Yet more charlatan entertainment from MA! Another poster on this board DM'ed me about something odd they noticed about MA's recent foray into eBay.

I too had observed their claims and then pieced together what is likely to be a clever fraud, a confidence trick that is used by snake oil salesmen. Get a load of this:

There is a seller on eBay - morgonz54 - who seems to have VERY easy access to MA's "much" sought after book Manipulating the World Economy:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/morgonz54/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_ipg&_from&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684

In total, since opening their account end of Jan 2020, and listing MA's book since early Feb 2020, they have sold 137 copies of Manipulating the World Economy bagging around $41k in book sales, where the Buy It Now price is $300. There is still one active listing here, with another TEN copies available:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Manipulating-the-World-Economy-Martin-Armstrong/402241091575

If you check the first link I post above, the day with the busiest numbers of new auctions for seller morgonz54 is 24 March 2020. They put up FIVE separate Buy It Now listings for the second edition starting at 15:36 up to 23:05 hrs.

Now check the eBay account that MA links to from his blog - presumably this is his eBay account (caesar315eb) - and see the sold listings:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/caesar315eb/m.html?item=324141916183&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684

Notice the day he lists the THIRD EDITION is on 24 March at 15:55 hrs, some 20 minutes after morgonz54 uploads the second edition to eBay. Now let's check the LOCATIONS of both sellers:


morgonz54
Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Manipulating-the-World-Economy-Martin-Armstrong/402132543898?hash=item5da0f7a99a:g:Y0EAAOSw7PNeLP4W

caesar315eb
Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Manipulating-The-World-Economy-by-Martin-Armstrong/324113741479?hash=item4b76af36a7:g:1tgAAOSwzrZeelYq


Coincidence?

• Both accounts are both located in the exact same city
• Both accounts ONLY sell MA's book Manipulating the World Economy
• Both accounts have listed the same item on the same day with <30 minutes
• The "non-MA" account also has his very "rare" 1st edition of MtWE and a signed copy at that.

More likely, MA probably does manage or knows someone who can manage the morgonz54 account. Then his other account that is publicly promoted: caesar315eb is where he sells the "for public good" editions, where: "the price was kept low at $95 to enable everyone of all means to be able to purchase the book". Sure thing Martin!

Those either are legit sales on his "known" eBay account, or are sold to someone (himself?) to then list all of them back onto eBay under the pseudonym account - morgonz54 - at the $300, so that it maintains the mirage that MA is doing this for the public good ($95), but other people are taking advantage and selling the book at a huge premium ($300+). That then creates the scarcity/urgency psychology, which has netted MA tens of thousands of dollars if we believe morgonz54 is also owned or linked to him in some way.

Also, see this 26 Jan 2020 blog post where MA seems to be "planting" the thought that $300 is "fair value":

I have heard that the 2nd edition which sold out on Amazon in less than 3 hours has been selling in an auction on average at $275+ so I suppose $300 is reasonable... the 1st and 2nd editions always go for a premium... Even a 5th edition of Malthus will bring $3,000 these days.

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/products_services/products/manipulating-the-world-economy-1st-edition-is-going-for-2000/

He is also planting a thought in his readers mind that even the 5th Edition will be worth more than what they paid.

Expect the book trick to go on for a long time, especially now his WECs are all cancelled.

I am not sure if the eBay trick is not him using multiple accounts. eBay is very sophisticated in cancelling or deleting accounts that bid on auctioned items even with a VPN. However, if it is Buy it Now, it is very easy to create and use fake accounts, where the transaction is instant and the listing is not removed until payment is made. So that is also why none of the listings are auctions, meaning the purchases on MA's official eBay account might be fake as part of the confidence trick.

It seems a bit suspect that MA is releasing some book, but ONLY in limited quantities and naturally it sells out in 15 minutes. Why not sell it via his website as well? Probably because eBay has publicly visible sales data that adds to the game he's trying to play...

Also, why not sell it digitally? If there is this much "demand", he could be making a mint selling it digitally, but alas that doesn't have any urgency/scarcity behind it, so he is VERY much playing a psychological game here.

Classic snake oil salesman tactic and I remain convinced MA is a student of Cialdini. He is a great salesman and does not know trading or even economics that well. He is an expert in human psychology trickery and sales.