I prefer the following furry auction system:

You, too, can win the right to pay more than everyone else for an item the owner doesn't want!

One person's junk is always another person's treasure, and this is applicable to everything from the Intellivision console you're trying to get rid of at your garage sale to a piece of art that you think 'sucks' but that is actually really good. ;)

There are a few artists who put originals up for sale at the auction sites.

The other sales are just a form of garage sale or thrift store, as Micah said. I don't know about other folks, but I frequently find items that I actually need at thrift stores, so why not look for bargains on FurBid?

:)

if someone is trying to pass something that is of relative little (or even negative - as in it's taking up space thay can't spare or need for something else - or just can't immagine having the slightest need or use for it) value to themselves on to someone to whom it may be of much greater usefulness or value why interpose abstractions of value at all? - i'm not trying to bash capitolism - i just don't see it as all that much of a panacea and i don't see that we've (collectively on this earth) more then even begun to scratch the surface of the possible range of alternatives (we've also seemingly rejected out of hand several that have worked within limited scope but had problems when attempted to be applied more broadly or in differing contexts - i.e. potlatching for one example - barter in various forms for another - yes i understand that abstractions of value are more convient to carry arround then say a cow for example - but when the 'cow' itself is something that can be transfered over the net - mightn't that not at some point obsolete the whole concept of abstractions of value - aside from nostelgic emotional attatchement to the concept? ... ~;)