Bidiots

[Zoins]

Often times when a counterfeit item is up for auction, it is right thing to do to inform both the seller and bidders/buyers that the item is counterfeit.

 

However, if you see a relatively common item that is going for moon money through no fault of the seller's description, should you contact the buyers and tell them they are way over bidding? Or is it better to just let them bid how they want to bid unless they ask for advice of their own volition? If you inform the bidders, you could be causing the seller to lose legitimate profits because there was no deception on his part in the description or photos.

 

Obviously, there is the chance that the bidders might actually want to pay that much money and are not bidiots in which case they might not look favorably on unsolicited advice.

[DC Dawg]

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

- Thomas Tusser quotes (English Farmer and Writer. 1524-1580)

 

"There's a sucker born every minute."

- attributed to Phineas T. Barnum

 

"A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place."

- Gordon Gekko (1987)

 

[EZ_E]

"bidiots"? Did you just "zoin" that word?

 

I like it!

 

But, to answer your question:

 

As long as no squirrellyness is going on then let 'em bid as their own foolish heart desires.

[Zoins]

"bidiots"? Did you just "zoin" that word?

 

I like it!

I think it's a great word but I can't take credit for it. I've seen it around the forums, either here or ATS. I also like that Gordon Gekko quote, a modern classic.

 

Thanks to you and Scott for the advice. I'm conflicted but I think the proper thing to do is to keep my mouth shut.

[TomB]

I see no reason to intrude on another's auction provided that it is a legitimate affair. Aside from committing auction interference, which can get you NARUed from ebay, you simply cannot save someone else.

[WoodenJefferson]

 

"There's a sucker born every minute."

- attributed to Phineas T. Barnum

 

 

Link to quote We seem to be correcting one another it was Barnum's competitor who said that fabled line...read.

 

The Cardiff Giant was the most talked about exhibit in the nation. Barnum wanted the giant to display himself while the attraction was still a hot topic of the day. Rather than upping his offer, Barnum hired a crew of workers to carve a giant of his own. Within a short time, Barnum unveiled HIS giant and proclaimed that Hannum had sold Barnum the original giant and that Hannum was now displaying a fake! Thousands of people flocked to see Barnum's giant. Many newspapers carried the version that Barnum had given them; that is, Hannum's giant was a fake and Barnum's was authentic. It is at this point that Hannum -- NOT BARNUM -- was quoted as saying "There's a sucker born every minute." Hannum, still under the impression that HIS giant was authentic, was referring to the thousands of "fools" that paid money to see Barnum's fake and not his authentic one.

 

Anyway I think the OP answered his own question, maybe with another question, best just stay out of way and let things proceed. I think stopping obvious fakes whether the seller claims to not know or not know, especially when dealing with large sums of dinero.

 

What was that line "For duty and humanity!" Gilligan

[DC Dawg]

 

"There's a sucker born every minute."

- attributed to Phineas T. Barnum

 

 

Link to quote We seem to be correcting one another it was Barnum's competitor who said that fabled line...read.

I said "attributed to...." This is acknowledging the controversy without going into the details.

 

The rest of the story was that although he did not acknowledge saying this, he did not dispute it either. Rather, he thanked the newspaper reporter who printed it for the free publicity. Barnum never confirmed or denied this attribution.

 

Scott

[al_e_gator]

Let the bidiots be blissful in their ignorance. They will be the ones who suffer when they attempt to sell their bounty.

I see people get way too carried away in on-line auctions all the time and I am constantly being out-bid. Provided the coin matches the label, why would someone pay one-cent more than fair market value, especially on a common item?

It also depends on where this bidder does their pricing research. If they go by the PCGS price guide, they will almost always be misled to overbid, particularly on higher grade coins. Maybe they are not all bidiots, lets just say they are misguided and/or uninformed.

[just-john]

maybe there very far sighted -planning for great great grand children-maybe they know something we don't know- money is a relative thing althought the more I get the more I get

Relatively speaking

[bsshog40]

I wouldn't mess with it. Someone may want that coin badly enough to invest more than what it is worth. Some people also have the Bidding Addiction. I know of people that just hate to lose a bid and will actually pay more for something just to "WIN".

[Zoins]

The other thing I just thought of is that people may think I am interested in bidding against them and seeking to reduce the competition. It sounds like trying to help can get me into trouble in more ways than one.

 

One item I bought a few months ago just sold for 4x what I paid which I thought was ok if people really wanted to pay that much. This last item sold for 8x what I paid a few months ago. I guess I should just don't worry and be happy (that I got mine already).

[LuvToCollect]

I too have suffered from Bidiots syndrome from time to time. At this point I am not assured that I wont suffer a relapse.

[AuldFartte-migration]

Bidiots are a blessing to legitimate sellers, so I'd suggest leaving it alone. How else are the bidiots gonna learn? We usually learn from our own mistakes much more readily than from the advice of strangers, well meaning as they may be.

 

I love it when two newbies start a bidding war on one of my items. Man, that's fun to watch.

[al_e_gator]

Just beware that your not up against shrewd 3 year-old when bidding.

 

(old news)

"England Toddler Buys Car -

Jack Neal of England was the very proud owner of a used pink convertible for a short time before the auction was declared void and the car was back up for auction. The reason why the auction was declared void was because Jack is only three years old. His mother left the password for EBay stored in her computer and her computer whiz son managed to get into the site, see the auction and push all the right buttons to purchase the car using the ‘Buy It Now’ option for a smooth $17,000. (Reuters)"

[jgrinz]

Just beware that your not up against shrewd 3 year-old when bidding.

 

(old news)

"England Toddler Buys Car -

Jack Neal of England was the very proud owner of a used pink convertible for a short time before the auction was declared void and the car was back up for auction. The reason why the auction was declared void was because Jack is only three years old. His mother left the password for EBay stored in her computer and her computer whiz son managed to get into the site, see the auction and push all the right buttons to purchase the car using the ‘Buy It Now’ option for a smooth $17,000. (Reuters)"

 

I do believe that the guy has great taste in cars and Was buying for his MOM!!

Can you blame him

[John Martinez]

If the coin is authentic and the seller is honest in his description, why screw the seller out of his profits? Perhaps the person has personal reasons for bidding high to get a coin..... a birthday, a family member, graduation date....whatever, if they want it bad enough, they will pay for it. If someone who is selling is lucky enough to get over what YOU consider market value, then let them.

[Zoins]

If the coin is authentic and the seller is honest in his description, why screw the seller out of his profits? Perhaps the person has personal reasons for bidding high to get a coin..... a birthday, a family member, graduation date....whatever, if they want it bad enough, they will pay for it. If someone who is selling is lucky enough to get over what YOU consider market value, then let them.

I'm not sure you understand the scenario where the term "bidiot" is typically used.

 

Typically, the term is used when the bidder is bidding far above market value as determined by past realized prices, not some theoretical value that I or someone else made up. So your statement of what an individual considers market value does not apply, it is based on past realized auction prices.

 

Also, the person typically does not know how much the item is worth, either by lack of a price guide, lack of knowledge of past realized prices or what not. If the person has personal reasons for bidding much higher and knows the realized price history, the bidder is not a bidiot which I have mentioned above. If the person has a real reason for bidding far above past realized prices, informing the bidder of past realized prices should not change the profits the seller gets.

 

After reading the responses here and thinking about this, I agree with your conclusion and I don't think getting involved is a good idea. However, your post does not indicate an understanding of the bidiot bidding scenario because your arguments do not address the issue of bidiots.

[cpm9ball]

There have been times when I really wanted an item, and I was prepared to bid sufficiently high enough to ensure that I won it. One occasion where I failed to do this caused me to lose a medal set. When an identical set was listed some time later, I made sure that I bid high enough to win. Fortunately, it never got that high and I paid much less than I had bid on the first set.

 

On the other hand, there are limits to my insanity. For instance, I have been actively searching for a particular French maritime medal that was struck in 1935. The obverse is nothing really spectacular, but the reverse is absolutely gorgeous. Over the last 30 months, four have surfaced on eBay, and in each case, they sold for $450-$500. I'm sorry, I'm not that crazy!

 

Chris

[al_e_gator]

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

- Thomas Tusser quotes (English Farmer and Writer. 1524-1580)

 

I ran across an example of a BIDIOT a couple of days ago on Teletrade.

I have a few holes left in my stinkin lincoln collection and every once in a while I try to fill a few, one of which is a MS67 1943-S cent. This chuckle-head paid an insane $123 plus shipping! A coin that is that common and available in that grade is certainly not worthy of a premium price. I'd certainly love to sell off my collection to a buyer like that. On any given day (both PCGS and NGC) the MS67 43S sells at less than $75, I've even watched a couple sell at a $50 bid within the last few months.

 

"Patience is a virtue". - Piers Plowman, 1377

 

[Beijim]

I saw one (1943-S NGC MS67) on eBay about a week ago go for somewhere just north of $50.

 

Beijim