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Comment by PopAlongKid | Hacker News Reader

But if it's worth more on the open market than what Tesla is charging, why don't they just charge more? (assuming the motivation for flipping is to make a profit)

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The same reason Sony didn't sell the PS5 for $1000 - it's a mass market product, with excessive demand probably created by manufacturing bottlenecks.

I genuinely do wonder what the outcome would be if a highly demanded (but ultimately unlimited supply) product was instead delivered by sorted bids? Like what if Tesla simply said Your position in line is relative to all bids, and at price $X you will certainly get one eventually...

The outcome is a really brutal society where rich people are preferred in literally everything.

Waiting in line for a chipotle burrito? Sorry, this guy is gonna put in $5 to cut you in line.

Even if it’s right or wrong, at the end of the day, your brand is gonna get outcompeted based on values because lots of ppl don’t want to patron business like that.

You just described buying a Rolex

Maybe. I don't know much about Rolexes. To some they are a status symbol. To other groups, they are an anti-status symbol.

If you want your business/society to be more like Rolex, then I guess implement this prioritization function.

Because they are trying to keep the price low? When announced, it was stated it would sell for $40k and it is going to stay be higher than that at release. Contrary to dealerships, they don’t seem to be participating in the act of jacking the price up higher and higher.

same reason nike/gucci/every high end brand does the same. It creates anticipation/ exclusivity. Every brand has their own resale laws.

I've never heard of anybody threatening to sue their own customers for selling the product too early. Threatening to void warranties, yes. Threatening to refuse future sales, sure. But suing? No.

This just screams "don't do business with us".

> Every brand has their own resale laws.

Nike / Gucci / every high-end brand has resale laws?

High end brands enforce restrictions on those whom they do business with on the basis of maintaining an ongoing relationship. They don't try to contractually bind individual buyers. You are trying to "brand" this is normal and customary when it is unique and defective.

It's only really worth more to a small select group of people. Those people had no way to jump to the front of the line when ordering.

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