[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Your friend's point is a common one in that you'll have a $250 ticket in your hand when you enter the park, discounted slightly for the bother of selling it.

I bought a car, my mom gave me the exact car. Do you have to know which one is which before you can place a value on it?

I worked a couple hours for $100 and then found $100 on the beach. Is there a difference in the value of the bill? Will it matter if I switch them.

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

I take your point, but i'm not sure they are analagous situations. I guess my thinking is this: is choosing not to profit (by, for instance, consuming a product that could be reesold for profit) equivalent to placing a value on something. I won't pay $250 to go to any concert, i'm pretty sure. But there are plenty of concerts I would go to if given free tickets, even i could make way more than $250 reselling the tickets.

I think this is actually a very common situation. I'm just not sure about how to think about it when i have to make such resale choices.

[/ QUOTE ]

On a gambling site, a more relevant example is the concept of 'gambling with the houses money' when you are up in a game of blackjack/roulette.

I tell my friends to cash out, go for a drink and a walk fondling the cash, then come buy the chips all back and sit down. Does it still feel like the houses money?
How long does it have to be legally yours before it is yours?

In your case, keep increasing the scalped value until it does mean something to you, perhaps that will clarify 'value, surely at some point you'll say "cripes, this is costing me $20,000 to go to this thing, fergitabotit" rather than treating it as play money.
If the entry could be gained by a ticket or a $250 gold nugget would you exchange you ticket then enter with the nugget? I'm not sure what you're seeing that I'm not ( I've allowed a discount of the 'bother' of selling it).

luckyme