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Comment by ryanelkins | Hacker News Reader

I'm kind of wondering why he started it so high ($2500), especially considering that part of the deal is that he gets 15% of the appreciated value every time it sells itself anyways. I guess it rubs me more as doing something to make money rather than doing something to be interesting... not saying that is a bad thing. It's an interesting concept at least.

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He gets 15% of the value of subsequent sales, but 100% of the first sale. Plus, I'm sure a significant amount of time and material went into the piece.

Sure, but why not play out the auction thing and start it at $1 or something and see what the market will bear. I guess I do wonder as well how often it may sell if it's listing itself every week. How much does it relist itself for? The buyer is responsible for all those fees generated by the box as well. I don't know, the more I think of it, the more it seems like a big hassle.

In the art world, perception of value often is value. It is (nearly) guaranteed that it will sell for more since he asked for more.

Starting it at $1 risked the work being sold at a low value, probably to someone who won't value it as much and in turn might be less prone to follow the contract and thus continue the cycle. Restricting it to people who have $2500+ to spend on 'art' means that these people will more likely appreciate the creativity of the piece and preserve it.

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