Has ebay created insanity?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mitt

Would it be appropriate, and feasible, to auction an item on the BST? I see it as something of a "closed bid" auction where an item would be posted/described and a time frame given where bids will be accepted. Interested parties would email their top bid to the seller and the highest bid wins the item at completion. Obviously, some underhanded things could happen. Since it is "closed", the seller could bypass a top bid and sell to a friend instead, alert a potential bidder of the current high bid so he could top it, or decide at its conclusion that the bids didn't go high enough and hold on to the item. I suppose members could post their bids on net54 for all to see; one reply must top the prior. Leon, is this something you'd give your blessing to?

First of all I would have to say it is Caveat Emptor over there. That being said I do think an auction can be done, and as my good friend Rich K. alluded too, I have already done it. I had decent luck at it too. There has to be a ton of trust on the bidders parts and clear, up front communication on the sellers part. There were 4-5 bidders on the card I auctioned and I think it went very smoothly....with someone hitting a Buy It Now (it was always there) after several days into the auction. I am not sure I totally condone it as it's so risky (with issues in general)....All of that being said if you lay everything out on the table (whatever your rules will be) then I don't have a problem with it. It was also done one other time when a friend auctioned a fairly high valued item off...and as far as I know that too went fine. If someone does one I don't want to hear there was a problem and can I help, because I can't force anyone to do anything. Regular governmental laws prevail. Also if a deal gets totally messed up I might not let those individuals do another BST auction, depending on the situation. best regards