 10, 2019, 9:51 PM UTC

specialist wrote: post #318

catherd wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of decision fatigue and needing to know the market, losing auctions gets expensive fast if you value your time.

aka transaction costs Book I read about market design estimated that only 30% of commerce was done in an open market. Relationships, fulfillment, quality, service, returns, etc are all factors too. All those non-price intangibles that the Freedom Markets™ zealots ignore.

All the "Freedom Markets zealots" I follow are cognizant of everything you mentioned.

Re: Pricing niche products

#367

Post by TheKarateKid » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:56 PM UTC

octorian wrote: post #126

whack wrote: post #91

When eBay first started, I loved the idea of auctions as a way to set market prices. From an economic and game-theory perspective, it is so optimal! Clearly as later examples like Amazon have shown, auctions don't make sense for most product categories. I believe this is mainly due to psychological reasons. Decision-fatigue is a real thing. People dislike having to think hard. In a fixed-price sale, the buyer just ha…

> When eBay first started, I loved the idea of auctions as a way to set market prices. From an economic and game-theory perspective, it is so optimal! > Clearly as later examples like Amazon have shown, auctions don't make sense for most product categories. I believe this is mainly due to psychological reasons. I've always loved eBay as a way to introduce sanity into the prices of old/used items. Especially computer…

> The eBay prices were sometimes even higher than regular vendors, hoping to catch people in the place they happened to be looking.

Before sales tax was mandated on eBay, it may have made sense to pay a little more than retail but save the amount in tax.

Re: Pricing niche products

#368

Post by TheKarateKid » Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 3:57 PM UTC

daveheq wrote: post #309

whack wrote: post #91

When eBay first started, I loved the idea of auctions as a way to set market prices. From an economic and game-theory perspective, it is so optimal! Clearly as later examples like Amazon have shown, auctions don't make sense for most product categories. I believe this is mainly due to psychological reasons. Decision-fatigue is a real thing. People dislike having to think hard. In a fixed-price sale, the buyer just ha…

It's not about complexity, it's about convenience. The simplest bid on eBay is... the highest price you'll pay for it. However, most people didn't think of it that way or want to do that (believe me I worked there for years), and they didn't like the chance to lose it anyway after waiting (snipers and bid shilling got ridiculous). Fixed price is easier and you get it quicker. It may be less complex but if the price l…

> snipers and bid shilling got ridiculous

Since you've worked there, I've always wondered: What did eBay think of this? Did they not care because it indirectly benefitted them?

I feel like they could've done much more to prevent snipers and automated programs from putting in a last second bid.