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Is artificial scarcity a viable business model anymore?

Jul 10, 2012 8:50 PM

It may have started with the Disney "Vault" but it extends further to any site selling "limited" or "exclusive" intellectual property items (e.g. Shirt.Woot, TeeFury, etc.). It is trivial nowadays to circumvent the imposed limitations and get what you want anyway, and I see Woot and TeeFury responding (e.g. Reddit reaction and TeeFury "after hours", respectively), but Disney isn't, nor is (was?) HBO and their product gets pirated mercilessly, so why do companies persist?
Related: The Oatmeal (NSFW)

j5 j5

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Artificial scarcity seems to be working well in the diamond business.

nortonsark nortonsark
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@nortonsark: So it is. That's why I like the concept of man-made diamonds. Flawless, micro-etched with a registration number, guaranteed to be conflict-free, and a good way to say "up yours" to De Beers. I'm amazed that people still buy natural diamonds at such ridiculously inflated prices.

adadavis adadavis
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With the internet, is anything scarce?

jsimsace jsimsace
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Started with Disney? You must not have bought a diamond before.

tsfisch tsfisch
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@tsfisch: Or maybe people know just enough to avoid "conflict diamonds" while having no idea what goes on at the De Beers diamond mines where they get their "conflict free" ones. People who refuse to shop at Walmart because of working conditions and wages will still buy diamonds from De Beers.

adadavis adadavis
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It's working well for the "aaaaawl bidniz".

aphroat aphroat
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@nortonsark: @adadavis: @tsfisch:
Diamonds are not currently intellectual property, so they are outside of the scope of my question. Maybe when 3D printer technology moves to crystalline structures...

j5 j5
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@j5: Your question did not specify intellectual property.

sully51 sully51
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@sully51:true, but I clarified in the body of the question.

j5 j5

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