Why do we refer to the high bidder as “winning” an auction?
Doesn’t “winning” denote luck or skill? “Winning” the lottery requires luck. “Winning” at chess requires skill. Auctions have neither of these elements. Auctions are about how much money the top 2 bidders (excluding reserves) are willing to spend. If auctions were about “winning” instead of the depth of the bidders’ pockets, then with “luck” or “skill” anyone would have a chance of “winning” against Bill Gates. I don’t think so.
Try this: the “winner” is really a “loser”. In an auction, the market value of an item is something lower than the top 2 bidders “feel” it is, because that’s typically where the majority of bidders tend to value the item. Additionally, on a future auction, the second highest bidder will probably “win” (purchase) the same item at a little over the lower price of the third highest bidder (assuming, no new deeper-pocket “winners” join the auction). Doesn’t that mean that the top bidder in auctions paid more than the item’s true market value? I understand the subjective value buyers place on something. But if that value is higher than the market value, then they haven’t “won” anything. They’ve just paid more than the item is worth. The buyer may not care, but if he were to die the next day, his estate auction would reveal the actual depreciated value of his “win”, which would be a “lost”. Winning means you come out ahead. His estate would be worth less because he “won” that auction. Losing points (money) in a game doesn’t make you a “winner”.
Someone may say that since there is only one item with multiple buyers, the buyers are “competing”. I disagree. If I’m willing to spend more money than anyone else, I will “buy” that item. I won’t “win” it. No luck – no skill.
At some auctions (in person), the top bidder is applauded. Someone with more money than sense pays too much for something, and to prevent him from feeling bad, he is applauded? Maybe we applaud him because we are grateful that it’s coming out of his checking account and not ours. Maybe the auctioneer wants him to bid too much again.
Perhaps auctioneers figured they could “sell” their stuff for more money, if the top bidder was told he was a “winner”. After all, who wants to think they paid too much for something? And, if the high bidder is a “winner”, doesn’t that mean that everyone else is a “loser”? How many people would bid too much on the next auction to avoid being a loser?
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