Mellotronists

> From: "bob.snyder" <bob.snyder@...>
   > Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 21:28:09 -0700
   > 
   > There has been a bit of discussion lately about what trons are
   > worth, etc.
   > 
   > It is interesting to note regarding a couple of items that were
   > recently offered up on ebay:
   > 
   > Draw you own conclusions, but coupled with others reporting high
   > prices, it would seem that these things are getting more and more
   > valuable. The days of finding a bargain price on a Tron or
   > Chamberlin would seem to be gone for good.

I don't think it's reasonable to draw conclusions from eBay prices.  

Auctions naturally show high prices because the whole point of an
auction is to take advantage of a bidding frenzy.  And when you have
eBay's features like hidden reserves and the ability to spoof bids,
you're going to see a lot of unrealistically high prices.

Further, any situation where the cost of presenting the item for sale
is zero or near zero, there's a great inducement to float a high price
for an item with attitude of, "hell, maybe somebody will pay this
extra high price and I'll win big.  It costs me nothing to try."

The items you mention never actually sold, right?  I would only base
conclusions about price on actual sales.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California
don@...
http://www.till.com

Don Tillman wrote:

 >Further, any situation where the cost of presenting the item for sale
 >is zero or near zero, there's a great inducement to float a high price
 >for an item with attitude of, "hell, maybe somebody will pay this
 >extra high price and I'll win big.  It costs me nothing to try."
 >
 >The items you mention never actually sold, right?  I would only base
 >conclusions about price on actual sales.
 >

You make a valid point. But I don't agree that the details of these
auctions aren't meaningful. In the case of the M1, there were four
people willing to pay $4900 or more for it. It doesn't seem likely that
they were all shills. And if their bids had been over the reserve they
would have been obligated to complete the purchase. The fact the the
seller may never have intended to sell doesn't make those bids less
valid. It is often argued that something is worth whatever someone is
willing to pay for it. And at least some if not all of those bidders
were willing to pay.

Ebay has created a new era for selling anything collectible. Why would I
want to sell something for anything less than what I know I can get for
it on Ebay?

Bob S.

I think most of us just like to heckle and make them earn their $!! I 
would guess they get beat up pretty bad from about 20 people from 
this group....


--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, "bob.snyder" <bob.snyder@c...> 
wrote:
> Don Tillman wrote:
> 
>  >Further, any situation where the cost of presenting the item for 
sale
>  >is zero or near zero, there's a great inducement to float a high 
price
>  >for an item with attitude of, "hell, maybe somebody will pay this
>  >extra high price and I'll win big.  It costs me nothing to try."
>  >
>  >The items you mention never actually sold, right?  I would only 
base
>  >conclusions about price on actual sales.
>  >
> 
> You make a valid point. But I don't agree that the details of these
> auctions aren't meaningful. In the case of the M1, there were four
> people willing to pay $4900 or more for it. It doesn't seem likely 
that
> they were all shills. And if their bids had been over the reserve 
they
> would have been obligated to complete the purchase. The fact the the
> seller may never have intended to sell doesn't make those bids less
> valid. It is often argued that something is worth whatever someone 
is
> willing to pay for it. And at least some if not all of those bidders
> were willing to pay.
> 
> Ebay has created a new era for selling anything collectible. Why 
would I
> want to sell something for anything less than what I know I can get 
for

> it on Ebay?
> 
> Bob S.