Comments on: Another nail http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/07/17/another-nail/ by Jeff Jarvis Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:43:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Robert Feinman http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/07/17/another-nail/#comment-92210 Robert Feinman Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:55:57 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=1770#comment-92210 One of the advantages that bricks and mortar stores had was that it was hard for customers to do price comparisons. This gives the seller an advantage. If this wasn't so there wouldn't be such a thing as "loss leaders". Putting your whole inventory online as some do on ebay and as is happening with real estate listings gives the buyer an advantage. Joseph Stiglitz got a Nobel prize in economics for studying the effects of incomplete information in economic transactions. Full listings may also work the other way, casual sellers can also find out what things are worth and thus, there won't be an bargains offered by the uninformed. Getting rid of middlemen and making the market more direct may be a good thing, but getting there may be painful for traditional companies who are brokering information. One of the advantages that bricks and mortar stores had was that it was hard for customers to do price comparisons. This gives the seller an advantage. If this wasn’t so there wouldn’t be such a thing as “loss leaders”.

Putting your whole inventory online as some do on ebay and as is happening with real estate listings gives the buyer an advantage.
Joseph Stiglitz got a Nobel prize in economics for studying the effects of incomplete information in economic transactions.

Full listings may also work the other way, casual sellers can also find out what things are worth and thus, there won’t be an bargains offered by the uninformed.

Getting rid of middlemen and making the market more direct may be a good thing, but getting there may be painful for traditional companies who are brokering information.

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