Fair to change ad from sale to auction?

This is just me, but I feel the opposite approach is better.

When I was selling a component which I knew would draw a lot of interest, I first listed it on auction here on Audiogon with a reserve equal to what my asking price in a classified would be. That way, if there was to be bidding, there would be bidding. It did not meet my reserve.

Once that happened, I listed it in a classified for what my reserve was.

It sold in about a half a day, and everyone was happy all around.

And, as many have said here, treat people as you would wish to be. Listing a classified, having a big response, then wanting more money is a VERY ugly thing to do. Imagine you were on the receiving end - who wouldn't feel as if they were being treated poorly?

My advice? Be happy you met your asking price, take the money, give and take positive feedback, and add it to the experience of life. Everyone wins that way.

Everybody is a lawyer these days. As a lawyer with long years in practice I find more and more that "anything I can get away with" is the current mentality. A lot of business people I deal with are the worst offenders at not humouring their obligations. OBO means, and as always meant, that the vendor was willing to accept less to sell the item within a narrow time frame. The people here have this quaint notion that it actually means some sort of "auction" procedure whereby the vendor would keep all offers to purchase open to accept what he considers the best (and to add to that the personality of the purchaser as a consideration!) is beyond the pale. I don't know about other jurisdictions, and discussions about whether an ad is simply an invitation to negotiate or an offer to sell in any given instance can go on and on, but where I live, if you have all the essential ingredients of a contract of sale in your ad and someone says that he accepts these terms, you have a valid sale. Paperwork, payment of the price and delivery of the goods are all concerns that enter the picture further down the line. Like I said, if you are going to play the game, learn the rules and live by them. In a way I am not surprised by anything on this site just thinking about folks who actually believe in hearing inter molecular activity through their speakers. I must be an alien just landed, I still am shocked by what I read here. Ma, is it OK if I poke Tommy in the eye, no one will know his parents are out and he still will have one left?

Thanks for the responses.
I am not looking to do this, just thinking about some folks who seem to not know they have a 'hot' seller, and wind up selling it in the first 3 minutes, when for $50/$100 more, it would have taken a few days... but they would be $50/$100 richer.
My own ads I list the highest price I think an interested buyer might go for. If it doesn't sell, I don't care... sortof...

do whatever you want, up to the point where you accept an offer and take someone's money. An ad's price is a guideline, and you can ask for more or less than it. Take homes in southern california, for example. List one at $550k, and you'll get 4-6 offers between $540k-$560k. Just because the a person gets the first offer in, doesn't guarantee anything. There's alot to consider in an offer.

However, its dishonorable to "fabricate" another offer for so-and-so price and request a higher price.

So the asking price is an "indication" of what the price should be? Is it the same way at a Wal-Mart store in California? So, according to Leftistelf the whole society is some kind of auction where the selling price may be less or more than the asking price. Surely you miss the point and generalize what market conditions bring about in a place where too many people for the resources available live. If there is any truth to the oft-heard notion that what goes on in California now is an indication of what will happen in backwaters such as Quebec in fifteen years, I say to all Canadians that we should decide now to head in another direction. No wonder you guys in the states spend all that money on power conditioners for your systems, the sorry state of the power grid is probably forcing you to do it. "California, it's cold, it's damp, that's why they say this (fellow) is a tramp"...