Have you ever noticed that "Buy This Book Used..." prices from Amazon and the like are often bizarre? Often they're strangely specific -- "\\(43.72" -- and often they're insanely overpriced "Paperback 23rd Printing of Programming with dBase II: \\)1,234.56"
Jeff Duntemann thinks it's due to 'bots. If it's not, it's not a bad idea for a business:
Register yourself with Amazon et al. to receive used-book requests Set constant minimum_acceptable_profit_per_book Set constant hoped_for_profit_per_book Set constant cost_of_remailing On receipt of used-book request{ check your used_book_quotes dictionary for a price if you don't have a price{ make the same used-book request record quoted price from other suppliers set price = quoted price from other suppliers + cost_of_remailing + hoped_for_profit_per_book } else #You do have a price { quote price if accepted { sell, achieving profit >= minimum_acceptable_profit_per_book } else #not accepted { diminish price towards: quoted price from other suppliers + cost_of_remailing + minimum_acceptable_profit_per_book } } }
The downside is that with multiple such agents in the system, you can see how "quoted price from other suppliers" would lead to a positive feedback loop.