Here's an interesting one:
macbook pro retina 15-inch late 2013 & my art
Not exactly obscenely overpriced, technically the computer only went for $50. However, the shipping cost is extremely high, so the buyer didn't actually get a great deal. What exactly is going on here? And what's up with that intriguing title? Let's see what he has to say about it in the description:
yuyanag-5372 wrote:
I'm selling my old macbook and my artwork as a pair. Based on my quick search, this kind of MacBook Pro tends to cost $200. So the price of this item mostly comes from the artwork.
I see, so from what I can tell, he set the shipping to a flat rate of $200 because he concluded that's how much the MacBook was worth. Therefore, the money from the auction is actually for his "artwork" rather than the computer. I guess in a roundabout way it makes sense, if the art is the main item for sale, the MacBook is the shipping cost because it's effectively a very expensive box.
So what is this artwork then? As a discount Markiplier myself, I do appreciate
a good letter E, but let's see what he actually had in mind:
yuyanag-5372 wrote:
Now you are curious about it?
“This keyboard does not work as intended” is an interface that lets the interactor contemplate atypical input method. When one of the keys is typed, an alphabetical character or a commonsymbol appears on the display, yet it is not linked to the input. Such “useless” interactionreminds the viewer of how effectively common interfaces–for example, mouse andkeyboard–are designed. In addition, the glitch effect represents software bugs, adding a little extra oomph in relation to Internet culture.
...Uh, right.
Here's a more visual demonstration that he provided:
So the letter that appears on the screen is different from the letter that you pressed. It's a key logger that doesn't work, basically, but I guess a very meaningful one? Really makes you think. I just hope he didn't remap Cmd+Q as well.
I guess if people can splatter some paint onto a canvas and call it art, we can call this art too. However, there's something odd about the geography of this listing. The location is listed as Austria, however the MacBook is Japanese - at least, according to its keyboard - and, perhaps most strangely of all, it only ships to the United States (and is all listed in USD). It doesn't ship to Austria, Japan, or indeed any other country, only specifically the US.
He doesn't state what postal service he'd be using, but the lowest shipping cost I could find to ship something approximately the size and weight of a 15-inch 2013 MacBook Pro Retina from Linz, Austria to the United States was €51.68, or about
US$54.85, which means not only did he actually make
nothing from his artwork, he also didn't even make the full $200 he thought the MacBook was worth. The artwork technically ended up being
-$4.85.
...Sounds about right, honestly.