is this fair?
- Thread starter googlygrape
- Start date
i think it's the person's own business if they want to sell something auction style or not on lj. if you don't like it then don't bid or email an offer. a lot of people are greedy and everyone wants to make money. plus you never know how much they shelled out in the first place for the item and they're just trying to make their money back. you really don't know their situation to say they're greedy.
heh
heh
The forum for auction-style selling is ebay, which is regulated and controlled. The LJ forum is a poor venue for auctions, since bids, up-to-date bid prices, other information, and certain mitigating factors are known only to the seller and not the buyer or would-be buyer. Also, LJ doesn't require sellers to honor their word to buyers during negotiation. I think LJ was initially a nice community of like-minded traders and a good, grassroots alternative to retail and ebay, but too "faux auctions" have made it highly disadvantageous for the consumer. Good luck to sellers vending their Tokis via auction on LJ once buyers wake up and decide they don't want to be ripped off anymore.
I recently made a post on lj auction/best offer style, because I don't know what's considered fair for the bags I posted. I offer pretty low shipping though, and I don't charge for ridiculous things like paypal fees, so hopefully it evens out.
You're completely right - how are people to know that their bids are being validly considered? What if someone turns out to be the highest bidder in the "auction", but the seller doesnt feel that that's high enough and decides to not sell it to the person? Even though the person bidding though that their "high bid" was adequate and reasonably fair and they really wanted that item?
And if someone shelled out a certain price for an item in the first place, they should say flat out that they would like to get the minimum of $XXX for it, then offer it up to people that way, and say that they will not take offers of anything less than that, and leave up to those who decide if they really are willing to spend the money to add that piece to their collection. Instead of, lets say, they received the item as a gift or with a discount or less than retail, etc, but they know that people are paying $XXX or more on ebay & or it's HTF and then gouging people on it.
*sigh* oh well, buyers (and lurkers) beware...
Paypal and ebay fees are the ones that really annoy me. Only ebay charges additional, paypal takes a small percentage out of the total. If someone doesn't like that, they should take money order or cash only instead of expecting the buyer to make up for it. I wouldn't even mind if they charged higher for their items to make up for it, or even a couple bucks more for shipping.
Also, many of the auction posts I've seen also involved trades. For mine, I'd rather trade than sell, but if I don't get a suitable trade offer by X date, then I'll be selling. I've backed away from a couple of buy offers for one of my items, since I think the price I paid was ridiculously high, and I don't feel right charging someone the same amount or more for it. Hence, why I'd rather trade
I think people should be able to sell their items however they want on LJ. I think the auction styles are kinda neat and if it bothers you or you're afraid you're getting ripped off, don't bid on the item. It's as simple as that. At least that's how I see it! 