Recently, some sectors have been benefiting from economic stimulus efforts. The housing and automobile industries have been the main recipients of economic stimulus money, and programs from tax credits for first time homebuyers to Cash for Clunkers have been helping demand. However, with economic stimulus programs coming to an end, it looks as though supply and demand could make a comeback.
This has been one of the worries for the economy. As stimulus efforts come to a close, it will become increasingly difficult to keep things running for some businesses. Additionally, banks have started lending a little bit more. But what …read more

I was listening to a really interesting story about variable pricing in the music industry on NPR’s Morning Edition this week. The price discrepancies on Depeche Mode’s new album perfectly illustrated the concept of price discovery.  
The new album by Depeche Mode, “Sounds of the Universe” is priced at a low $3.99 on Amazon, and $9.99 on iTunes. Because of iTunes recent switch to a Digital Rights Management-free delivery model (enabling downloaded songs to be played on any type of play, not just the Apple  iPod), this is the same product.
So what’s it really worth?
That’s what Price Discovery aims to determine. Technically, the …read more

One of the most frequent questions I receive from readers is, “How do I determine how what price to set for an item for sale on eBay?” You just need to do a little research on eBay and gather some information to make an educated decision on pricing. Follow these steps:
1) Log on to your eBay account.
2) Select the ADVANCED SEARCH tab at the top of the page.
3) Enter the key words for your particular item. For example, let’s use “Youth football shoulder pads.”
4) Click the box underneath to select COMPLETED LISTINGS.
5) Your search will result in all listings …read more