Likewise I disagree with your assessment, if you want to build a long term business model based on repeat customers, you have to make them feel as if they received value for their purchases, nickel and diming them for the sake of profit will yield poor results in the long term. Customers will not return if you give poor value for their money which the USB erupters do.
Have you actually talked to any buyers of the USB erupters who were coerced into paying more than they wanted to for the devices?
Or are you just assuming that since someone paid more than you would pay that they are being "ripped off"?
It's pretty easy to "not pay more than you want to pay" for an item - you don't bid beyond that point, or you simply don't purchase it. An auction is as pure a market transaction as you can create. The supply is specified, the demand is allowed to price it as they wish, and you complete the transaction.
"Nickel and diming" would refer to adding additional fees, extra shipping fees, a handling fee, etc. Selling an item for a negotiated price with no extra fees tacked on doesn't qualify here.
You seem to find that a business selling items for more than you would personally pay to be a dishonest business practice, somehow. If this is the case, then you can clearly fill the gap by selling comparable items for what you feel is a fair price and undercutting them.
To be fair, ASICMiner's prices were set at auction. What reasonable seller would end an auction just because the item became overpriced? I, as a shareholder, would be very upset if they did, and a business's primary responsibility is to its shareholders.
I agree. I would be very upset if a business were selling items for far less than it knew it could get for them. That's a charity, not a business.