Google Glass Economics, Part Three

eBay Glass auctions during mid-July, 2014

It's been nearly a year since I became a Google Glass Explorer, and started a dedicated blog (http://googleglasshalffull.blogspot.com/). In that time, I've given my Glass unit a pretty good "run for its money", mostly by taking hands-free photos and a few videos. I have also used it in the classroom, at least a bit, and loaned it out to several friends and associates for them to get some hands-on experience with what has turned out to be a very controversial product, even to the point of fear and ridicule! For an example, See "The Daily Show" sendup (below), which actually including well-known Glass Explorers (going the opposite direction than I did with my blog, naming the segment "Glass Half Empty".)

The Glass "aftermarket", via Ebay, is one of the things I have found most interesting while following the Glass saga. The $3,000 - $5,000 being commanded during the Summer of 2013 indeed influenced my decision to drop the $1,500 to get my Glass unit and join the program, figuring I had a profitable "out" if I decided to exit the program. At that time, Glass had an aura of exclusivity, with Explorers selected mysteriously based on their Tweets earlier in 2013, and terms and conditions technically only allowed loaning or gifting units, and not selling them. (Those early eBay listings all contained some form of "caveat emptor" language.) But since then, Google has broadened the Explorer program, to the point where used units no longer command a premium over the $1,500 list price. The expected discount-for-used (See eBay screenshot, above.) I chronicled this back in March with "Google Economics Part Two", which happened to be my second-to-last post in the dedicated Glass blog, choosing to bring my intermittent Glass Observations to this blog. Back then, a non-scientific sample of three Glass auction listings on eBay averaged closing bids of $1,413. This week, the four auctions pictured in my screenshot sold for an average of $1,139.

Will there be a "Google Economics Part Four" post, you might ask? Stay tuned...I have a very strong feeling that there will be!