: +1. No more feelers: just a price.

At the risk of becoming Mister Unpopular (hopefully I will not make anyone angry). I certainly am not picking a fight. I am simply an observer with no budget to participate currently which may allow for a more objective POV:

I do not understand the passions here. I also do not know Amer. I imagine the new owner contacted him with an offer that was higher than his reserve and the current high bid. He could have declined the private offer and told him to place that bid on the ebay auction, jumping the current high bid. The auction price would likely have gone even higher (win for Amer, but possibly a loss for OTD). Remember, only one of us was in the game and had he already placed his highest bid??? Or was he looking for a bargain (I believe the term "opportunism" was used and could be used to fit this scenario as well)? I would say that QueueCumber should have been given the opportunity to match the new owner's bid.

Auctions are great but you're dependent on having the right audience involved. I think the Monaco's price started to leap after the ebay listing was posted here (okay, now the right audience is involved). Who here would not exercise his right to end the auction early if one of our buddies was willing to pay what we had hoped to get? It would be different if you used a shill to bid it out of range and then did the deal.

Regarding the no more feelers sentiment that a few have expressed - If I ever sell my Chronomatic Siffert, you would prefer that I list it for $50,000 OBO? I know good and well it won't bring $50k, but I have no idea where it would peak. I could just contact a couple of guys who have already made offers that surprised me and let them update their offers. What's the difference, other than only 2-3 guys would know it was available*?

*I am not testing the waters on the market for my watch - it is not for sale, just trying to help people see the situation from a newbie's not-in-the-market eyes.

Please enlighten me how I am wrong on this. I do hope I have not offended anyone.

Mike