On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 00:24:27 +0100, Mark wrote:

People on Ebay will quite cheerfully buy anything you would wish to
sell - a picture works a treat - folks want to see what they are
buying as anyone would.

Reserves are all well and good but annoying as it rather negates any
sense of getting a bargain. If it's worth a tenner then the chances
are it will sell for a tenner. Apart from the odd items I start all
my auctions at a pound and take a chance. Nevermind bidding it's as
exciting taking the chance someone will bid your item to it's true
value. :-)

Actually, the economic definition of value is "what buyers are
willing to pay", with some supplementary guff about willingness,
being informed, adequate market exposure, etc. Ebay is probably
the purest free market around in this sense.

Unhappiness emerges when someone thinks their goods are worth
more than what the rest of the world thinks. But what the seller
thinks a thing's worth is not its economic value...

I sometimes have suspected that ebay auctions with a low starting
bid and no reserve tend to reach a higher final price level than
those with higher starting bids and/or reserve amounts.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada