OT? Yahoo Free Listing Day

From: Tothwolf <tothwolf_at_concentric.net>
Date: Wed Jan 23 07:15:05 2002

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Russ Blakeman wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Tothwolf wrote:
>
> > I used to buy *tons* of stuff at local auctions. Lately, there have
> > been a few idiots who show up at the local auctions and proceed to
> > bid up items higher than they are worth, and then try to resell their
> > "wins" on ebay. Often the items are either big and heavy or
> > nonworking.
>
> We've had a local auction problem lately here too, seems that a few of
> the local auctioneers have hired professional shills to come in as
> regular bidders and they bid crazily to get the people in the bunch
> wound up and into bidding to get the thing going, then they sort of
> disappear before the very end when it's 2 to 3 times more than it
> normally would have gone for, especially on industrial items, stuff
> from belly-up businesses and farm machinery. Where else would a 1948
> Ferguson Ford 9n tractor in fair shape go for nearly $10k where they
> used to get around $5k in way better shape. You have a hard time
> openly selling one for $7500

I know the auctioneers who handle the local auctions I mentioned, so I
somewhat doubt they are hiring anyone to bid up items. The places that own
the equipment being auctioned off could be trying to pull a fast one tho.
I'm still more inclined to think it's just a case of some people
unfamiliar with auctions and resale in general thinking they can make a
fortune on ebay.

-Toth
Received on Wed Jan 23 2002 - 07:15:05 GMT