Subject:
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Re: No really - a rational discussion of people selling via eBay?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Wed, 19 May 1999 16:23:31 GMT
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Viewed:
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2595 times
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Larry Pieniazek wrote:
>
> Frank Filz wrote:
>
> > What I find objectionable (and what I think most people are actually
> > complaining about) is hoarding not scalping.
>
> Whew. Well, that's a relief, then.
>
> You've got nothing to worry about in a free market, because hoarding
> just can't happen. As long as multiple sellers of the product exist, the
> market will be at what the product is really worth.
>
> The only way you can get hoarding is if the product is so rare that one
> person actually CAN corner the market, or if governments help enforce
> artificial scarcity. Remember the oil crisis? Our government helped the
> Saudis and others corner the market. Hence we got scalping, hoarding,
> black/grey marketeering and all the ills you get when you try to
> outthink the market. As soon as prices were allowed to rise to their
> natural level, voila, end of scarcity. It's amazing what wells came
> online when oil sold for more than the cost of production again. Priced
> oil lately? It's cheaper in real dollars than it was in 1972 before the
> first oil crisis.
>
> If you don't like hoarding you should be pushing for freer markets. We
> have relatively free markets generally but they can be improved.
I agree with all of the above.
> Fortunately the situation W.R.T. LEGO is pretty good. We have multiple
> venues and prices have been generally improving as they move toward
> market levels. Priced metroliners lately? They are plentiful and cheaper
> than they were a year ago. It's amazing what lines of supply open up
> when they start selling above 300 dollars.
>
> Now, you say, wait. You, Larry, just paid 421 dollars for a metroliner,
> what are you talking about? Well, that was no ordinary metroliner. It
> was scarce. There will only be ONE first lot auctioned at Serious
> Collector and it was worth more than the going rate for a run of the
> mill metroliner for me to have it.
>
> Is Franz K. a hoarder because he has a stock of metroliners that he's
> releasing one at a time? No. There are plenty of metroliners out there.
> Is Mobil Oil a hoarder because it doesn't immediately pump all of its
> oilfields dry? No. There is plenty of oil on the market. Franz wants a
> steady cash stream, so does Mobil.
I'm not absolutely sure that I would not call Franz K. a hoarder, but I
have no problem with what he is doing. Once an item is out of production
long enough for most areas to no longer have a stock, I think it is GOOD
for the market for an entity which is willing to sell to a wider segment
of the population to pruchase the goods, and re-sell them. Your point
about steady cash stream is reasonable. Also, not putting all the items
instantly on the market means that at some later time, a new customer
will be more likely to be able to buy the item.
> I don't like eBay. But that's because of the bidding rules and because
> it encourages scalpers. I won't use it. But I am not going to flame
> anyone else for using the most efficient (biggest collection of goods,
> biggest collection of buyers) market we currently have available to us.
> And neither should anyone else.
>
> Now, I think there's value in the discussion we had here before (which
> never came to a satisfactory conclusion, I don't think) on how sellers
> could devise a system to discourage snipers that was within the rules of
> eBay.
>
> Snipers are bad for sellers. At least that's a position that many of us
> sellers take.
> Snipers are frustrating for buyers. At least that's a position that many
> of us buyers take. But let's not debate it again, it's been debated.
Absolutely agreed about bidding systems, and I certainly would be
interested in seeing further discussion on how to devise an anti-sniping
mechanism within the current rules of eBay.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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