Auction Houses and blind bidding

[Matthew H]

Paul,

It's not true that all you need is a credit card to register at an AH, some are like that, but not all. When I registered for Lew Lipsets auction I filled out the forms and gave my hobby references. After all that he still called me and asked about me and what I saw in his auction that I liked. After he felt comfortable, he registered me.

That goes leaps and bounds exponentially over anything eBay will ever do. They don't care or have the time to care.

Originally Posted by Matthew H

Paul,

It's not true that all you need is a credit card to register at an AH, some are like that, but not all. When I registered for Lew Lipsets auction I filled out the forms and gave my hobby references. After all that he still called me and asked about me and what I saw in his auction that I liked. After he felt comfortable, he registered me.

That goes leaps and bounds exponentially over anything eBay will ever do. They don't care or have the time to care.

I would love to see the major AHs start adopting this process. That would be a small step in the right direction IMO. Making it more serious business to get an account is definitely something that would deter nefarious behavior.

But having a fail-safe should something go wrong is equally important, and from what I've seen AHs have none of the sort ... just look at their accepted forms of payment and that says it all.

[Mrvintage]

Don't you think that Ebay accepting paypal only is more about the fact of them owning paypal than it is protection for the buyers? They used to allow you to pay for Ebay items with a check or money order........until they bought paypal.......and I would be interested to hear your thoughts about Ebay is safer if one person can open up to 500 accounts with them. I personally know people that have been kicked off of Ebay multiple times for not paying for items or not sending items and they simply just open another account.......What difference does transparency make when all of the bids coming in from different accounts could really be the same person?