Posting eBay auction links: what's your opinion?

[AKScott]

I went with "depends/ circumstances"

Fakes and so on, I would like to see. Say someone sees a - a - a sgian, and the seller claims it belonged to King Aurthur, but one of our very knowledgeable members can tell it was made about the time of George the 8th (I am making this up), well, great, educational, I wasn't going to bid on it anyway, but I'd learn a bit about antique sgians.

Really, if I wanted to shop on ebay I would be browsing ebay. If I know someone is looking for a thing and see it, I might send a PM.

Another side would be say I found an antique sgian, realyl liked the look of it, but no idea what it might be worth. I could see bidding say $100, maybe $200 - but I would want a second opinion from someone very knowledgable before I bid $500. Everyone's finances would dictate different numbers on that. If it is "really" worth $1000, I already bid $200, maybe I might bid $500, maybe not.

As a bit of a forum hanger outer, if you don't like them, don't follow the links or don't open the threads. There is plenty of dreck on the internet, get over it.

[artificer]

I think it is a good thing.

I was an eBay vendor for four years and like to think that I know a bit of how it works.

It is an auction and if you didn't win it is because at that time, at that place, for that sale someone wanted the goods more than you did. If it is only worth £50 to you and someone else bids 60, you really can't get upset - they wanted it more. People call themselves, serious bidders, but truth be told, all they were after was a bargain and they themselves were part of the process of running up the price when they gave up.

At this moment an eBay search for 'kilt' brings up 30,274 separate sales. That is without searching for 'highland', Celtic, Scotland or Scottish. Who is going to sit down and post all those sales for us - nobody. But the odd sale, that rare tartan kilt, that unique jacket, a particularly fine kilt pin - there is nothing wrong with bringing those to the attention of the membership.

Because there is no cabal, no dark underclass, no necromancers waiting to pounce on the good sales and steal them away from us. Just people who want them more than we do.

Regards

Chas

Here, Here!
People always rage and rail against "snipers" but the simple fact is THEIR bid, in the end, was higher than yours.
I simply don't have time to trawl the entire world's ebay auctions, and I rarely bid on things, but I DO like to see them.

Can a posting boost up the price of something that an xmarks member was potentially interested in? probably, but with thousands of members spread all over the world, we're probably already in a bidding war with our fellow forumites anyway.

I went with "depends/ circumstances"

Fakes and so on, I would like to see. Say someone sees a - a - a sgian, and the seller claims it belonged to King Aurthur, but one of our very knowledgeable members can tell it was made about the time of George the 8th (I am making this up), well, great, educational, I wasn't going to bid on it anyway, but I'd learn a bit about antique sgians.

...

As a bit of a forum hanger outer, if you don't like them, don't follow the links or don't open the threads. There is plenty of dreck on the internet, get over it.

***,

Again, fakes especially should be brought to light. There is a lot of mis-(or DIS-) information out there, and unscrupulous (or clueless) vendors cash in.

The one area I feel somewhat reluctant about is the "questionable craftsperson" type listing. Usually a sporran, almost always road-kill, frequently looking like an extra from a Mary Shelley book.
I'll admit that I have occasionally partaken in a laugh or two and some odd pieces, but I think it is beneath us to trash the work of others, whether we know them or not.

ith: