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paypal credit fueling higher ebay prices

Agent Orange said:
I'd rather carry a debit card than cash. Credit cards are nice convenience if not abused.
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I'm with you, and just use my debit card to shop. I do have a Mastercard from Bank of Montreal though. They offer one that you don't need a bank account for (not that I'd mind) and you just put money on the card. It carries all the same guarantees and privileges as any of their other cards. The only reason I have this is so I can pay for things online in places where they don't take Paypal.
 
there are a lot of factors in play that contribute to prices of vintage computers on Ebay. At a macro level making credit easier will drive up prices.

Auctions - Consider a group of bidders with access to easier credit verses a set of auction bidders that have no easy credit available. Even if only some are encouraged to bid due to easy credit the average prices, given a same item, will increase due to "competition". The demand demand curve will shift to the right because buyers will be willing to pay a higher price.

Buy it now - Easier credit impacts "futures" - Sellers search sold listings. If they see items sell quickly at a given historical sale price they'll be encouraged to set their same item price at or higher that what they observed. Buyers also check sold listings and make similar decisions based on how quickly an item sold at a given price.
etc.

The availability of credit effects the commerce strategy of both the buyer and the seller, which is part of how Ebay works. Game theory is a fascinating area of study in economics. I believe the inventor of the "2nd highest price wins" auction concept, on which Ebay is based, won a Nobel prize in economics in the late 1990's.
 
billdeg said:
Auctions - Consider a group of bidders with access to easier credit verses a set of auction bidders that have no easy credit available. Even if only some are encouraged to bid due to easy credit the average prices, given a same item, will increase due to "competition". The demand demand curve will shift to the right because buyers will be willing to pay a higher price.
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OK, I can see that as a possibility. However, who doesn't have a Paypal account which is linked to a bank account? Surely that's a vanishingly small group.
 
Well, I don't think it matters if you're paying with cash, plastic, wampum, or gold bricks, at some point common sense needs to kick in.
 
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