The Steel Guitar Forum

Man check this out; http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290881499 I wish I had something to sell this guy

Gee, I have one in lesser condition than this. I'll be happy to let it go for half the amount!

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Two thousand dollars and the reserve has not yet been met.If that's not amazing enough,someone has a bid on it.No problem sitting this one out.

I also have one, in mint condition from the original owner. They were made in 1935, not the 20's.

One recently... within the last year... sold on eBay for around $1200. That's a ballpark figure for a mint condition guitar.

These suckers have a loooonnng scale and they really HONK!

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Herb's Steel Guitar Homesite

Herb I know you weren't talking about the guy bidding here but I think "sucker" was the right word. These cast steel's seem to get the widest variety of descriptions i.e. "made in the '20s, "super rare", etc. I'd love to get one but with all these fools out there running up prices...oh well <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Mike D on 25 March 2000 at 05:44 PM.]</p></FONT>

I've watched the current bidder on a lot of lap steels during the last 18 months, and believe me, he is no sucker. The fact that he bid on the owner's opening amount, and the reserve would not be met by that bid, means that the bidder was risking nothing, he was locking the owner into the auction, and he was probably placing himself first in line to negotiate with the owner after the auction failed. Calling someone a sucker is all in the mind of the beholder.

The way I understand it,the seller is not locked into selling the item if the reserve is not met, but can at his (or her) discretion,accept a less than reserve bid.The bidder on the other hand,is responsible for what they bid.So,if the seller decides than 2G is acceptable,the bidder is obligated to honor his (or her) bid.Am I correct?

The seller can pull out if no bid has been made. Once a bid is made, the seller is locked into the auction. The buyer has no obligation whatsoever if the reserve has not been met. In reality, they can both pull out, change their names, and go about their willy-nilly business.

Sure,either of them can do whatever they want without fear of legal repercusion but I don't see how smart it is to bid without the intention of honoring that bid.First of all,it tells the seller that it's worth at least 2G and their hopes are up.This makes bargaining for a much lower price difficult if not impossible.If there's no bid whatsoever,the seller realizes that they are way out of line and then they're sitting pretty for a drastically lower offer.Then there's a risk of negitive feedback.You can always contact the seller towards the end or after and make a deal without bidding.I've done that with happy results. Anyways,no matter how you slice it,that steel is not worth anywhere near what's bid and certainly not what the reserve is.

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JJ, I've been an eBayer for awhile now, and bought and sold instruments with very happy results, so I know how it works. I still think he's a fool

Seriously, the guy selling it is a dealer, he knows what it's worth, the bidder is probably a buddy, running the bid up to just under the reserve (no commision to eBay that way) sometimes it can prompt someone to bid higher that they should.

Now it makes sense to me.A set up.How lovely.

If there is a fool in the deal, it is the seller. He's the one who is out the listing fee. Trying to start it off with a completely out of bounds amount, whether he is using a shill or not, is foolishness. I still maintain that the bidder is not acting in cahoots with the seller. I've seen him make too many shrewd moves in the past, and seen him be passive sometimes, aggressive the next. I think the instrument is worth $750 tops.