Re: [Mellotronists] Tron and eBay (Caveat Emptor) Prices
2003-06-26 by Jerry Korb
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. _________________________________________________ > 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." _____________________________________________________________ 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)