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Shady Lane Retailers, Manufacturers, ePay, AudiogoN, Paypal or whatever. Buying and selling advice. |
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Shady Lane Retailers, Manufacturers, ePay, AudiogoN, Paypal or whatever. Buying and selling advice. |
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In Reply to: another ebay con posted by targetrich on October 28, 2004 at 14:08:21:
shrill bidding is when a seller bids up his own auction.think about it this way:
case 1. joe is looking to get $1000 for the thing he's selling. he sets his auction with a starting price of $1000. you bid $1000 and you win it.
case 2. joe is looking to get $1000 for the thing he's selling. he sets his auction with a starting price of $100. you bid $700. joe shrill bids $800. you bid $900. joe shrill bids $999. you bid $1100 and the auction closes at $1000 (minimum increment over the next highest bid, joe's).
throw in as a freebie for this discussion, case 3. joe is looking to get $1000 for the thing he's selling. he sets his auction with a starting price of $1000 and a reserve of $1000. you bid $700. you're high bidder, but joe's not obligtaed to sell. you bid $800. again, you're the high bidder, but again joe's not obligated to sell. finally you bid $1000, hit reserve, and the auction closes at $1000.
big auction houses like christies do allow shrill bidding ... but only to a certain point disclosed to the auction house (essentially this is the idea of a reserve price that allows for some activity below the reserve to generate bidding heat for the seller). the idea is that joe should be allowed to shrill bid to the $1000 he wants to get, but if the auction starts going crazy and climbs up to $1500 (beyond joe's dreams), then joe shouldn't be able to interfere. in other words, a preset threshhold set by the seller is legitimate, it preserves the principal that an auction is to pit bidders against each other, not to get the highest absolute price possible.
i should note, though, that ebay doesn't quite work like a christie's auction. ebay allows you to set your *maximum* buying price as a bidder, not just bid in increments against the last guy. that's why shrill bidding would be wrong in ebay's system. it allows the seller to push up the price to hit a bidder's absolute highest price as opposed to a price one increment higher than the next guy.
that your seller set the opening price really low to begin with suggests he really wanted something higher in the first place. he's just getting himself to that point by the shrill bidding method. if he continues shrill bidding beyond the "right" price for the goods, then he's being greedy. but i tend to think that if you're going to sulk about losing out on getting speakers for some bargain below-market price, than you're being unrealistic.
if the auction ends in the price you and he are ultimately okay with, how can you be unhappy. if you don't like the guy's methods for getting you and him there, then don't buy from him. an ebay auction is not supposed to work that way, but all these things (whether they be shrill bidding or overreaching "shipping and handling" charges) are just means to an end in any marketplace. bottom-feeders abound on the selling and buying sides. you just have to weigh how much you value getting the goods and how much you can overlook the practice of who you're buying from.
"HO, HO, HO!" - Santa Claus
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Follow Ups
- shrill bidding not always a con - TA 19:00:02 10/28/04 (1)
- On Ebay it is. - eungkim67 23:06:15 11/08/04 (0)
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