There was a post about this not so long ago, it's likely that these third party sellers use a pricing algorithm that automatically looks at competitors' prices and then prices items some nominal amount (like .01) more.
Occasionally you get into a situation where ONLY these algorithmic copies are available, and over time they work themselves into a loop of constantly higher prices until either another (properly priced) copy hits the market, or some tripwire is hit in the pricing system.
Comments
Conjecture Warning
There was a post about this not so long ago, it's likely that these third party sellers use a pricing algorithm that automatically looks at competitors' prices and then prices items some nominal amount (like .01) more.
Occasionally you get into a situation where ONLY these algorithmic copies are available, and over time they work themselves into a loop of constantly higher prices until either another (properly priced) copy hits the market, or some tripwire is hit in the pricing system.
Loved this: "When you buy this book now for $289.14 and sell it back later for a $0.16 Amazon.com Gift Card, it could cost you as little as $288.98."
Many Amazon marketplace sellers use software to automatically adjust the prices of books. The results are sometimes strange.
I used to write that software.
Low supply, low demand == high prices
That's if your software assumes a scarce book is a rare book. In actual bookstores for this type of book, low supply, low demand == SALE 50% OFF!