Fred, I understand your point, and would tend to agree
that I do not like playing games, but the fact is that
this tactic works, and it is all bidding psycology
101. If you set the starting bid high either on the
auction block or in an Internet ad, you automatically
loose some bidders who justifiably are looking to
steal something rather than buy something. It is why
lots of people play the lottery,....or bid at
auctions. They want the unbelievable bargain! Once a
bidder's feet are wet, it is much easier to stay in
and ultimately pay a fair price for something, but
that will never happen if he never jumps in. Without
multiple bidders, an auction is a flop.
I've done a little auctioneering, so that is my
experience, but I do understand the sentement of "tell
me what you want, don't make me guess". I guess
that's what you get in the classifieds...
Roadster content: That was a nice roadster for the
price...sorry if it was wrecked, or whatever.
Mike Harper
'66 1600
Charleston SC
--- Fred_Katz@ci.sf.ca.us wrote:
> This is a dumb question, but why the need for
> reserve auctions?
>
> Let's say you want a minimum of $3000, then why not
> just start the auction
> at a starting price of $3000 and go from there? Why
> all this B.S. of
> starting at some ridiculously low price and force
> the bidders into bidding
> repeatedly to search for the reserve price? I don't
> understand it, so I try
> to stay away from reserve auctions.
>
> Fred - So.SF
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