[78-L] Auctions vs. "Make offer"

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Taylor Bowie" <bowiebks at isomedia.com>
>> Here I beg to differ! I grew up in central Illinois, and during the early
>> 70's
>> I attended a "farm auction" virtually every week-end. These are/were 
>> "real
>> auctions," and the winning high bidder paid whatever his winning bid was!
>> At one in particular, there was a 1938 State Farm road atlas which I
>> really
>> wanted...so when it came up I bid ten bucks right off the top! Nobody
>> wanted to beat that (or they figured there was no point in trying to
>> out-bid
>> me?!)...so I bought it for my $10!
>> ...stevenc
> Right,  Steve,  but the difference there was that you the bidder got to 
> set
> your own  terms while also being privy to what the other bidders were 
> doing.
> So if you wanted to bid $20 when the last bid was $5 to shut it down and
> scare off other bidders,  you could do that.
> Not the same as a paper "auction/make offer sale"  where you have no idea
> what the other bidders are doing.  In the latter case you might bid $20 in
> hopes of winning,  but you have no idea if the other bid is $25,  $15,  or 
> a
> buck.
>
Well, here you are confusing the mass-stupidity of eWotsit with an 
"auction!"
Trying to win anything on the former means that you are battling 
"auto-snipe"
programs, digitally set up to place the high bid about twelve microseconds
before the deadline; the problem here (for bidders) is that these programs
assume their owner's computer clock is perfectly accurate (VERY rare!)!

OTOH, "auction lists" (for the most part) allow bidders to make ONE
bid (a very few will tell buyers if they are high-bid and allow them another
shot...?!)...with the hopes that one is the high, winning bid on the record
in question! I used to submit what I called "shotgun bids"...bids I knew
were well below the value (and thus the probable high bid) of the disc...
but maybe 5% of the time nobody else bid, so I bought the record for
cheap! Most of the time, I am/was bidding on "list fillers"...records
that nobody else wanted (i.e. Venetian Trio discs)...and bid just over
the list minimum, just in case some "Joe Gabroni" submitted a whole
bunch of minimum-bid offers!

I'm still happily buying "job lots" of otherwise-homeless 78's...many
hundred up to a few thousand...whenever I can afford them (like $100
on down!)...just to see how many of the former fill gaps in my goal
of  "EF78REM" (actually, DATA thereon!). The result so far seems
to be a half-vast accumulation of 78's I shall NEVER live to play
(particularly since my "create a 78 deck" project has become a MAJOR
challenge!)...and might not enjoy if I COULD play the dommed things!

This is what happens when Asperger's Syndrome turns one into an
obsessive-compulsive data fanatic who regards ANY and EVERY
gap in a listing of wotever as a challenge, which MUST be filled!!!

Oh, BTW...I DO own a LOT of 78's I really wish I could play...I'm
currently going through Victor 16548 to 17663, and I would say
about every third or fourth record in this bunch is one I'd REALLY
like to hear! However, I'm expecting my US Social Security money
anytime soon...and this will give me that bit of extra "spendin' cash"
needed to cover expenses and get stuff done properly...?!

And I will STILL gladly accept any/all unwanted/un-needed/usw
78rpm phonorecords...IF there is any affordable way to get same
to Oshawa, Ont'o., Canada (or DL's US address, if postal-mailed!)

However, my interest in 78's drops drastically as their age decreases;
there were probably about a million 78's issued between 1946 and
1958, and other than the blues & hillbilly records, almost ALL of
these are drifting into a WELL-deserved obscurity!!

Comment ca va?!

...stevenc