Ending Auctions (was Re: HP 2114 on ebay)

From: George Currie <g_at_kurico.com>
Date: Thu Sep 16 15:44:23 1999

> Second, the basic rules continue to hold. Which are:
> - You offer something for sale, you have the option of setting
> a reserve price and a minimum bid.
> - When your auction ends, if the highest bid was above
> your reserve then you _MUST_ sell the item to the highest
> bidder. REGARDLESS OF HOW THE AUCTION ENDED.

Speaking of this point, did anyone catch the auction for the Xerox
Star? Talk about weird endings, it was around $2100 (reserve not
met) until the very end, when suddenly a $7000 bid comes in
(reserve met). But get this, the alias of the high bidder is almost
exactly the same as the seller (seller was foobar, buyer was
foo.bar). Sounds like maybe the second place bidder actually hit
the reserve ($2300?) and the seller decided that he didn't want to
sell it so put in a massive bid under a diff. alias?

George
Received on Thu Sep 16 1999 - 15:44:23 BST