Where are you getting these prices!?

Someone here has to know... What in the world drives people to set these stinking prices on Amazon?

Take for instance "Competition Car Aerodynamics":
amazon1

Listed at over $300.00 (new) and over $240.00 (used)

Or you can buy it here for $27.00:
amazon2

Perhaps you prefer the Ebay variety? Buy "Prepare To Win" now for the low low price of $115.00! ebay1

(or go to CarrollSmith.com and pick one up for a quarter of the price)

So is this a "gee, this book seems really educational to a specific group of people so I think its worth.... eleventy-billion dollars!", are these people trying to feed a drug habit, or am I missing something?

It depends. If things are in print, then it's the crack pipe. But for instance, my wife had a popular knitting reference book that was about $40 when she bought it new, but it went out of print not long after it came out. Street price for used copies was over $600 before they finally made a second edition.

In reply to Duke:

Seems to me, for $600 you could fly the original author to you, have them teach you how to knit and still come out slightly ahead.

This is a the appeal of garage sales and storage locker auctions. Knowing which 25-cent book is actually worth $500 can net you some great profits.

It kinda made me mad when they started printing soft cover "The Unfair Advantage" in 2000. It drove down the price of the old hardcovers to insanely low. (They are picking back up now, though, so it's a good time to buy!)

Shoot, I was just wondering if the authors were putting in secret messages in invisible ink, or including "Orphan Annie Decoder Rings" in their first editions or something and I was missing out.

Maroon92 wrote: It kinda made me mad when they started printing soft cover "The Unfair Advantage" in 2000. It drove down the price of the old hardcovers to insanely low. (They are picking back up now, though, so it's a good time to buy!)

If they hadn't done that, I would never have got a copy or been able to read it.

Wait, yours didn't come with a decoder ring?

Hey, you only have to sell one at those prices to make it worth your while. The Amazon price on my Locost book spiked when it went out of print. Right now, it's listed at $863.47. Hmm, anyone want to buy one of my copies?

But there's a big difference between asking prices and sale prices. You can ask whatever you want, but someone has to buy it...

I have an aunt who is a rare book dealer.. she shakes her head at the crackhead prices some people are asking for these books online

Keith wrote: The Amazon price on my Locost book spiked when it went out of print. Right now, it's listed at $863.47.

Really? I may need to clear out the bookshelf just a little...

I have a book on rebuilding Ford 60 degree V6 engines that often goes for silly money.

(edit) lol, I just looked at Amazon. Used ones are priced from $79.50 to $3,277.75. What's up with that? But Amazon has an offer posted to buy mine for a $2.70 gift card!