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Posted By: Paul

For what it's worth, I'm with Scott on this one. Many businesses give special treatment of one kind or another to customers with a proven track record of buying in quantity and paying for it. I see Jay's point, that a bidder with special credit terms can theoretically bid a little higher than a competitor who must pay promptly. But I just don't see that as a major problem, especially if the credit is for just a couple of weeks (until the ebay auction closes). Payment terms are generally set for the lowest common denominator (non-paying scum) and it just doesn't offend me that a seller would offer better terms when he knows there is little or no risk.

There are lots of other ways businesses can give special treatment to good customers that can cause even greater distortions in the bidding. For example, I would bet that if you were a long time customer of Bill Mastro or Josh Evans, and they knew that you had been looking for a Just So card for years, they would probably let you know that they would be selling one in an upcoming auction, long before the catalog was mailed. This gives the customer a big advantage. He can save his money for the Just So, while potential competitors are wasting their money on Yum Yums. I know this is anything but a perfect analogy, but I think it helps to show that a perfectly level playing field is almost impossible to achieve.