I am a big fan of the informal auctions, and I will write up some thoughts over the weekend.

For everyone worrying about the ethics of the seller, who may end an auction early or not play fair with the "transparency" of the bids, please tell me how you feel about the members of our community who offered Michael (novice seller of the Autavia shown below) $4,000 for his watch and tried to assure him that this was a fair price? Or the others who tried to buy it at $5,000? Michael ended up believing that the watch was probably worth $6,000, and I recommended the informal auction as a way of seeing whether it might be worth substantially more. The informal auction produced a sales price of $13,500, from another member of our community, with multiple bids above $10,000.

Does an informal auction make sense for the standard Viceroy? Doubtful. Does it make sense for the very rare watch that is difficult to value? I believe that it does.

Just a couple of points to ponder . . .

Jeff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Hello Mike,

: among other points, you have asked "who would not use the
: right to end an auction early?"

: ( By the way... I think that just because there is a
: "right" to do something, doesn't make it RIGHT.
: You know...people may use what they call their right, while they do
: other people terribly wrong. )

: Well ... I would NOT. And other old-fashioned people with
: principles, proper form, style or manners, would not have
: either.
: If a "newbie" had done an act like that on Ebay .... Bad,
: but... OK, can be counted as inexperience. But such an
: experienced seller ? ... No.
: Simply, no.

: And just saying "I apologize" is not what some people too
: easily accept.
: I thought about this very very long last night after it upset me so
: much .... and came to the conclusion I still have today:
: A seller (or an experienced dealer) followed his greed and the aim
: to make more money .... realized there's probably more profit to
: be made on this forum/platform than on the "bay" ...
: OK.

: But, is damaging ones reputation, which I think happened here - and
: meanwhile there's even some "good" to that, now that
: we've seen how someone can dismantle himself - worth the (only
: possibly) higher profit, i.e. more money ??
: IMO, after the initial disappointment for some of us, like
: j0hnnycache, is over, they then have a new, better
: "picture", impression of the seller ...
: And, not doubting his seriousness here - it is all about style and
: behavior for me, and maybe a few more of us too.

: Mike, don't get me wrong, please. I, as well as you, am not trying
: to start trouble or argue longer than necessary about this.
: But I felt the urgent need to state my point here - no matter if
: someone is "new" or not.
: Acting is if keeping these pieces "in the family" was
: such a noble idea .... Hmmm. Who believed that? Did you?
: I doubt that the majority here did.
: Being after more money ..... aha, OK ...THAT's what we're talking
: about!
: Well...some might call that a sin, some would call it normal
: behavior - it's just "human" after all, Iguess, isn't
: it?

: Will the seller make/get more money here on OTD than he had made
: finishing the auction on Ebay ? .... He will never know.

: Best regards, Mike
: and, btw, I respect/appreciate your point about your great watch -
: and love it in it's imperfect condition. :-)

: Cheers,
: Olaf