[I Think, Therefore I Am] The Strange Magic of Fate and Pricing

I used to not really believe in fate, but lately I’ve started to feel that fate really is a magical thing~
Maybe a lot of things really do come down to fate…
Buying and selling a bunch of stuff recently has made me feel this even more strongly.
Some things sit unsold for a long time and can’t find a buyer. It’s not that the item is bad; it’s just that the price may be more than the people who want it can afford, while the people who can afford it don’t necessarily need it, or haven’t even discovered it exists.
Some things get flooded with inquiries the moment they go up. Maybe the item is good, but it isn’t necessarily anything special; it might just be cheap. Or maybe what looks bad to me is a treasure in someone else’s eyes.

In economics, an item’s value is set by market supply and demand. In other words, we can set a price, but if it’s too high, few people buy; and if it’s too low… the more people buy, the sooner you might have to flee, XD
With a fully adjustable price, it should tend toward equilibrium in theory. But reality doesn’t always work out that way, XD

Human nature being what it is, some items attract more buyers precisely because they’re expensive. Some people can’t afford it now, but maybe one day they will come and buy it, or they’ll do what many do: slowly save up, gather their resolve, and buy it no matter what.
And with some items, once the price drops below a certain point, people start saying the thing is no good, or that it’s only worth so much… just like the common belief that “cheap stuff is never good.”

From a collector’s angle, an item might have a starting bid, and I might have a price I paid, but the point isn’t the money—it’s that I love the item, and I can currently afford it, so I buy it and keep it. Whether it appreciates or depreciates afterward doesn’t matter; what matters is that I love it. If someone offers a high price, I don’t necessarily have to sell; and if someone offers a low price but I’ve taken a liking to them, I wouldn’t mind giving it away.

No wonder that, back when I studied marketing, the professor always said, “How to set a price is an art.”

Only after actually taking part in buying and selling, after really touching the market, did I begin to understand this.

And I’ve slowly made peace with it. Sometimes you can’t get something because the budget isn’t there, or you haggle and the other side won’t budge; either way, you don’t get the item. Maybe it’s limited edition, maybe it’s discontinued. But more importantly, you didn’t buy it—yet you kept your money. Maybe something similar will come out later, or maybe something even better will. You never know when you’ll run into what opportunity, or what good stuff there’ll be to buy.

Conversely, if something won’t sell today, then while it isn’t selling maybe we can consider: is the price really too firm? Is there another market to break into? Or maybe the market just isn’t mature yet, and you need to educate the public so they realize they might actually have this need? Or, if you’re in no hurry, why not sell it slowly and wait for fate to arrive?

Maybe pricing has no single right answer, just like fate—magical, yet captivating.
Slowly, I’ve also come to understand that fate may not be something you can force, but we can prepare well and act with intent, so that one day, there’ll be that one person who comes along to “collect” you well.