buy with one's ears

English

Verb

buy with one's ears (third-person singular simple present buys with one's ears, present participle buying with one's ears, simple past and past participle bought with one's ears)

1. (art, colloquial) To buy works of art based on reputation and expected future gains rather than aesthetic or artistic value.
   • 2010, Don Thompson, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, Aurum Press Limited, →ISBN:

     Foreign buyers entering the western art market are also buying artists with their ears rather than their eyes, and overpaying if others have.