18 Aug
1998
18 Aug
'98
11:29 p.m.
On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, Markus Blumrich wrote:
Perhaps the Altair's ACTUAL (=in his head) reserve
is considerably less than
$10000 and the person is simply trying to avoid the Final Value Fee.
<G>But is this ethical?
There are *many* ways to avoid paying fees on ebay. Their collection rate
is reportedly low, but they make it up in volume.
This particular method can backfire on the seller. Bidders generally
don't like reserve auctions, so they don't bid, and the seller gets
a lower price than he would have without a reserve. This game, and many
other games, are part of the online auction appeal.
BTW, In my opinion there doesn't exist a single
set of principals which
would allow one to judge an action as ethical or unethical.
Time for me to thump the bible! Please see the ClassicCmp FAQ:
http://www.yowza.com/classiccmp/faq.txt
No philosophy allowed here :-)
ObCC: Supposedly, MITS came out with a hobbyist machine a couple of years
before the Altair called the MITS 816. I haven't found much info about
it. Is it real?
-- Doug