Quote:
Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig
So when at least 2 people throw higher bids towards a more trusted seller's items does that make that item more "valuable"? Something is worth what someone is willing to pay correct? So then the trusted seller's item is worth more, at least to the 2 bidders, than an identical item from an unknown ebay seller?
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It may not make sense on every item, but for those items where there are possible fakes or frauds floating around, it does make sense to bid more aggressively with a seller you know doesn't sell such items. There are plenty of situations where a collector will bid on an item with something less than 100% certainty that it's legit, and as that percentage decreases, so does the amount of money they are willing to risk on something that
could be a fake. If his certainty is 100% with a knowledgable and reputable dealer, then that dealer is going to get the collector's top-dollar price.
Same thing goes for undisclosed flaws or damage. If you know that a particular seller takes great pains to describe and photograph an item from every angle and doesn't shy away from any flaws, you can have more confidence in throwing down that top-dollar price than if you have to factor in possible hidden damage not accounted for in another seller's fuzzy photos and "looks good for its age" description.
Whether they do it consciously or not, doubt is always a factor in a buyer's calculation of how much they're willing to spend. Remove that factor from the equation by way of a seller's good reputation or previous positive experience, and the willing-to-spend level will increase accordingly.
Take Henry Yee for example (who others have cited above): His knowledge and expertise with photographs is well-known, and is always reflected in his prices realized for those items in his auctions. That is to be expected. There were a number of non-photograph items in his last auction though that brought prices far above the norm, which led to several questions of "why" on this board, and to my knowledge, his overall good reputation was the only conclusion that could be reached.