[geeks] eBay question

[Phil Stracchino]

Dan Sikorski wrote:
> Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> I agree it is not fraudulent.  However, I still feel it is deceptive.
>> It amounts to advertising something for sale at a starting price you
>> know up front you have no intention of ever honoring, while concealing
>> that fact from the buyer.
> The seller is not concealing that fact from the buyer.  Every reserve 
> price auction indicates very clearly that it has a reserve price.  The 
> only thing concealed is the actual reserve amount.

That's not entirely true.  There is, I think, a way to list that an
auction has a reserve, but I think I've only ever seen about two or
three auctions that stated up front there was a reserve.  Barring that,
you have no way to know that there is a reserve until you or someone
else bids, and even then, you have no way to know what the reserve is
until and unless someone bids above the [unknown] reserve.

> If you understand the auction process, it's not deceptive.  If you don't 
> understand the process, you probably should not bid.

I think you're missing what I'm saying.

Yes, you are immediately notified on the first bid that there is a
reserve.  You have no way to know what it is, and you cannot know up
front before making that first bid that there is a reserve at all,
unless the seller declares it up front.  On an auction with a hidden
reserve, there is no way to know what the REAL minimum bid that will be
accepted is, short of just bidding the price up until it tells you the
reserve has been met.

It is not LEGALLY deceptive, no.  In the real world, though, I maintain
that it IS deceptive, because you're *saying* up front "I will entertain
bids on this item starting at $10", when you actually MEAN "except that
bids under $500 don't count."  By posting an item with a secret reserve
price, you are lying about what minimum bid you will accept.  It's just
that in the auction world, this particular "little white lie" has become
accepted as "business as usual".



And as previously discussed, that's why any time I look at an auction
for an item and it says "Reserve not met", that's the last time I will
ever look at that item.  What's more, there is no way to tell eBay "Only
show me listings without a reserve".  If there was, I'd turn that
preference on and never turn it off again.  (Which is probably why eBay
does not offer it, and why they probably never will).


-- 
        Phil Stracchino                CDK#2
 Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
 phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net   alaric at caerllewys.net
 Landline: 603-429-0220           Mobile: 603-320-5438
        It's not the years, it's the mileage.