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

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Thornton" <fnarf at comcast.net>
>> > 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<snip>
>> 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.
>>
But that is the ORIGINAL way that auctions worked...and NOTHING
like e-wotsit!!
>> 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.
>>
Which is the way "auction lists" work...and are SUPPOSED TO! They
assume their bidders have an idea what the records in question are worth
more or less...so the "winner" usually either has more "spendin' cash" than
the others (a bitter reality of a capitalist economy)...or simply wants to
spend more of his/her/its money on the particular phonorecord!
>
> The nice thing about Ebay is, it only raises you to the amount necessary 
> to
> beat the other bidders. So if you bid $20, but no one else goes over $5, 
> you
> win it with $5.50.
>
This assumes that some digitally-aware (otherwise UNaware?!) competitor
isn't lurking in the digital "hinterlands" with his/her/its Autosnipe v9.11 
ready
to enter "your bid + minimum increase" nine microseconds before the end
of this sale!

Call me "old" (I'll admit to that), and "out of touch with life in the 21st
century" (probably true, but mainly due to poverty!!)...but my limited
experience with eWotsit has been extremely discouraging! Fortunately,
I'm looking for 78's in large groups rather than individually...?!

...stevenc