Just Price in the Age of Amazon

#Intellect

Aquinas calls the just price the common estimation—what a thing is worth in a community when parties deal fairly. It is more than cost-plus and less than “whatever the market bears.” Today, e-commerce hides costs (shipping, labor, surveillance data) and pressures prices downward by scale. A Catholic account must re-surface realities convenience obscures.

Principles

• Person over price: Exchanges aim at mutual benefit and the common good, not domination.
• Costs made visible: Materials, skilled labor, time, risk, and stewardship belong in the price.
• No fraud or coercion: Deception, artificial scarcity, predatory underpricing, and exploitative terms violate justice.
• Ordinary profit: A modest surplus for stability, investment, and family wages is fitting; gouging or dumping is not.
• Local knowledge: The “common estimation” is most reliable where neighbors know goods and makers.

For sellers (a rule of candor)

1. Publish clear specs, lead times, and return policies.
2. Pay just wages; do not outsource exploitation.
3. State what is included (service, repair, delivery).
4. Price for durability, not churn; offer repair and parts.
5. Prefer local channels; online only when they truly serve neighbors.

For buyers (a rule of charity)

1. Count hidden costs: shipping emissions, data extraction, local closures.
2. Choose repairable goods and makers who answer the phone.
3. Pay a fair premium to sustain local skills and apprentices.
4. When bargaining, aim at friendship, not victory.

For parishes & guilds

• Form co-ops and buying clubs; share tools; negotiate standards.
• Publish model contracts with just terms for small shops.
• Teach apprenticeship economics so price reflects formation.

Amazon can deliver packages; it cannot deliver justice. Just price is restored when communities see the whole truth of production and agree to trade as friends under the common good.