Vintage Bike and Parts Fishing Expeditions...

 I normally do not cover the politics of online bicycle websites and discussion boards, but I will admit that I am not a fan of this latest change to a discussion board I visit.

The Classic and Antique Bicycle Exchange has opened a new selling format that could be described as a somewhat loose auction for parts or bicycles. Sellers post an item in the forum, and then buyers bid on the item until the seller decides to accept an offer. 

This is called "Deal or No Deal", but the name should instead be "Carnac's Fishing Expedition". 

https://thecabe.com/forum/index/deal-or-no-deal.97/

There is no stated reserve, which is to say, the reserve is whatever the seller is thinking at the time. The buyer offers are supposed to be public so people can see what is being bid, but some bids are being submitted by private message, so there is that guess work as well, and who knows where the real bidding is. Even worse, at least one user has submitted a higher offer even after the seller accepted another bidder's offer, effectively trying to kibosh the deal with a late, higher bid. Some of this behavior is against the rules, but the format invites wild behavior. Sellers can just withdraw the item at any time, even with active bids - so the rug could be pulled out anyway from the bidders.

I will admit this is a turn in the wrong direction, and it tends to work as nothing more than a "pie in the sky" fishing expedition for the seller. He is free to post whatever item, and then turn down the offers he gets if he doesn't like them. The buyers get to play their version of "Carnac the Magnificent" setting down bids.

Is he about to make an offer on that Schwinn?

This is all a little like eBay, but without some of the eBay formatting and a little more wild west. 

It's unfortunate because one of the virtues of the CABE, Bikeforums sales, and RatRodBikes, was that they stuck to their guns in terms of having only set-price sales. Either you buy or you don't with those. But this latest change at the CABE is certainly a step away from that, and I think, in the wrong direction.