I just noticed a interesting auction. The seller states that his item is listed on both Audiogon and Ebay. And which ever site gets the highest bid, wins. Maybe its just me, but I am hoping he gets no bids on either site.
It's just you. The seller is just trying to get the best price. I can't see any problem with this. If you really want it enter your bid on both websites.
It does seem odd to have two auctions on the same item. I'd be dissappointed if I was the winner on the one auction that comes out lower priced than the other auction. At least the seller is up front about it.
Arthur makes a good point. Although with dislosure I suppose a really excited bider can at least monitor both sites. Pay closest attention to the one closing at the later time.
I, for one, would much rather use Audiogon auctions than Ebay. This could influence my decision.
A bigger question would be--does Audiogon and Ebay approve of this?
Me,I would look for the same item in the "used",here. Unless you think you can do better playing both ends against the middle---'Cause that's what the seller is doing.
Before jumping to any more conclusions, let's clear something up: Are both listings auctions, or is one of them a for-sale?
I assume that the listing on eBay is likely an auction, right? I mean, it could be a storefront "For Sale" item, but most likely it's an auction. If someone bids on the eBay auction and is the high bidder over any Reserve Price, then there is indeed a contract between the buyer and seller.
But is the Audiogon listing an Auction, or is it a For Sale? Big difference. If the Audiogon *auction* closes above any reserve price, then there is a contract to exchange, as well.
But you say that this item is "listed" in both places. What if it's an "auction" on eBay but a "For Sale" listing on Agon? No conflict, in that case. If there's an eBay win, the Agon listing can be cancelled. If it sells first on Agon, then the seller can cancel the eBay auction listing, although it's more difficult and a bit dubious to cancel any existing bids.
As a seller, I might certainly choose to *list* in multiple places, but I'd completely avoid running two different *auctions* concurrently. And I'd avoid buying from anyone who does this.
Pawlowski6132, not at all. Feel free to "play" me all you like. If I like your offer I'll sell to you, if I don't I won't.
People, what's so difficult about this: sellers are not obliged to sell and buyers and not obligated to buy. Go buy someone else's gear if you don't like this guy's tactic for getting a good price for his gear.
"That's BS! If I win an auction, I expect that item."
So bid on ebay and Audiogon and make sure you win it !
putting aside the question of fairness, i wonder who would be dumb enough to bid in the auction that ends first. in effect, the high bid in the auction ending first is merely the "stalking horse" bid for the auction ending second -- i.e., it merely serves to start the bidding for the "real" auction that ends later. from a buyer's standpoint, you wouldnt want to bid up the price in the non-binding first auction as it would create upward momentum in the bidding with no benefit to the high bidder.
An offer to sell at a certain price and an offer to buy at a certain price constitutes a contract in the most simple of terms.
Can anyone really imagine going to any auction anywhere, being the winning bidder and having the auctioneer say, oh sorry, we decided to sell it to someone else.
Fairly obvious, this is a bad precedent. It is most likely that the seller will be in violation to previously agreed upon rules and regulations of at least one host auctioneer's web site. As such, the seller is in all likelyhood not a person of his word, and can not be trusted. I discourage everyone from enabling this practice.
Pawlowski6132, the seller did highlight his tactics. There's nothing underhanded here, as it's clearly stated that the higher bid of the two sites wins.
If you don't like it then don't bid. Jeez it's only a piece of hifi equipment !
What seems even worse about this. On ebay it ends in a couple days, ends today here. On ebay it is a buy it now price. No reserve auction here. So if you win it here for less then the buy it now price on ebay, you have to wait 2 days to see if he has a better offer there. And he doesn't state anything on ebay about being listed on audiogon also. To me, this is bad business.
Someone ought to e-mail this thread to the seller, assuming he's not watching this thread, to give him a heads up. I'm curious if he would make a post of explanation. A penny for your thoughts double auctioneer.
Pawlowski6132, then we split the baby in halves. The first winner gets first choice of halves.....................Or does it now become a Dutch Auction?...............HHHMMM?
I guess that if you end both auctions early, you're not contractually bound to either auction. You can then cherry-pick the list of interested bidders to find the top acceptable offer.
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