"something is only worth what a purchaser is willing to pay"
Indeed.
But the whole thing hinges on 'willing.'
There are all sorts of manipulative tricks one can get up to so that someone becomes willing.
About 15 years ago I went into a computer megastore up the Kingsway in Dundee to buy
a computer hard drive. I had about 50 quid in my pocket.
When I got to the shop they had all sorts of slinky packets on the shelves, complete with
anti-static wriststraps, tyre levers (well, sort of) and so on at vast expense.
I eventually found one of their drones and asked for a 'simple' hard drive; he didnae ken ma drift,
so I asked to see the manager.
After I had explained to the manager that I had a house full of anti-static wriststraps, tyre levers
and corsets, he said, "Oh, you need one of these." and took me round the back of some shelves
that appeared to be against the back wall of the showroom. There were some plain cardboard boxes with
hard drives in them. So I got my hard drive for about 40 quid instead of something just the same out
in the front for 100 quid.
The same sort of thing happens with computers.
Went to a shop here in Bulgaria to buy a "bog normal" PC to run Berkley Systems UNIX on.
ALL the PCs in the shop had Windows installed. When I explained to the drone that I was
not interested in Windows because I'd be installing another operating system on the
machine and we'd got past the bit where he couldn't understand that a computer could
actually work without Windows he told me I could just wipe Windows off the machine
and install my thing instead.
I pointed out to him that the machine with Windows cost 1200 leva because 300 leva of the price
was for the OEM Windows install, and I didn't want to pay 300 leva for something I was going
to flush down the loo he told me that all the PCs they sold had Windows installed.
I then pointed out that by doing that they were in breach of both Bulgarian and EU law he
scuttled off to get the manager. After a fairly bruising round with the manager I ended up with
the computer I wanted for 900 leva with no operating system installed.
But most people are fooled by the apparently knowledgeable patter of the sales people
in shops and are lulled into forking out far more than they need to.