I totally agree AND disagree:
Of course, this auction is kinda outrageous (and so it shall come and go without any further ado)
but what I do not completely agree on is this:
Quote: "The love of money is the route of all evil."
No, the love of money is nothing good nor bad by itself, money is just a commonly agreed on counter of value for things/services (more or less and you can do more or less good/bad things with it).
What makes things so complicating is this: What is YOUR value that you appoint to certain things/services? This is obviously very personal and cannot be calculated completely (despite all the efforts of clickstream data collectors and marketing morons).
What is TERRIBLY wrong for me is this: Money? Hey, there is the "possibility" of maybe winning some, perhaps "getting more" and then THIS is sold for money.
(See banks, see economical crashes, see all speculating and option trading)
The mere "possibility" is neither a product nor a service and can therefore never be traded (but reality has it, it still IS being traded).
What I TOTALLY agree upon is this:
Quote: "..Evidently,these folks still have a liking for this model." Correct. They do.
Otherwise they wouldn't put such a dream price on their stuff (see, the old "YOUR own value" comes up again!) - if you put something on ebay or similar sites, say completely goodbye to it, BEFORE you sell.
You wanted to get rid of it, so decide to say bye.
And THEN look at what other peoples' estimated/heartfelt value of it is (your customers and buyers!):
"oh my Goooooooodness, what a GEM!" ($ 500)
"what? an old rusty (appliance of your choice)? ($ 15)
"hm, might think of having it, but the downpayments of the house/car/insurance..." ($ 80)
And so on and on....
As I hoped to point out:
Money by itself is not a value, it is a tool, a mere calculation.
The personal VALUE of money is different for everyone, and HERE comes the open gate for manipulation and seeding false hopes and fears:
"1000 songs in your pocket" (iPod, technically worth 30,- but sold 150,-) Apple
"they might NEVER be able to pay back" (news announcement about Greece, stocks falling down a third just because of this one sentence) worth several billions.
"I will do good things with it" (any arbitrary welfare fund raising opportunity) worth between 10 to XXXX dollars, depending on speaker, you know them all. Will they really?
"I wouldn't want so sell this shirt for just one buck, it was my father's!" (flea market, swap meet) - see above: own value not counterbalanced, still too many connections, never has said bye to this shirt)
And the list goes on. What is your own value for a thing?
(and don't use figures, use words from within)
This should only be a little reminder, that we all are loving beings, all things differ a little bit for all of us, so this might be a good deal, fine!
(German: "Des einen Schund, des anderen Fund", English: "one man's trash, another man's treasure")
Keep it in mind, be reasonable (and be easy, the figures don't count, the smiles do).
To me the bad attitude is only to count out/ count away the smiles and stare at the figures only. (= taking possibilities + options as the real thing, the real product). Disgusting.
Just my 2 ct to this thing. (And sure, this ebayer is just speculating or has not yet said byebye, whatever... a non-auction for sure).
J.