I've been away, but after all the discussing about pricing, wanted to
make a few comments:

At 09:14 AM 11/18/98 -0500, Tom Brandt wrote:
>Free markets depend on the free flow of information, including pricing.
>The stock market, to take one example, would not exists without freely
>available price information.  The price someone else paid for a share of
>Microsoft, for example, is absolutely relevant to the price I or anyone
>else is willing to pay.

/vendor hat off

So, when you get on the airline and start comparing the price of your
ticket to those around you and find-out that you paid more, do you
leave the plane and try to negotiate a better price?

And when was the last time you paid "Manufacture's Suggested Retail Price"
(MSRP) on a new car? Given that you probably didn't, do you know what
you paid relative to the prior/next person who purchased basically the
same vehicle?  Why would a company advertise the price I paid, using
various discounts, etc. which I have access to, which would essentially
reduce its potential profit margin for everyone?  Wouldn't they want
to try and stay close to that needed margin in order to stay in business
as well as do better when they can to account for the times that someone
like myself comes along with special manufacture discounts due to family
connections?

And in terms of the stock market....while the price you'll pay is
indeed relavent to you, is not always the 'true' price. You can place a buy
order at a particular stock, say $80/share, which you feel is fair and
consistent with the trading levels of the stock.  The floor trader may
have a sale order from someone else who anticipates a decline in the
share price and issues a sale at $79.5/share.  The floor trader may then
execute the transaction, and depending upon what else is going on,
maintain the 1/4 bid/ask spread, giving the seller $79.75, keeping the
1/4 point and you've ended-up paying $80/share.  But if you knew that
the market was willing to sell it at $79.5, wouldn't you have bid that?
The ticket-tape will not reflect the price the seller was willing to
accept, only the price the floor trader executed the trade at given
the float (bid/ask).

The free flow of information related to the stock market has to do with
such things as corporate financial disclosures, trade volume, and trade
prices.  It doesn't always reflect what folks are 'willing' to settle
for regardless of the the other factors.

Again, it boils down to Michael's comments about willingness to do the
exchange of items at what each party feels is an appropriate value
given their needs.  If you don't feel the price is fair, you can
always shop around more...

My $.02 worth....

/Jerry <not intending to beat a dead horse>