Re: A Golden Opportunity!

From: Watson A.Name - \ (NOSPAM_at_dslextreme.com)
Date: 08/22/04 

Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 12:35:23 -0700

"Don James" <stop_spaam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1dcff9aa.0408190746.2dc4a1be@posting.google.com...
> "Michael A. Covington" <look@ai.uga.edu.for.address> wrote in message
news:<4123efda$1@mustang.speedfactory.net>...
> > "Don Bruder" <dakidd@sonic.net> wrote in message
> > news:LbNUc.8416$54.122899@typhoon.sonic.net...
> > > And that's the long and short of it: You anti-sniping folks are
crying
> > > because you got something taken away from you by someone who knew
what
> > > they wanted, knew what it was worth to them, and wanted it worse
than
> > > you did. Get over it.
> >
> > Er... Can't we say the same to YOU? If you know what you're willing
to pay,
> > why do you snipe? Why don't you do what you're telling us to do?
>
> Michael, there are many advantages to bidding very late besides
> possibly getting a lower price:
>
> 1) I'm less likely to be shilled (yes, shill bidding happens on eBay,
> and it costs buyers a lot of money)

Not if the buyer knows what the item is worth, and his maximum bid
reflects that.

> 2) I don't have to wait for the auction to be over before I bid on
> another similar item (remember, even if you're outbid on eBay, a
> retraction or cancellation can make you the winner; if you don't want
> two of something, you have to wait for the auction to end once you've
> bid)

Then why are you bidding on two different items?

> 3) I don't become someone's "personal shopper" (someone who bids early
> on a lot of items, allowing others to find things by scanning his
> bidding history)

How does scanning one's bidding history help others?

> 4) I'm less likely to get "auction fever" and bid more than I can
> afford; I get one shot, and have to decide how much an item is really
> worth to me.

That's not true. You can still change your bid up to the last moment.

> There are others, but the point is that sniping isn't done just to
> take advantage of the uninformed bidder. It would be fine with me if
> eBay restricted people to one bid per item (as you suggested), but I
> think they like the bidding wars.

After you get into a bidding frenzy, you learn how unproductive it is
when you find that others are paying a lot less for the same items
because they didn't get the fever. So you should have learned that
early on. Just hope you make your mistakes on low cost items in tbe
beginning.

> Automatic extensions may be OK for some sites, but I doubt they'd be
> well-received in a global, 24/7 environment like eBay. You're
> proposing a system that would virtually require users to be at their
> computers when an auction is ending, in order to defend their bids

If you're defending your bid, then you're getting into a bidding war or
frenzy. And that's a big mistake that no bidder should make, no matter
what the auction.

> (I wouldn't expect eBay's proxy bidding system to survive if other
> bidders could nibble away at the proxy for as long as they wanted;
> that would be paradise for shill-bidders and "win at all costs"
> bidders).

Don't you think you're saying paradise for the wrong people? The
paradise would be for the seller. Win at all costs bidders can already
get whatever they want by overbidding at the beginning. They're fools
whose money will soon be parted. Shill bidders won't change a prudent
bidder's maximum bid. He knows what the item is worth.

> That gives me a one-hour time window; if an auction for
> something I want doesn't end in that window, I won't be bidding. That
> doesn't sound like an effective system to me.

> BTW, Yahoo Auctions offers extensions as an option. It's rarely used.
> If eBay offered it, I'd expect the same level of success.

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