Regarding what stuff is "worth" on the internets

I've had more than my share of "but it's worth a fortune on the internet!" interactions this week, and in keeping with my earlier declaration that the internet is great at amplifying whining I'm going to harangue y'all on the subject since the customers in question were deaf to my commonsense entreaties.

Let's take something that actually *is* fairly scarce and also valuable in the sense that demand exceeds supply- the two Record Store Day releases by psych-rockers The Black Angels.

I picked them up from Boo Boo's at retail, but let's check the internet and see what they're WORTH!

(in the interest of not posting a link that'll be dead in a week, you'll have to take my word for the current Ebay priceline)

Going by the instinctive logic of most customers, they're WORTH eighty dollars!
Well, 72.00 + 4.00 shipping. But we optimistic sellers always round up.
That's the highest current 'buy now' price.

Or *just* Phosgene Nightmare is worth fifty dollars!
Or *just* A Nice Pair is worth fifty dollars!
(wait, then why is that one dude selling them both for eighty?!?!)

Or, Nice Pair is worth 99 cents!
Right now, anyway.....with 4 days left on the auction.

Or Nice Pair is worth 19.95, buy it now.
(Wait, why is this guy only charging 19.95 when it's WORTH fifty dollars?)

Or, or, or, or, or....

This is how it is online, sellers can ask any price they want.
Until a buyer ponies up it's Monopoly money.

And the thing is, once a buyer ponies up...that price disappears.
So what happens with stuff where the balance of supply and demand tilts toward the 'demand' side is all the 'reasonably' priced stuff vanishes and all that's left is the *over* priced stuff.

Of course, if supply is limited enough and demand is high enough those crazy numbers can evolve into the 'real' price. But that pendulum can just as easily swing the other way.

There's a book not many people have heard of that has intense local interest, The Face of the Clam by Luther Whiteman. It's a novel based on the exploits of a Utopian community that lived in the Oceano dunes back in the day, and for many years the original hardcover printing provided the only copies available.

Being a 'local interest' book copies would turn up every so often, and I got to watch the price migrate around over the years. Before the internet it was a book we'd sell for $40 or so. Then the internet hit and while the prices of most 'rare' books took a giant hit, Face of the Clam just kept climbing. Very few were listed and prices kept escalating. The last copy I personally sold went for $125 several years ago.

And then it was reprinted in paperback by a small local publisher.

And as of today there are 20 copies of the hardcover on Amazon, the cheapest being $43.75.

Another example would be Lady Cottington's Pressed Faerie Book by Brian Froud.
One day it was scarce, out of print and selling briskly at $50-75, the next Barnes & Noble crapped out a special printing for their sale tables retailing for $14.95 and nobody would pay more than 8 bucks for a copy.

Which is a long winded way of saying numbers on the internet don't necessarily mean anything, and whatever they do mean can change swiftly and radically.