Actually... I think maybe you're being a bit harsh.

The only thing that makes it ridiculous is that it isn't a Dutch auction (ebay won't let you do Dutch auctions until you meet minimum feedback criteria, so it's tough for an ebay newbie to go Dutch). What the seller didn't take into consideration is that only the first bidder can bid $1.00. Then the bid amount increments for the next bidder, and the one after that, etc. I guess he will be all right if he fulfills his promise to send the information for just $1.00 to each bidder regardless of the amount of their bid. Where he may get hurt is that as the high bid amount increases, so does his (the seller's) payment obligation to ebay, but probably not enough to cause too much fiscal pain.

What he is offering to sell for $1.00 is reasonable -- it would probably take a few hours of searching to find the information he is offering, and my time is worth at least 50 cents an hour. (Now, if he were asking, say, $3.00 for the information, that might take a little soul searching on my part... ;-)

Now whether or not the information is worth anything... I guess that would be up to the individual buyer to decide. But since the buyer is only risking $1.00, it seems to be an acceptable risk.

tanstaafl.



"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"