About "Hidden Auctions"

I dont like it. Sometimes I sit on my butt for hours looking for a good deal only to lose it to someone who may not have found it if it werent for someone giving it away. I used to think it was a nice thing to do till I upset a couple of buddies on here. I think we should leave the hidden auctions hidden and let the folks who work for them enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I said don’t post them. Let the people who put all the effort into finding them get the good deals. They can tell us about them later. 😀

This is a tricky subject.

It does take a lot of hard work and extra effort to search out and find truly ‘hidden’ auctions. I define hidden as being pieces that do not have the keywords “Windstone”, “Pena”, or any combo of those words in either title or description. Being a ‘budget’ Windstone shopper myself, I know there have been times in the past where I’ve looked through all 2,000-5,000 auctions listed for collectible dragons.. then I’d search in other categories as well. That’s a lot!

On the other hand, anything published on the internet is fair game to all… if someone went to the hard work of finding a really buried auction, there is nothing saying that they cannot post it if they desire. I cannot find it in my heart to get angry at anyone if they are simply trying to share their find (it is a different story if they are being a jerk and are only sharing to 1. Self-promote or 2. Troll as was the case a few weeks ago- trolling isn’t tolerated).

One thing I don’t like to hear are complaints to the nature of “well I don’t have time to search all those auctions so I wish people would post the hidden ones”.
The fact that one does not have enough time to do any given activity doesn’t mean that someone else should be expected to do it for oneself. 😉 I no longer have time to search hidden auctions either but I do not expect to be handed the results of someone else’s work and dedication.

So, what’s the middle grounds? I suppose in terms of eBay and general courtesy, if you find a truly hidden auction and don’t want the piece, you could look at the “wish list” and PM the folks that are after that piece and let them battle it out on eBay. What do you guys think?

That seems reasonable.

PhoenixTears has a wish list thread that a lot of people have listed their wishes in.

I recently got a peacock coiled mother in a hidden auction, I never would have been able to get her if someone had posted it here.

Well I was one that voted to share. Not that I want the auctions, but sometimes I look through ebay to see whats there and I like to help others out…