Tiki Central / Collecting Tiki / Need Help Identifying These Door Handles
Post #185138 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Wed, Sep 7, 2005 5:35 PM
|
STCB
Sabu The Coconut Boy
Posted
posted
on
Wed, Sep 7, 2005 5:35 PM
Ok. More intrigue to fuel Humuhumu's anticipation. I did a little research, (I was stupid not to do it earlier). Facts indicate possible shadiness and skullduggery going on. The seller offers the same handles on eBay over a week earlier, starting at $295 with a higher reserve. He receives only one bid... from a private bidder. Does he sell them to the private bidder for the $295 offered, even though it wasn't the reserve? No! He inexplicably re-lists the handles with a new starting bid of $50 and a new reserve of $125.00: This time 2 bidders bite, (including me), but not the private bidder from last time. My final bid is $56.00. I e-mail the seller and ask what his Reserve was, because I might be willing to meet it. He e-mails back and tells me that the Reserve is $125.00, BUT before I can reply, he re-lists the auction with a buy-it-now of $56 and lets me know. I, of course, snap it up. My guess is that the first time through, the seller or a close friend bid on the auction himself, to create interest and validate his price. When no one took the bait, he re-listed lower. Why else would he spurn the $295 bid from the private bidder in favor of my $56 bid? Also the quickness with which he capitulated to my $56 bid when I offered more, leads me to believe that he wanted to unload these quickly without any more hassle. The only other explanation I can think of is that he had two sets of the door handles and unloaded the first to the private bidder for $295. But if this were the case, why would he start the second pair at such a drastically lower price when they were in good shape? And why would he use the same set of photos? Something doesn't sound right here. Any other conclusions? Sabu |