Mellotronists

Don Tillman wrote:

> I don't think it's reasonable to draw conclusions from eBay prices.
>
> Auctions naturally show high prices because the whole point of an
> auction is to take advantage of a bidding frenzy.  And when you have
> eBay's features like hidden reserves and the ability to spoof bids,
> you're going to see a lot of unrealistically high prices.
> ______________________________________________________________

Greetings Don and Everybody,

I'm no "expert" on eBay, but I have seen lots of chicanery
in my almost six years as registered user. Prices on eBay
are basically a target-shoot at best. But a small percentage
of sellers feel they can control prices and get their
thrills with unbelievable/unrealistic reserves.

For example, I've seen identical items sold by different
people listed anywhere from $5 to $150 each.
And some "auctions" are highly-staged with associates
shill-bidding(illegal on eBay) to bump-up prices even more.
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> Further, any situation where the cost of presenting the item for sale
> is zero or near zero, there's a great inducement to float a high price
> for an item with attitude of, "hell, maybe somebody will pay this
> extra high price and I'll win big.  It costs me nothing to try."

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The classic scenario "start high,then lower as needed."
The buyers themselves will decide ultimately.
eBay started operations around 1996,and got really
popular around 1997. For the most part,transactions
are equitable. Some excellent deals can be found,
unfortunately not for Trons these days on eBay.
_________________________________________________

> The items you mention never actually sold, right?  I would only base
> conclusions about price on actual sales.    -- Don

______________________________________________________________

Has anybody on our Tron List printed/saved all prev.
Mellotron eBay auctions and kept track of prices?
Would be interesting to see.........

Cheers, Jerry Korb  (reserve not met)