At 07:40 7/20/00 , Simon E wrote:
>2. make him an offer privately.
>
>I don't know if this second approach is unethical, but I would prefer it,
>under the circumstances. What if there had been no bids? Would this method
>still be unfair?
You can do this, but as an occasional seller my response would be: The
auction would have to close and all bidders higher than the private offer
back out of the sale. When placed into public auction and the bidding has
begun, it is unethical to pull the plug on the auction unless there are
exceptional circumstances. Examples are discovery the item is really in
worse condition than originally stated, or the item is misidentified and
description is misleading to bidders. Even then, the onus is still on the
seller for possibly not having taken "due diligence" to prevent that from
happening prior to auction. Receiving a private offer to purchase is not
one of them. eBay (or whoever the auction house is) could also come back
on the seller with the argument that the private sale would never have
occurred without the auction posting and demand payment as if the auction
had been held.
My advice is go with option 1. Place a proxy bid at what you are willing
to pay. Even if you were around to counter-bid a bid higher than yours, my
advice is always to walk away from the auction if the bidding goes higher
than you are willing to pay. There will eventually be another auction or
other source for the lens. Unwillingness to do that is what occasionally
creates the occasional crazy auction closings . . . two bidders dumping in
outrageously high bids to stay above everyone else . . . and assuming
nobody else will dump in an outrageously high bid . . . a dangerous game!
-- John
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