sellers market

From: Sellam Ismail <dastar_at_ncal.verio.com>
Date: Sun Mar 21 01:03:20 1999

On Sat, 20 Mar 1999, Mike Ford wrote:

> >You're missing the point. The mechanisms I am referring to are the way
> >the auction itself works. The reserve price, the automatic bidding
> >increase once the top bidder is bid against, and then there's the issue of
> >emotions and how they affect bidding in an auction. All these factors
> >contribute to the artificial inflation of prices.
>
> I disagree with your premise that the auction is artificial or unfair. What

Ok, you disagree with my premise. Care to provide any particular points
of reason or do you just want to continue thinking that because it makes
you feel better?

> I don't understand is how you plan to stuff the genie back in the bottle.
> Ebay is here, and so are hundreds more smaller auction pages. Many people
> also use the eBay pricing to set their own prices, I know both store and
> individuals who do this as a regular practice. Like it or not, completed
> eBay auctions are the best reference I know of for fair market price.

Which is exactly why I rail against ebay so much. If there's a price
swing of $500 to $1000 on a particular item, with no real evaluation of
the unit other than what the seller decides to describe about the unit,
you call this fair market value? Let me know what stores base their
prices on the highest auction amount they see on ebay so I can avoid them.
If I walked into a surplus shop and saw an Altair with a $3,000 price tag
I'd laugh. Ebay and the real market are two entirely disparate entities.

Luckily the surplus shops I frequent in my area are still mostly sensible
about how the junk that passes through their stuff is priced. Some more
than others. But all in all, they don't attempt to use Ebay pricing to
set their own prices.

Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
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Received on Sun Mar 21 1999 - 01:03:20 GMT

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