Consumers love choice, although many hate the idea of a free market. Consumers of all kinds love choice so much that live auction-style, buy-and-sell platforms have become the new free market spaces for many. Whether there is a free market resurgence or a small glimpse of it, platforms such as Whatnot, Property Room, Facebook Marketplace, Sotheby’s, and DealDash, to name a few are bringing free market concepts back into vogue.

The peculiar thing is, the haters of free markets and enemies of capitalism, are some of the very people who participate in the market space and buy-and-sell action platforms. Free markets haters love highly-regulated markets and central planning to control market economies, so why do they love the fruits of unhampered auction-style platforms? Maybe it is “rules for thee, but not for me”—regulate everyone else but let me buy how I want. That seems plausible, but haters of free markets may say the auction-style, buy-and-sell platforms do not produce real needs or wants for people. I would concede this to Mises, who said,

Under laissez faire [free markets], says the planner, the goods produced are not those which people “really” need, but those goods from the sale of which the highest returns are expected. It is the objective of planning to direct production toward satisfaction of “true” needs. But who should decide what “true” needs are? …

Free markets allow individuals to exchange without coercion, bring about better competitive prices and deals, encourage innovation from the seller, and are more efficient in the exchange—the overall buying and selling process. Amazingly, some people still do not see the harmony in a free market—despite their enjoyment of Facebook Marketplace, Whatnot, or DealDash. Ironically, the haters of free markets are users of shopping and auction-style apps. That is to say, disbelievers of free markets disagree with its tenets, theoretically, but practically, they use these auction-style platforms as consumers and enjoy the fruits from them. In other words, people who bemoan the dangers and greed of the free market are the same customers who are them. “Rules for thee, but not for me” is what I hear from enemies of free markets. …

Auction-style selling platforms negate the so-called disparity caused by free markets. It is not true that free markets cause disparity and, in fact, it is creating the opposite effect; namely, real, flesh-and-blood people are converting their property into higher passive incomes. Many free market and capitalist haters will admit their philosophical dislike for free markets and the need for highly-regulated markets, but practically, these same people enjoy the fruits of the auction-style platforms with a free market flavor.

Meanwhile, the newly-minted seller, or entrepreneur, who uses live-stream shopping and selling platforms are seeing huge benefits. In other words, these platforms provide value to the common person. While all the sellers and buyers may not appreciate the free market system, they are reaping the benefits from the very system they lament is controlled. Therefore, it seems we are moving toward the final and last frontier—the market space, where people of all sorts value the freedom of exchange and the use of property for profit and gaining passive income. It boggles the mind how non-free market consumers can love the fruits of free markets so much and simultaneously hate its tenants.