Many of you know Rob Siegel, the so-called "Hack Mechanic" who is known by many in the vintage BMW circle. He's particularly famous for owning and driving, to his credit, cosmetically-challenged BMWs that he repairs in his garage, side of the road, and wherever else he finds himself behind the wheel of an otherwise risky vehicle.
He's also a writer, and regularly opines about his experiences fixing said BMWs. He also talks about selling vehicles on occasion, and is sought-out to consign vehicles on behalf of sellers who don't want to bother with the arduous process of listing on sites like Bring A Trailer.
Recently, he wrote about selling his aunt's Bentley convertible. What struck me was how the Hack Mechanic, the revolutionary hobby car guy, was completely fine with BaT telling him he couldn't have his reserve price of $75K, knocking him down to a paltry $55K. This was after, of course, he submitted legions of photos and data, undoubtedly spending upwards of 3 hours getting all of this information uploaded.
I likened this to taking a job where they promise you'll get to your target salary number with the bonus - except the bonus is contingent on company performance. And after you've worked there a year, you find out you should have asked for your original number in salary and not a non-existent bonus.
Being told what you should sell your car for based on the auction house's likelihood of making money on it is no different than working for a lower salary based on a wink and a nudge from a corporation that they might make enough money to pay you a bonus.