However, it is only recommended that commodity items like petroleum be sold exclusively by price.

In some cases, manufacturers have found themselves scrambling for such commodity items as diodes and resistors.

It was the 164th among a list of such specially tagged commodity items in India.

"That will work well with commodity items or weather, but the way the devices are now we don't feel great about their use."

One of the Ellisons' findings is that the online world can be incredibly competitive for commodity items.

"The printers, scanners and recording devices they announced are pretty much commodity items," he said.

The design also enables the company to add a premium of roughly $25 to 13-inch sets, which have essentially become commodity items sold on price.

"Electronics are commodity items and there aren't enough of them on eBay," he said.

Steel coils are commodity items; a single composite leaf spring costs more than two of them.

App wants to keep the iPhone from becoming a commodity item.