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Posted
I wonder how low a bid could be made before the person feels insulted...

 

If he didn't want to sell, he wouldn't have listed it. If it doesn't sell again, email him and offer to buy at half his buy it now. Many times, that's the price a dealer probably paid (double his money = sale); from there you can negotiate a price that makes you both happy. Don't be afraid to play hardball.

 

Many times, I'll buy a motorcycle 4-6 weeks after Christmas (when the bills are coming due); I'll view the bike in the garage, then ask to get in out of the cold to talk money. Then, I'll drop about half the asking price IN SMALL BILLS on the kitchen table. 90% of the time the man's wife will tell him to sell it then and there! The worst they can say is "no"!

 

Greg

Posted

you capitalist pig dog exploiter of the weak!!

 

 

I'd been thinking of offering £60 but I really should be keeping my money to buy parts for my lachenal and ofcourse to buy an anglo...

Posted
you capitalist pig dog exploiter of the weak!!

 

To reply with famous quotes:

 

"Faint heart ne'er won fair lady"

"He who hesitates is lost"

"All's fair in love and war" (and motorcycles???)

 

You get the idea. When the gas station can charge $2.29 a gallon and the grocery wants $1.99 for a bottle of water (It falls from the sky, people! Buy a barrel and make your own! ) you expect ME to be a paragon of virtue and fair play????

 

One last quote:

 

"Nice guys finish last!"

 

Greg "Never pay retail" Knipe

Posted

He is, in effect, operating a Dutch auction, where the price falls until someone buys. Perhaps he doesn't like bidders seeing other bidders' bids, and this is a way of concealing it.

 

Being an economist who has studied auction theory, I can suggest that this should not be a method of auctioning likely to work to his advantage. Concealing information reduces "confidence" in the auction, which tends to reduce average outcome, but increase the disperson of outcomes. But then some people do seem to make a good living by selling things in ways that theoretically shouldn't work to their advantage. I have in mind door-to-door selling, auctioning cuts of meat at open air markets, having "closing down sales" the moment you open up, and sending out letters telling people they have won prizes in order to sell them magazine subscriptions or holiday time-shares.

Posted
]"No matter how little you paid, if what you got doesn't meet your needs, then you paid too much."

 

Point well taken...but I try to pay little enough that I can resell if I have to.

 

Greg

Posted

stephen : It was another thing I stumblled on whilst searching ebay.fr, don't even remember what I was searching for now but it wasn't elvis...

 

 

relcollect: "who dares wins" more power to you, but the exploitation of the married broken male has to be stopped. It's bad enough that he is impotent but to emasculate him further... :P

 

 

I just had a thought about cutting apron strings only to replace them with purse strings...

 

 

Ivan: I don't think this can be classed as a dutch auction. Even as a newcomer to the instrument, I have an idea of the price of the repairs needed from the description and that's without knowing the state of the reeds... I think this person saw a way to make a quick buck not realising that the price doesn't reflect the condition of the concertina.

Posted
Being an economist who has studied auction theory, I can suggest that this should not be a method of auctioning likely to work to his advantage.

And having bid in lots of auctions, both terrestrial and ethereal, it would be my experience that the more often an unsold item is re-offered for sale, the lower the bids it is likely to attract. :(

Posted
It started as a buynow at £299, then went down to £249, then £219 and ended at £199.

 

I was pretty sure it would be re-listed and here it is at £185.

I see that the description is now "Revised" and that the Buy it Now has dropped to £169.

 

And to think, I didn't even bother to buy these when they were £5.00 ... :rolleyes:

Posted
It started as a buynow at £299, then went down to £249, then £219 and ended at £199.

 

I was pretty sure it would be re-listed and here it is at £185.

I see that the description is now "Revised" and that the Buy it Now has dropped to £169.

And today it's down to £159.

 

Going, going ... down !

 

This really is turning into a Dutch auction. :huh:

Posted

I'm thinking somebody saw a few vintage concertinas go for a good price on ebay and picked up some thinking he was going to turn a healthy profit off them.

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR.

Posted
It started as a buynow at £299, then went down to £249, then £219 and ended at £199.

 

I was pretty sure it would be re-listed and here it is at £185.

I see that the description is now "Revised" and that the Buy it Now has dropped to £169.

And today it's down to £159.

 

Going, going ... down !

 

This really is turning into a Dutch auction. :huh:

And today £149.00 !

 

Any takers on this 1860's Louis Lachenal, looking for a good home ? :rolleyes:

Posted

Sent the fifth email today offering £60.

 

Was tempted to say £75 including p+p

 

 

Though now I have one, I think I'll be concentrating on getting an anglo.

 

Hobgoblin have a lachenal duet for £695 that is looking tempting...

 

 

Thankgod I have no money :)

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