"Reserve" auctions
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:11 pm
Something that has ticked me off since the invention of the on line auction is the "RESERVE" auction format. It's like the seller wants to play games and suck you into bidding till you meet the reserve. If it's an item I really want I might bid AT THE END of the auction to the dollar amount I'm willing to pay for it but that's it. Lots of times I see it's a reserve and figure it's a butthole dealer playing his games so I don't even bother with it. Move on to somebody that actually wants to SELL his stuff. When I list something on an auction I list it with the starting bid being the least I plan on taking for it. That way nobody is sucked into anything. It's all right there in front of them and if they're willing to pay what I believe it's worth then everybody knows what's what and all the cards are on the table, so to speak.
I see the same items on Gunbroker for 6 months - up to a year with the same dumb 'reserve' game being played. "TTP" has had a lightweight 202 on the auction for at least 2 years! He has the 'buy it now' price displayed but the 'reserve' is always in every auction. I suspect his reserve is the buy it now.. All his prices are plumb nuts in the first place.. When you see that over an extended time period it leaves you to think that either the dealer is so inept at managing his inventory that he's taking a bath on the item by tying up his money in it that long. Or he's simply so big that he doesn't care and if he can screw somebody once in a while it'll work for him. Either way he can go screw himself as far as I'm concerned!
One more thing. Little off the above rant but it's in the ballpark. We debate the prices they 'think' these guns are worth on a regular basis. TTP has had this lightweight 202 243 on GB for years now at a buy it now of $2199. NOBODY has bought it in several years. My point is the new Sauers are going to run twice that or in the case of the takedown model 2.5 times that? Who in the hell do they think they're selling to? I'm not saying they won't sell any because there is always some idiot out there who thinks the more he pays for something the better it must be... But those folks don't come out of the woods very often. Sauer is in for a rude awakening with their prices being jacked through the roof.
I see the same items on Gunbroker for 6 months - up to a year with the same dumb 'reserve' game being played. "TTP" has had a lightweight 202 on the auction for at least 2 years! He has the 'buy it now' price displayed but the 'reserve' is always in every auction. I suspect his reserve is the buy it now.. All his prices are plumb nuts in the first place.. When you see that over an extended time period it leaves you to think that either the dealer is so inept at managing his inventory that he's taking a bath on the item by tying up his money in it that long. Or he's simply so big that he doesn't care and if he can screw somebody once in a while it'll work for him. Either way he can go screw himself as far as I'm concerned!
One more thing. Little off the above rant but it's in the ballpark. We debate the prices they 'think' these guns are worth on a regular basis. TTP has had this lightweight 202 243 on GB for years now at a buy it now of $2199. NOBODY has bought it in several years. My point is the new Sauers are going to run twice that or in the case of the takedown model 2.5 times that? Who in the hell do they think they're selling to? I'm not saying they won't sell any because there is always some idiot out there who thinks the more he pays for something the better it must be... But those folks don't come out of the woods very often. Sauer is in for a rude awakening with their prices being jacked through the roof.
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