Very well said better than I could .. The market
forces that drive Ebay auctions are very complex but a force that
can be militated by greed , popular thought ,frenzy and plain old snake oil selling
talk it up ! . I’ve seen very , very rare plants sell for the
starting bid or not sell at all .WHY ? nobody knew what the hell they
were & the market persons who would of bid them high just weren’t on
Ebay . But weeks later a newspaper article Zoomed the relisted auction
plants thru the roof .
From:
aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com] On
Behalf Of ted.held@us.henkel.com
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 1:43 PM
To: Discussion of aroids
Subject: [Aroid-l] So, What's a Really Rare Plant Worth?
There are two
issues about e-Bay. The first is fraudulent offerings. We have heard a few
varieties of this. The other is very high prices for real plants.
As most people
who raise rare plants (or animals) know, sometimes there are really rare plants
that are just not generally available. In a practical sense, this means almost
any plant that is not in commercial mass cultivation and distributed through
the usual mass outlets.
I was at an
auction two weekends ago that contained three very rare Cryptocoryne (aroids).
The bidding audience was not made up of plant people by and large. These plants
were difficult to sell at $1 apiece. How much would it take to find them for a
non-specialist? Probably at least $100 each.
What if you put
one on e-Bay, labeled correctly and in good condition and health? How much
should they go for, $1?, $100?, $1000? It all depends on the unfathomable
complexity of the marketplace. What if you had one and wanted to unload it. How
much would you let it go for? $1, $100? What if you had five dozen and wanted
to let them go? How much would you accept? $1 each? $100 each? What if you had
only one and loved it dearly? How much would it take to get you to change your
mind? $100? $1000?, more?
How would those
numbers change were you a billionaire?
My view is that
an honest market should permit transactions among willing players at whatever
price is agreeable to both parties. If a rare Sansevieria goes for $3000 when
you paid $100, so be it. If your eyebrows are raised, sell a couple and pocket
the money. If $3000 is way too high, the next transactions will prove that out.
There are no absolutes in these matters.
Of course,
fraud is another thing. Just keep the difference straight in your mind.
Ted.
