25 Jan
2002
25 Jan
'02
12:54 p.m.
On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Jeff Hellige wrote:
It's up to the individual buyer/seller to do the
research ahead of
time and know what the item is actually worth and then decide what it
is worth to them individually.
True, the buyer and seller *should* do research. One common problem that
seems to occur are sellers attempting to mislead uneducated buyers. If
more buyers that used ebay knew the *true* market value of the goods being
sold, there would be alot less dishonesty on ebay as a whole.
The way I see it, eBay can't be compared to a
normal auction because
regular auctions don't allow open bidding, with the bid available for
all to see, for a week or more. Closed-bid auctions do, but that's a
totally different animal. You've got to be a fool to place a bid on
something at the beginning of a 9 day auction on eBay and think you're
going to get it.
I attend live auctions on a regular basis, and there is no comparison
between a true live auction and ebay's twisted definition of auction.
During a live auction, you get to interact with other potential buyers,
make some friends, and even trade a few items along the way. You can
observe the way others bid, such as body language when someone is really
interested in an item or just has a slight interest. A live auction has a
time limit on an item. I have seen two bidders bid on an item for 5
minutes or so, but this is rare and tends to annoy the auctioneers and
other buyers. Most bids are placed and over in a matter of seconds. Ebay
is so different from a true live auction, that I really don't see how ebay
can call the sales it hosts "auctions".
-Toth