Pet Peave

I have a pet peave and I am going to vent about it.

On occassion I peruse the on line auctions Gun Broker and Auction Arms. There are certainly some good deals to be had from time to time and I have purchased through both sites.

The bone I have to pick is with those sellers that let's say set a starting bid of $50.00. Ok that is cool, but then they also have a hidden reserve price of let's say $150.00. On top of that they have a buy it now price of again let's say $200.00.

I have no problem with starting bids, reserve bids, or even buy it now bids, it is how they are used in combination with each other.

I mean why have a 50 dollar starting bid if your hidden reserve bid is 150 bucks. Is there some kind of jolly to be gotten having people spend their time bidding and bidding and bidding just to get to the lowest price you'll really accept for the item anyway.

If you won't accept less that 150 bucks for what ever it is your selling then start the damn auction at 150 bucks. Quit jerking people around.

Sellers that do this must realize sick perverted satisfaction that I don't understand.

I see a lot of buy it now prices that are at least a third to more than double what the item is really worth, but hey I don't have a problem with that, if you can get some sucker to pay that much more power to you.

I just think the drastic difference that some people set between the low starting and high reserve bid is a waste of time and an insult to the intelligence of the people that you want to buy your stuff.

Okay I am done venting now.