Oh Dear: They're planning more meddling...

[Lucifer Box]

Re: teoma

Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, is in discussions with the Home Office and Department of Trade and Industry to introduce legislation to counter reselling tickets at astronomical prices.

Excellent, market price controls Soviet style. This is only the start, mark my words. Still, it should please Comrade BGG.

As it is conceivable (albeit barely) that some people might actually declare profits from ticket resales on their tax returns, might this be a first for a Labour government to institute a policy that will actually decrease the tax take?

[Board Game Geek]

Re: teoma

Excellent, market price controls Soviet style. This is only the start, mark my words. Still, it should please Comrade BGG.

I'm not sure...one half of me accepts the market and competitor model, where prices are kept in check and balance.

Eg, an xx-inch telly costs about the same wherever you go. The manufacturer has an RRP, and the shops vary this a little way either side. But mostly the sales prices is within certain limits.

On the other hand, what I don't want to see is traders having carte blanche to charge as much as they can get away with or price-fixing using cartels.

Given that one aspect of human nature is based on greed, I do think there needs to be some external moderation to keep us within tolerable limits.

You might say that a business has the right to charge what it perceives as a fair and equitable price for it's goods. I can't refute that, but I would point out that fair and equitable depends upon the perciver, and the market as a whole.

Ok, so it's probable that the market will avoid the business that charges way over the odds, but what happens when there is no alternative supplier ?

Imagine I made a device which allowed you to roll back the last 10 seconds of time for you in your personal time bubble.

Assuming that such a device would even be wanted by the market itself, what should I sell it at ?

10 million ? 20 million ? More ?

I would suggest that if this device had commercial appeal, then an affordable pricing model would be more ethically sound, than alienating the majority of the market for your own personal gain.

[expat]

Re: teoma

Ok, so it's probable that the market will avoid the business that charges way over the odds, but what happens when there is no alternative supplier ?

Don't buy.

HTH

[BlasterBates]

..

Well I think all the mechanisms are there to stop this kind of thing, just look at the massive court case against Microsoft.

BGG is quite right ocasionally a company becomes too powerful and needs knocking down to size, wasn't the telephone Bell corporation divided up?.

Usually if you have a new product you take out a patent that lasts so many years then all the competitors pile in, I'm not sure what the protection is on a patent, and I suppose the competitors pay royalties, anyway that's how pharmaceutical companies work.

[Board Game Geek]

Re: ..

Don't buy

That's a flippant answer Spod and you know it !

I'm sure you are well aware that some services are considered to be essential, like water and electricity. Not buying these services is an almost impossible option for 99.99% of the population.

[NumptyCorner]

Re: teoma

It's already illegal to sell tickets without a license in most cities. In Scotland it is illegal to tout. It's illegal to resell football tickets full stop.

So why should it be allowed in the Internet? Moreover, How many of these tickets are Genuine?

[Lucifer Box]

Re: teoma

Imagine I made a device which allowed you to roll back the last 10 seconds of time for you in your personal time bubble.

No need to imagine, just ask Threaded. He did that years ago.

I'm sure there's sense in this somewhere, I just have difficulty accepting that a ticket should be subject to different treatment to any other commodity. It's not like water or electricity, so why shouldn't it be like beans or radios? Otherwise it's "I have a ticket, I don't want it or can't go - too bad, chum."

[mikethebike]

ohmygod...the usual suspects!!!!

Thought I would pop by to see how things were going after about a year away (can't remember the last time I posted....can anyone help with that?).
Its like an old pair of comfy pants....the usual suspects are still here, and as soon as I saw the "Oh Dear" trademark posting I didn't even have to look at who started this thread!!!

[BlasterBates]

Re: ohmygod...the usual suspects!!!!

..hey Mike, I think longer than a year.

If I remember rightly you were posting in the Summer of 2003, then found a permie job...

never to be seen again... *ghostly echo* again...again

[mikethebike]

permie

Blaster,

you could be right. I went Permie in Oct 2003...bloody hell....almost 2 years in one place! Bit of a struggle on my measly permie salary....better than sitting at home like I did for 9 months picking my nose though.

I see Atw has even surpassed Milan's posting volume...14,000 for chrisakes! Mind you...is Milan still posting under 38 different pseudonyms...combined he would probably reach that!