Posted By:
Ryan ChristoffAdam,
How would secret e-mail bids help provide an alternative to the absurd anonymous bid history ebay has recently implemented? I thought part of the reason for these auctions was to offer an alternative to ebay. That sounds like more of the same to me. If these auctions use secret e-mail bids I bet we'll see half the threads on this forum become about who was the underbidder on this lot someone won.
The alternative of having fully transparent auctions where the bid history and bidder names are all visible also has problems. I can see some nice resentments started by people getting outbid on cards they need. "How dare you outbid me on that card when you know I need it for my set!!!"
I think the potential exists for this to be fairly disruptive (or worse) to the board itself. My prediction is that we will have several regular board members leaving when they are outbid a few times.
If people aren't willing to openly outbid their friends it will lead to a dramatic decrease in price compared to a major auction house where someone might feel free to bid on a item with no concern for stepping on someone's toes.
Having net54 auctions might be fine. I can also see how it could be very bad. I'll support the board either way, but those are just a few of the many things that concern me with the idea of having full-blown auctions on the board.
My vote is for the idea Max had about the fact that anyone can already do an auction and set up their own rules (providing they don't conflict with the established net54 rules) in the BST.
-Ryan