timn1 |
02-27-2013 05:31 PM |
I think it's unrealistic to complain about outing auctions
...if (as I'm sure was the case here) the outing party was not personally connected to the auction.
Sure, things slip through on ebay, and this might have done, given the vagueness of the listing.
But I think it's unrealistic and even absurd to complain that (quoting Jeff B from way back in the thread) outing defeats "an ebayer [who] through their own work has uncovered something listed either poorly, erroneously or incorrectly so that it may be able to be obtained at a significantly lower price"
In the first place, the person doing the outing has obviously done the homework of uncovering the item. But rather than selfishly keeping it to himself and trying to win it for a steal, he may be doing the hobby a service in calling other collectors' attention to it.
If an item like this isn't outed, someone might get lucky and steal it, but nobody "deserves" to get that outcome. That's their good fortune, but it's hardly a right that can be violated by outing. I would argue instead that it's more important to the health of the hobby that sellers of valuable items should rely on being able to get reasonable market value for them, and they should not have to endure a conspiracy of silence among collectors seeking to prevent that outcome for selfish reasons.
I also think it's absurd to claim that the selling price of an item that is outed will somehow sprout wings and fly to the moon BEYOND ITS ACTUAL MARKET VALUE. Sure, it will go higher than if it weren't outed, but why would it go beyond its legitimate market value?
This is, after all, a public board about vintage BB cards. It seems to me that any publicly available information (i.e. an auction listed on ebay) about that topic is totally legitimate, especially if it's likely to be of interest to a significant number of people (whether they compete for it or not).
|