[Groop] Groop Regarding EBAY and auctions

[Rick Loomis]

You realize, of course, from the sellers point of view, you are 
"cheating". If two people want the same Groo collectable, and one is 
willing to pay $100 for it, and the other is willing only to pay $75, 
the VALUE of that item (for the moment) is at least $75, and that's 
what the seller ought to receive. If the two of you get together and 
agree that whoever bids first gets it, and he gets it for $25, you 
have created a great deal for the one who gets it, at the cost of (in 
a way) cheating the seller out of what he deserved. (And by the way, 
at the same time lowering the perceived value of that Groo item to 
the world at large, as that selling price will be searchable on ebay 
for some time after the auction is over. Someone else, wanting to 
sell the very same item, may find that sale on ebay and decide that 
for $25, he won't bother to sell his.)

If you see something on ebay that you want, and the current bid is 
less than you are willing to pay, go ahead and bid on it, even if I 
am the current highest bid. I'll understand that you wanted it more 
than I do, and I'll wait for the next one to come up for sale. If you 
choose NOT to bid on it just because I am a Groop member, that's nice 
and I appreciate it. But I certainly won't be mad at you if you feel 
you just MUST have that item!  After all, that's what auctions are all about.

(Note: and you can't sneak a bid in on me at the last minute. I 
always bid the most I am willing to pay. You can't get it at the last 
minute unless you bid more than that. Of course, having said that, I 
still regret that I didn't bid more for the TON of dice that came up 
a few years ago. The seller was in Los Angeles, and the buyer had to 
drive over and pick them up - I am 350 miles away - but it was 
literally 2,000 pounds of dice!)
Rick Loomis
Not a Pirate