I have a frontal lobotomoy for auction at eBay!
Bill Binkelman
auctioning off CDs? I don't know why it gets me so pissed. After all,
I'm as much of a capitalist as anyone. But, whenever I see an eBay I
post, I can feel my BP rise. It's irrational, I know...which, of course,
fits. Why can't people just name a price and negotiate down if no one
buys it for that? I thought that was how it worked. What's up with all
this auction shit? (see...here goes the BP).
Well, I'm a bit of a hypocrite I guess, since I almost bid on a copy of
a "rare" video called ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS (a tres excellente flick,
BTW, IMHO)...so, I'm as gullible and prone to this as anyone.
Oh well, this is your chance to psychoanalzye the Binkman. Go at it.
Bill
PS "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Treecastle
>Can someone help me understand why I get so upset at the idea of
>auctioning off CDs? I don't know why it gets me so pissed.
[snip]
Whatever your problem is, my friend ... I've got the same condition.
Any postings I see with _e-bay_ in the subject line (and God KNOWS
there are enough of them all over the 'net to qualify as high-grade
spam) trigger an automatic reflex action to the delete key ...
unread!
The purpose of auctioning is to try to get more for something than it
is worth. And it usually works. The buyer is usually the person
with:
a) the most money, or
b) the least brains
... neither of which should be the target audience for "our" music.
You will let me know what our problem is when you find out, won't you?
:>)
Kudzu
Treecastle
just dropping in to see what condition my condition was in. :>)
Gregory Taylor
>Bill Binkelman <bi...@bitstream.net> wrote:
>
>>Can someone help me understand why I get so upset at the idea of
>>auctioning off CDs? I don't know why it gets me so pissed.
Perhaps the problem is what it replaces. I used to broker buyer
and seller intros for decks fo the Oblique Strategies. I had a list
of sellers and a list of buyers. Since Ebay has come into the picture,
the prices have gone waaay up. I put it down to the transactions which
happen in the context of a community vs. those that happen in the
agora. I prefer the former to the latter, and venture into the latter
only when all else has been exhausted.
>Whatever your problem is, my friend ... I've got the same condition.
>Any postings I see with _e-bay_ in the subject line (and God KNOWS
>there are enough of them all over the 'net to qualify as high-grade
>spam) trigger an automatic reflex action to the delete key ...
>unread!
So, do y'all think we'd feel any different if the stuff being auctioned
off was something that was actually valuable by virtue of its rarity
instead of some nudnick trying to make big bucks off of something that
sits by the dozens in the used bins who goes immediately for the whinge
defence "Well, we can't get in the mall in Cleveland, so it's rare...."
I'm feeling charitable today - ran across a copy of the OOPTrngerine
Dream box "Tangents" in mint copy in the used bins. Even though I've
been on the lookout for it for a while, would I have bid Ebay for it?
No way. Did I bid for a copy of Johnathan Carroll's "Land of Laughs"
(the only volume of his I don't own) before the price went stratospheric?
Yep.
--
When I pronounce the word Future,/the first syllable already belongs to the
past./When I pronounce the word Silence,/I destroy it./When I pronounce the
word Nothing,/I make something no nonbeing can hold./ (Wislawa Szymborska)
Gregory Taylor WORT-FM www.msn.fullfeed.com/~gtaylor/RTQE.html 608.828.3385
Bill Binkelman
>
> To hell with the frontal lobotomy on e-bay, what've you got in a breast
> enhancement?
ummmmmmm...I'm speechless (a first).
Bill
Bill Binkelman
concept. It's like the whole idea behind eBay is _not_ to offer a place
to sell rare stuff as much as it is to get as much money as possible for
said stuff. Otherwise, if the sole intent was to unite buyer and seller,
it would be the online equivalent of a flea market. But this whole
bidding thing irritates me (quick, where's my Preparation H?). I don't
think I ever tried to score money off of a collector thing in my life.
Maybe I'm just a bad businessman (HA! That's not news....check out the
balance in the WIND AND WIRE account...where are the venture
capitalistis when you need 'em?).
Speaking of which, did anyone read the wire story a week or so ago about
the guy who, ten year ago, bought some original oil painting at a garage
sale for $35? And just last month it sold at Christie's auction house
for about 3/4 of a million! Seems it was the only still-life painting
(of some fruit) by a famous 20th century landscape painter. Strangely,
my first thought wasn't "The lucky sonuavbitch who bought it." It was
"The dumb ass who sold it." But then, I remembered the box of comics I
sold when I was 18. I mean, talk about stupid. I had a big box _full_ of
stuff like early (Jack Kirby) Fantastic Four, Steve Ditko's and Johnny
Romita's Spider Man, Gene Colan's Daredevil and Iron Man, Kirby's
Sergeant Fury etc etc etc. In today's market, that box (all were in mint
to near mint shape), would bring _at least_ $10K! What did I sell it for
in 1972? Twenty fuckin' dollars!
I _am_ the eggman!
HAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Bill
Treecastle
>Did I bid for a copy of Johnathan Carroll's "Land of Laughs"
>(the only volume of his I don't own) before the price went stratospheric?
>Yep.
First I need to say that it was not my intention to imply that
_everyone_ who bids on items at eBay falls into one of the two
categories which I described (more money or less brains). Knowing
nothing of Gregory's financial status, I can't say anything about the
former, but his falling into the latter group is certainly an
unconceivable concept. :>)
So, did you get the volume ?
>So, do y'all think we'd feel any different if the stuff being auctioned
>off was something that was actually valuable by virtue of its rarity
>instead of some nudnick trying to make big bucks off of something that
>sits by the dozens in the used bins who goes immediately for the whinge
>defence "Well, we can't get in the mall in Cleveland, so it's rare...."
No, the nature of the item has nothing to do with my disdain of
auctions in general (and Ebay in particular) though most of what is
sold there does seem to be over-priced junk.
I think it's the fact that when someone auctions something off, he is
in effect saying: "This item has absolutely NO value to me but I want
as much as I can get for it anyway." If the item was valuable (e.g.
held some value to the seller) then he would simply quote that value
as his asking price and sell it to someone who might cherish the item.
More times than not, auctions turn into yuppie mentality pecker
contests between tow or more bidders ... which, of course, is exactly
what the seller is hoping for.
Kudzu
Rcarlberg
Rcarlberg
> I don't get eBay as a concept.
Like any auction, if you know what you're doing you can get some great stuff
for a great price, sometimes.
If you don't, you get taken to the cleaners every time. I figure it's a
sucker-filter, like the lotteries or casinos.
Gregory Taylor
>So, did you get the volume ?
Naah. It got too expensive for me. Whatta surprise. Actually, I think
that the better method is that one of my friends scattered all over
the place will someday happen across a copy of it in a used bookstore.
Since it's the only used book I tell them I'm looking for, I've a
reasonable change that they'll remember and pick it up and charge me
what the used book store charged me. Or maybe it won't happen. I'll
be a happy man regardless.
>I think it's the fact that when someone auctions something off, he is
>in effect saying: "This item has absolutely NO value to me but I want
>as much as I can get for it anyway." If the item was valuable (e.g.
>held some value to the seller) then he would simply quote that value
>as his asking price and sell it to someone who might cherish the item.
Interesting. We're in nearly complete agreement on that point. Of course,
I'm about to leave my job of some 12 years and become a telecommuter in
circumstances where some risk is involved. Perhaps a change in circumstance
will have me auctioning off tons of old Hosono, my cassette review copy of
Eno's "My Squelchy Life," et. al. and my first edition copy of "Lolita."
:-)