Amazon Automatic Pricing Lists Book At $23M

leek writes "An Amazon.com pricing algorithm which lets sellers set prices based on other sellers' prices led to a positive feedback loop, causing the biology text The Making of A Fly to reach $23M. Biologist Micheal Eisen writes: 'What's fascinating about all this is both the seemingly endless possibilities for both chaos and mischief. It seems impossible that we stumbled onto the only example of this kind of upward pricing spiral. And as soon as it was clear what was going on here, I and the people I talked to about this couldn't help but start thinking about ways to exploit our ability to predict how others would price their books down to the 5th significant digit -- especially when they were clearly not paying careful attention to what their algorithms were doing.' The price of the book was reset but is currently back up to $976.98."

Comments

Textbooks are too expensive

[jmac_the_man]

This is a textbook? So are we sure it was a mistake?

This is obvious.

[ModernGeek]

They mixed it up with the RIAA pricing algorithm.

Re:Price-Fixing with no collusion?

[Waffle Iron]

Now that robots are setting prices, must they follow the same rules as people?

No. Here are the rules for robot pricers:

• 1. A robot must maximize profits, and may not through inaction allow profits to not be less than maximized.
• 2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.