[geeks] eBay question

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:15:29 -0400
Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote:

> Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> > On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 11:22:51 +0300
> > "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com> wrote:
> > 
> >> On Wed, Sep 05, 2007 at 01:57:48AM -0500, Bill Bradford wrote:
> >>> If you don't like the seller's terms, don't bid.
> >> But what are the sellers terms? He advertises a minimum bid he has no
> >> intention of honoring.  That is IMHO false advertisement.
> > 
> > You are completely misunderstanding what a minimum bid is.
> > 
> > It is not the "lowest price the seller will accept", it is simply the
> > starting bid of the auction.  All auctions start the bidding at some price
> > level.  In a live auction, the auctioneer will speak, "Let's start
> > bidding at $10, do I hear $10?"
> > 
> > He isn't saying they will accept $10, he's just getting the ball rolling.
> 
> And, in fact, the auctioneer will *lower* the first bid if there's no 
> interest.

Geoff (and others) should go to some agricultural sales some time for a good
education in how auctions are used.

The first few auctions often are used to set the market prices for that
season.




-- 
shannon /  Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the
-------'   range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime
literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express
it. -- 1984, Orwell