Posted By: Art
HL Clearance BIN - 12/04/00 08:16 AM
Subtitled: How the Grinch Stole eBay
I can’t believe that there’s been no fog here for a month now. Well, just in time for the holidays, eBay launches their " Buy It Now " feature.
Excuse me, eBay sellers, but what’s the point? Quick sale? C’mon. You can’t wait a stinkin’ week to see where the price will go? This is a boon to the quick and early buyer, but is this an auction? No way. It’s a clearance sale.
IMNSHO, BIN robs eBay users of the thrill of the auction. It robs sellers of potential gains. It robs other potential bidders of any opportunity to bid on an item. And, when teamed up with naïve sellers (the ones who stand most to gain by letting an auction run its course), it’s dragging down the value of your collection in a way that GLOWs never even dreamed of. To wit: Assateague LE, Mold 2, BIN price: $85. Sanibel LE, BIN price: $79. Currituck, BIN price: $78. I have seen no BIN auction yet where the price has been even near the average for that piece for the last few months. As bad as it is for an auction price when an unsophisticated seller lists a piece with no reserve or a very low reserve and a low 1st bid, BIN is much worse in that it puts a limit on how high the auction can go. It appears that little of value is gained for this sacrifice, unless I’m missing something.
Don’t get me wrong. I have never sold a single HL. Not one. Ever. I don’t intend to either. I don’t use eBay frequently. I don’t even care much about the value of my collection, except that it gives me something else interesting to think and talk about. It’s a bonus mini-lesson in microeconomics that comes along free with collecting. My main problem with BIN is that destroys the auction mechanism. That mechanism, IMO, is one of the very best bellwethers of secondary market value available. Now eBay has gone and screwed with it. Granted, eBay doesn’t owe me a bellwether indicator, but I’d sure like some help in understanding who benefits from this gimmick.
The first bidder clearly wins, if the first bid meets the target of the seller. eBay may win by clearing server space more quickly. I fail to see any significant benefit to the seller. So since this BIN feature is a seller’s option, what’s motivating the sellers to use it at their own peril and to the detriment of the collecting community?
OK, maybe I’m given to hyperbole. Maybe BIN isn’t the end of the world, but this is the Fog Signal Building, and its been much too arid around here lately. Thank goodness for the fog. My hair was starting to get ‘flyaway’.
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-Art
[This message has been edited by Art (edited 12-04-2000).]
I can’t believe that there’s been no fog here for a month now. Well, just in time for the holidays, eBay launches their " Buy It Now " feature.
Excuse me, eBay sellers, but what’s the point? Quick sale? C’mon. You can’t wait a stinkin’ week to see where the price will go? This is a boon to the quick and early buyer, but is this an auction? No way. It’s a clearance sale.
IMNSHO, BIN robs eBay users of the thrill of the auction. It robs sellers of potential gains. It robs other potential bidders of any opportunity to bid on an item. And, when teamed up with naïve sellers (the ones who stand most to gain by letting an auction run its course), it’s dragging down the value of your collection in a way that GLOWs never even dreamed of. To wit: Assateague LE, Mold 2, BIN price: $85. Sanibel LE, BIN price: $79. Currituck, BIN price: $78. I have seen no BIN auction yet where the price has been even near the average for that piece for the last few months. As bad as it is for an auction price when an unsophisticated seller lists a piece with no reserve or a very low reserve and a low 1st bid, BIN is much worse in that it puts a limit on how high the auction can go. It appears that little of value is gained for this sacrifice, unless I’m missing something.
Don’t get me wrong. I have never sold a single HL. Not one. Ever. I don’t intend to either. I don’t use eBay frequently. I don’t even care much about the value of my collection, except that it gives me something else interesting to think and talk about. It’s a bonus mini-lesson in microeconomics that comes along free with collecting. My main problem with BIN is that destroys the auction mechanism. That mechanism, IMO, is one of the very best bellwethers of secondary market value available. Now eBay has gone and screwed with it. Granted, eBay doesn’t owe me a bellwether indicator, but I’d sure like some help in understanding who benefits from this gimmick.
The first bidder clearly wins, if the first bid meets the target of the seller. eBay may win by clearing server space more quickly. I fail to see any significant benefit to the seller. So since this BIN feature is a seller’s option, what’s motivating the sellers to use it at their own peril and to the detriment of the collecting community?
OK, maybe I’m given to hyperbole. Maybe BIN isn’t the end of the world, but this is the Fog Signal Building, and its been much too arid around here lately. Thank goodness for the fog. My hair was starting to get ‘flyaway’.
------------------
-Art
[This message has been edited by Art (edited 12-04-2000).]