Quote:
Originally Posted by T206Collector
What I am trying to say is that an "auction setting" is really no different than a BIN setting when you assume that there is the potential for shill bidding.
To imagine a world where the shiller is eliminated and the price drops down by $50 is the same thing as imagining a world where a seller places his listing price $50 less than he was willing to sell something for. Stated another way, if you told the shiller up front that he was going to get caught and prosecuted, he would either list his item at the higher price and list it with a higher reserve or minimum starting bid. The fantasy of a world where shilling doesn't exist and markets-clear prices are realized doesn't exist, least of all on eBay.
The reverse is also true. If you had a used car that you wanted to sell for $1,000, and a guy saw it and bought it for that price, you'd be happy, right? But, what if he recognized that your car had really rare features, and he flipped it immediately for $100,000? Of course the buyer would have wanted to get more than $1,000 for it in that case. But there is no mechanism for getting any more money to the buyer. The buyer was happy at his price point, as was the seller, but for different reasons. That certainly doesn't make speculating as a buyer illegal or immoral.
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I understand what you are saying, and I think we are discussing the economic theory of what would happen if there was no shilling. We can theorize, but I don't think we can truly say. I could just as well argue that the $100 BIN, that may have been shilled up to $100 in an auction setting, might not cause a $50 BIN without shilling, but it
might produce a $75 BIN, which is still better than being shilled for $100.
The end result might be no different (which we can only speculate on), but the method to get there
is different. An auction is different than a BIN because they are different contracts, with different risks / rewards borne different parties.
Again my real point and the reason for my scenario is the argument by some, that as long as you get an item within what you bid, it doesn't matter that the market price
might have been less (sans shilling).
04-30-2014, 12:16 PM
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