From the seller's perspective, the best price is the highest one possible that people would still buy. Usually, that's a careful game: supply and demand are balanced and the ideal figure is honed.
But sometimes, the price seems to come way out of left field.
A recent Reddit thread asked folks to discuss the most cartoonishly ridiculous prices they've ever laid eyes upon.
Often the culprits were the peddled products of niche internet companies or high end brand stores. But some truly weird examples from the furthest corners of commerce also made appearances.
For anyone who has ever been taken for a ride, this is a thread you'll empathize with.
Thic_water asked, "What's the most overpriced thing you've seen?"
Amazing Picture
"There's a 50,000 dollar HDMI cable on Amazon" -- BiscuitMiscuit
"I once read a review of an 'audiophile' grade ethernet cable. This guy actually claimed changing the ethernet cable from his router to his PC made his music sound better." -- ConspiratorM
"I heard that it is easier to change the list price of an item instead of make the item unlisted So sometimes you'll see an item listed for an absolutely absurd price because it is out of stock"
"I went to buy a $30 item once and the price changed to $10,000" -- Yomommassis
As High As They Go
"In a downtown consignment shop, an oil painting of sheep grazing in a meadow had a price tag of $18,700."
"It was by an unrecognized artist. When asked why it was priced so high, the shopkeeper said 'because someone will like it and buy it.' " -- Back2Bach
"My high school art teacher told me your piece is worthless until you have a buyer. Same idea." -- Solobotomy
INFUSION
"That $6 asparagus water Whole Foods sold a couple years ago; it was a 16oz bottle of water with 3 stalks of asparagus."
"Also, everything from goop."
The Ethical Underbelly
"Insulin. Discovered over 100 years ago and is now synthetically produced and still is being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars in many cases."
"The drug companies decided they were going to make their gigantic profit margins off life-saving medicine."
-- t1runner
The Highest Stakes Party of All
"Weddings."
"I don't disagree with wanting the day to be special and memorable, but the industry jacks up the prices if they know it's a wedding, and there are way more affordable options while still getting to celebrate love and the future."
"No reason to break the bank. Use the money saved for even more memories."
Paying for the Name
"A few years back Nordstrom was selling a rock in a leather pouch for $85." -- Happy_Fun_Balll
"Neiman-Marcus used to put out the most hilarious Christmas gift catalog."
One year they offered his and hers Lear jets. No kidding. Just about anything in that catalog was wildly overpriced. More recently, they offered in their Christmas book, as a potential gift, a Boeing Business Jet for the wonderfully affordable price of 'north of $35 million.' " -- dramboxf
A Fitness Boom
"Literally any pair of dumbbells during the Covid lockdown." -- Nicod27
"I managed to walk into a Dick's Sporting Goods as they were offloading 300 lbs. Barbell sets. When they were helping me load the set into my car the employees said some guy had driven from Chicago (~5 hours) and bought a pallet of them."
"I know that motherf***er must have made a killing flipping them on CL." -- frankhaith4missouri
But It's So Cool Looking...
"Bottle service at bars is f***in stupid... I'll just go to a corner liquor store and buy the '4000$ bottle' for like 40..." -- Lone-Oak
"Bottle service seems great when I'm blacked out and my friend orders it... when he venmo requests me the next day it does not seem great" -- Sleepy_Tortoise
People We Trust
"Celebrity line of products."
"Companies hike the prices of products by hundreds of dollars just because the name of a celebrity was on it."
Out of Whack
"College" -- Universal_MJ
"That's the USA for you 'Don't wanna pay minimum wage? Get $100,000 in debt for school and some papers' " -- Thic_water
"Its sad when people say $30k of college debt is not too bad" -- ijustneedanametouse
Value Added Products
"A couple of years ago, Mark's and Spencer Food, a high end supermarket in the UK, tried selling 'Cauliflower Steak' which was a thick slice of cauliflower for £2.50. It was covered in plastic"
"You could literally buy a whole cauliflower in the same row a bit further down for 40p."
"They were crucified for it, it was hilarious"
-- patchyj
GOLD STUFF
"When I was in Dubai 2 years ago there was a cell phone store in the mall that sold phones that ranged from $30k -$120k. They were basically phones covered in diamonds and gold."
"That's $100k for something that is probably already obsolete."
-- holla09
The Internet of (Overpriced) Things
"The $700 Juicero. As if a Wi-FI connecting juicer was even necessary, let alone worth the price point." -- brownsheepinasweater
"'Juicer' since it didn't even actually juice anything, just squeezed bags of premade juice." -- Ninjachibi117
"There's an alcoholic version of this called the bartesian. It literally just mixes alcohol with pods of pre-mixed cocktail juice. It's $350 and for some reason people have been going crazy over it. It was sold out for a while. Such a marketing gimmic" -- Plumrose333
Bad, and Worse
"You know, for the longest time I was amazed that the company behind Epipen would charge a whole $100 on their product up here in Canada."
"Then I found out they sell the same product for over five times that in the US."
"Y'all seriously need better governments."
-- A_Person_13
Price-Gouged Basic Needs
"As someone who is half blind, glasses. I get the dirt cheap ones, and it still costs over $100 for the privilege of being able to see." -- TheRealHirohikoAraki
"Also wheelchairs. The basic ones are usually pretty reasonable, but if you need any sort of custom support they can routinely cost more than most luxury cars." -- rachaek
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
