I’ve been to little country auctions time and again where an item will get run up for no apparent reason. Is there any way they could sell it again for 300 bucks? Nope. But they’re determined to have it, so they just keep bidding, and the auctioneer and his assistants will just keep prodding them to go higher.
That’s what’s happening in my mind, with twitter and facebook and the like. Because X bid $1000, then Y believes $1200 is realistic. And no one asks why.
I went to an auction once, and they auctioned off a flat of mason jars. The exact same flat could be purchased at the grocery store two miles away. In fact, I am confident that this very flat had been purchased at this grocery store at some point in the past.
But up went the bidding, to about triple the price. There was nothing rare or collectible about these mason jars...they were just ordinary jars. And I have to assume that anybody who wants mason jars actually uses them...meaning that they already know what a fair price for jars is. Didn’t stop them from bidding it up, though.
I was fascinated.
Don’t get me started on the baskets....baskets?!?!? The wife’s baskets were worth more than hubby’s guns.