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Auction mentality - drugs in water?

IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
Just back from a large auction, 2400 lots of most everything related to shooting, and some fishing stuff. I could not believe the prices on some of the lots. Many modern, used items bringing prices close to, or even above, current MSRP. From the comments of others around me, most of the older firearms were equally astronomical. And the ammo . . . lots *opening* (from absentee bids) at 200% of max market value. Insane. Do people check their brains at the door or is it something in the water? There were a few good deals, some fair prices, but well over 50% sold at substantial premium to the values I see on-line (for items which sell, anyway) or in shops.
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Comments

  • NighthawkNighthawk Member Posts: 12,022 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ive always wondered that? But someone must buy from them or they couldnt stay in business!

    Rugster
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  • thesoundguy1thesoundguy1 Member Posts: 680 ✭
    edited November -1
    They are relying on many peoples competitiveness.Many people are thinking "I'm not going to lose,I must win",with no regard as to weather they are bidding to much or not.Essentially a pissing contest,
    is the attitude lot of people have when they go into an auction.

    www.waveformwear.com
    The new wave in free expression.
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  • BoomerangBoomerang Member Posts: 4,513
    edited November -1
    OR!!!, they are just idiots and believe that just because it is an auction it must be a good deal. Go figure!

    Boomer

    "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as it is by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed."
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  • michael minarikmichael minarik Member Posts: 478 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Why are you shocked: on this site you can see the same gun, in the same caliber, in the same steel with the same barrel length in the same condition for $100 less and ZERO BIDS and the other one at $100 higher with ten bids. The brain dead are every where; here in my state most of the BRAIN DEAD ARE IN GOVERNMENT POSITIONS...
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Mike, in my country, most of the flatliners are in FEDERAL government - with a direct correlation between common sense & position (the lower the former, the higher the latter)!
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  • Matt45Matt45 Member Posts: 3,185
    edited November -1
    I have always wondered about the Gunshow "Pricing Phenomena"- I often have to wonder if the blame should be placed on the guy who sets up first...ya'know, Dealer "Y" sees that Dealer "Z" has his ammo, rifles ect priced at a certian rate, and, then Dealers A-Z price and re-price to match the enviroment, because of a "Damned if I'm gonna lose a buck!" attitude.

    Just a thought. There are a lot of honest dealers who charge honest prices, but some of these guys are real bottom feeders.

    Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Matt, the idea I was attempting to address in this post was not the greed of some sellers in a particular setting, but the relatively mindless behavior of some folks when they attend an auction. I can understand someone pushing a price above the estimates for an item that is really exquisite / rare, but when a bidder pays more for a common item in used condition when it can be bought new down the street for less . . . ?!
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  • Matt45Matt45 Member Posts: 3,185
    edited November -1
    Iconoclast-

    Sorry, I kinda missed that one!

    I dunno, but would have to guess it's a "thrill of the chase" kinda thing, but does trace back one of the greatest American Values- Competitiveness.

    I shoulda been a Spin Doctor!

    Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!
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  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    I owned and ran an Auction house for 15 yrs, and I was amazed at the stupidity of the people in the crowd. for example.

    I put 6 antique glasses up for bid, one and six times your money, meaning you bid on one and pay X six, so if you bid a dollar, you bought one glass and six dollars if you took them all. I couldnt get a one dollar bid, so decided to sell them all for one money. The glasses brought 12.00 for all sex. when I couldnt get a bid of one dollar, for one of them GO FIGURE.

    And yes, the competitive nature plays a big role in auctions,, I have heard people say, " I am going to own that , no matter what, just to keep that other person from winning the bid"

    "A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows"
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