Thread: A QUESTION FOR ALL TO PONDER

Originally Posted by English

I think that you will find that two members rigging a price in such a manner is illegal.
It's no different to the seller raising the price of an item by having a friend put in bids at the appropriate time.

That isn't exactly what I said or I guess a better word would be implied. When a SRP bidder sees that another SRP bidder is bidding he will either not bid or PM the bidder and see how badly he really wants the item. If the first bidder decides that he really doesn't want the item that bad then he will tell bidder #2 to go ahead and bid and bidder #1 will drop out of the bidding. They are not price fixing only deciding who wants the item the worst and then only one of them continues bidding.
Next, you have the all familiar sniping problem. A SRP bidder sets up a snipe bid and then does not look at the auction until it is over. Under this situation you would have two SRP bidders, in a sense, bidding against each other in the last few seconds of the auction providing the active bidder stayed in until the end.

Sorry, I don't mean to change your words. I mean what you said. I've learnt over the years that actually, English and American are two different languages. Similar sounds but often very different meaning.

I think that it is because of all the reasons you give that bidders names on e bay auctions are now being hidden. This E Bay change has really cancelled any advantage members may have been able to get and so the list looses its primary purpose. I can see no significant reason to maintain it any longer.

On a practical point, I think that unless you bid the price you believe the item to be worth and up front, you will very often be disappointed because many bidders don't put in this real price until the end of the auction anyway. They don't like to show their hand.

Originally Posted by English

Ofcourse on e bay you run the risk of a third buyer pipping you at the last minute.

Yes , you do .

Originally Posted by Jimbo

....they don't hide the seller's id do they? Having the list may still be useful for that I guess....

As a new member and new to straight razors, I know that I would have more confidence bidding on a razor from an SRP member. The member list wouldn't be nessasary to do this, seller could just add a tag line about SPR or a link to the forum.

I would prefer to buy directly from the classifieds, but I'm kinda slow and miss out on the razors in my price range.


In short, the list may be helpful, but not nessasary.

Just my $.02

Originally Posted by ShotgunLuckey

As a new member and new to straight razors, I know that I would have more confidence bidding on a razor from an SRP member. The member list wouldn't be nessasary to do this, seller could just add a tag line about SPR or a link to the forum.

I would prefer to buy directly from the classifieds, but I'm kinda slow and miss out on the razors in my price range.


In short, the list may be helpful, but not nessasary.

Just my $.02

Thanks for your comment it was actually helpful. The original reason for the list was to inform other bidders if they were bidding against another SRP member. Since eBay started displaying the bidders names in a secure form one does not know whom he is bidding against. However, the sellers name is displayed and this is where you could check to see if he/she is an SRP member. Some have asked for the list to be displayed so that the sellers name can be checked to see if they are an SRP member. The list shows the SRP name and then the eBay name which on most occasions are not the same.
I have not updated the list in several months as it appeared that not having it was that important but since there are some that would like to buy from an SRP member thru eBay I will update it at some point and then post it somewhere which I will advise OR you could ask the seller if he is a member of SRP. Let me know what you think.