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Everyone has a different risk/reward tolerance. If your strategy involves risking banana rot to snag that bag, then more power to you. The market will find an equilibrium.

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That is the point, the market will find the equilibrium, which is selling bananas at a market clearing price ($0.50) and make a modest profit on each banana. You can charge $150,000 per banana, but Bill Gates can just go to a different banana stand OR just not buy a banana and now you make nothing.

I'm not talking about charging 150,000 per banana. I'm specifically talking about charging Bill Gates 150,000 for a banana and charging you 20-50 cents.

If I knew how much each customer could pay[1], I'd charge them exactly that.

1. At profit.

Your 20-50 cent customer does the same thing but prices it for Gates at 140,000. Rinse and repeat and Gates ends up paying 20-50 cents for a banana from somebody that isn't you.

I'm talking about forming a cartel.

What would stop Bill Gates from spending $150K+ on just growing his own bananas and then selling them for a market clearing price at modest profit and therefore putting your banana pricing scheme out of business?

This is a wholly unrealistic way to do business lol.

Cartels routinely block competitors. That's kinda their jam. Not a problem.

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