P3D Re: Auctions

[wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bob Wier)]

>This is, in fact, the purpose of auctions.  If it were not for this effect,
>people would simply set a price for items and sell it to the first person
>willing to pay the price.  The purpose of an auction, on-line or live, is
>to goad people into paying more than they otherwise might for an item by
>pitting them against one another.  Obviously, it's pretty effective, or it
>wouldn't be used so much.  Our desire to possess something is only equalled
>by our desire to prevent someone else from getting it.

One other purpose of auctions is to sell items where the value is
not readily known to the seller (one of a kind or "thinly traded" stuff as they
say in the stock market). Of course one of the nice things about e-bay is that
you can search back auctions for an item and see what similar things have sold
for in the past so you can get a general idea of what you are likely to see on
prices again.

As usual this has both positive and negative impacts. It seems to me that on
some items (such as stereoviews) that prices are starting to level out a bit,
and you don't see things like $25 put on color litho views which are common,
as you used to see in antique shops. On the other hand, you don't see the real
bargains so much, either...

THANKS

              Bob Wier
     mailto:wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
   3:08 PM Monday, October 26, 1998
        Unix/Internet Administrator
   Rocky Mountain College, Billings MT.
 keeper of the Photo-3d and Overland-Trails
mailing lists and the USA GPS Waypoint server



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