Hi Chuck:
Not confusing in the least IMO. I'm afraid you're comparing apples to kumquats.
As a seller, you are, as we've already said, entitled to promote your items as you see fit - no problem there. That's Commerce.
"First in" gets the Lion's share of the spoils.... Timing is everything....
Of course there are all sorts of folks who will then put their "rare widget" on eBay right after seeing the very same widget go for big bucks. Witness the recent mini-spate of "me too" $1000 Cambio Corsas and Bivalent hubs/wheels. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say. Nothing wrong with that; it's just smart business. In today's Economy, a little profit-taking shouldn't surprise anyone. We all want to "hit the jackpot" on eBay as sellers, and "find the buried treasure" as buyers. It's human nature. In fact, if I put my collector's/buyer's hat on, I'm glad that some of these relatively rare items are being flushed out into the open due to our current Economic "deep doo-doo." As a seller, I'm glad that there are enough buyers for the "nice stuff" that are still out there and active during a Global Recession to keep things humming along.
Naturally, the newfound "supply" of said widget will generally (but not always! Ya gotta love eBay) command somewhat lower prices - that's Economics 101 - the Law of Supply and Demand! Fewer buyers chasing more goods. IMO, there aren't thousands of people searching for a nice Cambio Corsa setup on eBay.... We live in a *very* small niche as CR listmembers. (As an aside, this is one of the reasons why reputation and trust are critical for us as sellers & buyers).
What exactly does this have to do with what we were discussing, i.e. the request to not "out" neat eBay stuff until after the auction ends to satisfy "educational purposes" without driving prices up?
Regards,
Greg Parker A2 MI USA
>
> Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2002 12:19:26 -0700
> From: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
> Reply-To: chuckschmidt@earthlink.net
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR] Dead Horse? It's eBay: Deal with it!
>
> GPVB1@cs.com wrote:
> >
> (cut)
> >Let's stop and reflect for a moment: in our little corner of the (eBay)
> >world, the CR list is collectively immensely knowledgeable, and knowledge
> is
> >power. We are, by promoting others' current items on eBay to our 700+
> member
> >base, whether we like it or not, singlehandedly driving up profits for
> eBay
> >and it's sellers of vintage lightweight bicycles and components.
>
> I'm a buyer and a seller on eBay!?!? Now what?
>
> More to the point: I have seen plenty of instances where the first time
> a rare item shows up it goes for lots of money. Guys see that and then
> decide to offer theirs since it's worth so much. The next ones goes for
> a little less and the one after that for even less...
>
> Yikes... driving the prices DOWN for me the buyer (or me the seller).
> Confusing, no?
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> SoPas, SoCal