The market sets the price. :') Sellers sometimes sell stuff at a loss because they risk losing even more by holding on to inventory. If the necessary losses are going to crater the business, they either live off savings until the crisis passes, or they go out of business, or sell the whole thing (sometimes it depends how close they are to retirement). Somewhere I've got PJ O'Rourke's book (audio version) about Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", and highly recommend that; Smith tried to work up an explanation for price, but ultimately price is what a buyer is willing to pay when the seller is willing to part with it.