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					Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth  It has always seemed to me that if a consignor only wants to sell at a certain minimum price, the simplest and most direct way to achieve that is to start the bidding there.  But nobody ever seems to want to do that. | 
	
 I assume it's a psychological ploy to start below the minimum price because it will entice people to believe that they can 'get a deal.'
That way, you get a handful of bidders who've put in a bid below the minimum, and now they're all emotionally invested in the item... which leads to bidding wars and a final price above the minimum.
Just starting at the minimum price will induce less action, and just have people going, "Yeah, that's market value. Not exciting/I can find that elsewhere."
I'm in favor of just starting bidding at the minimum acceptable price for the seller. Weed out some of the drama. But, people love drama.