>(The big failure people have in grasping this is missing the facts that valuations are personal, and valuations != money. After that, this logic flows simply and inexorably.)
Till this point, I thought you were defending Swoopo and your logic actually made sense to me because the parties involved in the auction have different valuations. If a person spends USD 10 bidding on a product, the mere possibility of having a USD 1200 product for such a low price may be more valuable to him than Swoopo's valuation of the transaction (USD 10). Plus the suspense and thrill adds to the valuation by the bidder :)
Till this point, I thought you were defending Swoopo and your logic actually made sense to me because the parties involved in the auction have different valuations. If a person spends USD 10 bidding on a product, the mere possibility of having a USD 1200 product for such a low price may be more valuable to him than Swoopo's valuation of the transaction (USD 10). Plus the suspense and thrill adds to the valuation by the bidder :)