It turns out the amount of time you spent getting the tickets is irrelevant. If you wouldn’t be willing to PAY $500 for these tickets (and you weren’t, or you would have) then you should be willing to sell them for $500.
This example has nothing to do with sunk costs and everything to do with WTP vs. WTA. Some people -- like the author, apparently -- think they are the same. Those people are wrong.
Ask yourself - gun to your head, right now, how much money would you offer to pay the man threatening you right now for him to go away? And what is the minimum you would accept from him, if offered, to let him blow your brains out? Chances are, the amount you would be willing to accept for X is much much higher than the amount you would be willing to pay for ~X.
Or, from a different approach, if your willingness to pay to go to the event and your willingness to accept to not go to an event were identical, then going or not-going would have to be a wash. That's obviously not true, or you wouldn't have put so much effort into going.
Comments
This example has nothing to do with sunk costs and everything to do with WTP vs. WTA. Some people -- like the author, apparently -- think they are the same. Those people are wrong.
Ask yourself - gun to your head, right now, how much money would you offer to pay the man threatening you right now for him to go away? And what is the minimum you would accept from him, if offered, to let him blow your brains out? Chances are, the amount you would be willing to accept for X is much much higher than the amount you would be willing to pay for ~X.
Or, from a different approach, if your willingness to pay to go to the event and your willingness to accept to not go to an event were identical, then going or not-going would have to be a wash. That's obviously not true, or you wouldn't have put so much effort into going.
The amount you are willing to pay is limited by what's available to you.
The amount you agree to accept (and likely pass down to your inheritors) is basically unlimited.