tfabris: Now, if you apply a Carl Sagan-style calculation to this whole concept, you've got the following variables:

Tony,

I like your analysis overall (Carl S. - #2 or 3 on my heroes list). I probably let SB off too easy when it comes to the "number of people who know this thing exists or what it does" department. I suppose one tweak I would make to the formula is a factor for volume + margin -- you only have to make a dime on each one if you sell a trillion!

It also would have been interesting to see what the depletion of stock would have been like if the price drop had been gradual, say $50 per week, but that's not really an efficient way to liquidate and I don't expect SB to conduct such an experiment for my benefit.