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Re:Amazon sellers marking products as collectible to get aro... by wtallis on Friday May 29, 2020 @08:37PM (#23357329)
> At which point you're assuming everybody has the same need, which is completely wrong. Someone walks into the store to buy on behalf of six dozen people because their ordinary supplier is out of stock and you won't give them any more than what you will a single individual. Requiring every individual to come into the store one by one is both highly inefficient and, in this context, the exact opposite of social distancing.

The assumption that everyone has the same need is less wrong than a system that implicitly assumes need is proportional to disposable income. Someone walking into a retail store to buy on behalf of six dozen people is theoretically possible, but definitely is not common, and almost certainly less common than someone trying to hoard excess supplies for personal use.

Re:Amazon sellers marking products as collectible to get aro... by nitrogen on Friday May 29, 2020 @09:27PM (#23357619)
Plus I'm sure that e.g. volunteer groups distributing supplies to those in need can negotiate the ability to buy higher quantities.
Re:Amazon sellers marking products as collectible to get aro... by chii on Saturday May 30, 2020 @12:22AM (#23358451)
> less wrong than a system that implicitly assumes need is proportional to disposable income.

you keep mentioning disposable income, as tho that's a measure that determines buying power. It's not. The measure is available funds, regardless of source.

A person with a lot of available funds _do_ have a higher claim than someone who doesn't. The source of the funds may be their prior work and savings (aka, disposable funds), or it could be funds collected from many people (such as donations, or family pooling funds). It is not clear how you can make a distinction between many people pooling their funds, vs somebody who has collected large amount of funds prior (from income or wealth). This is why price fixing doesn't work well, except under quite exceptional circumstances (e.g., all transport infrastructure is disrupted), in which case, rationing by decree works better than price fixing.

Re:Amazon sellers marking products as collectible to get aro... by wtallis on Saturday May 30, 2020 @03:57AM (#23359355)
I've yet to see any evidence or plausible explanation for how pooling funds to have one person buy a large quantity of necessities could be a widespread strategy in this situation. It seems like this is just a red herring, and that the vast majority of people tying to buy large quantities of eg. TP, hand sanitizer or masks are either irrationally hoarding excess supplies for personal use, or planning on scalping.

But even if shopping on behalf of the entire neighborhood is common, is protecting that strategy more important than deterring hoarders and preserving the ability of underprivileged people to buy what they need for themselves?