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Last spring, a young biologist tried to buy a copy of a ... out-of-print reference work, Peter Lawrence’s The Maki... offered 15 used copies at reasonable prices – and two ... cheapest of which was $1,730,045.91, plus $3.99 shipping.
Michael Eisen,

Tim Harford — Article — Don’t judge a book by its cover price
http://timharford.com/2012/08/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-price/?...

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Last spring, a young biologist tried to buy a copy of a common but out-of-print reference work, Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly. Amazon offered 15 used copies at reasonable prices – and two new copies, the cheapest of which was $1,730,045.91, plus $3.99 shipping.

Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist at UC Berkeley, heard the tale and tried to figure out what was going on. It can’t have been a prank – there were two sellers involved, both with thousands of satisfied customers. Eisen heard that many prices on Amazon were set by computers, and suspected this might be the reason.

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<p>Last spring, a young biologist tried to buy a copy of a common but out-of-print reference work, Peter Lawrence&#x2019;s <em>The Making of&nbsp;a Fly</em>. Amazon offered 15 used copies at reasonable prices &#x2013; and two new copies, the cheapest of which was $1,730,045.91, plus $3.99 shipping.</p> <p>Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist at UC Berkeley, heard the tale and tried to figure out what was going on. It can&#x2019;t have been a prank &#x2013; there were two sellers involved, both with thousands of satisfied customers. Eisen heard that many prices on Amazon were set by computers, and suspected this might be the reason.</p>