My Biggest eBay gripe..

From: Aaron Christopher Finney <af-list_at_wfi-inc.com>
Date: Mon Oct 18 02:04:06 1999

On Sun, 17 Oct 1999, Marvin wrote:

>
>
> John Lawson wrote:
> >
> > My main concern with the eBay auction algorithm is that it is
> > time-limited, rather than bid-limited.... the aution closes after a
> > fixed span **no matter what the bidding activity is**.
> >
> > 'Normal' auctions close when **no further bids are recieved** in an
> > agreed-upon span.
>
> You are forgetting the sealed bid auctions. IMNSHO, it would be far better
> for ebay to add the capability to make sealed bids (and yes, I have
> suggested that to them.) That would eliminate this inching up just to see
> where the high bid is prior to closing.
>
> Ebays suggestion that you just bid your maximum and wait to see what happens
> is a good thought. But making that bid early just invites "well, I'll just
> bid one more dollar to see what happens" and thus driving the price up. Most
> ebay buyers have educated themselves to know that early bids do not bring
> the best prices. Hence the popularity of sniping. A combination of sealed
> and open bidding would most likely work out better than the current mess.

Yes, which is really what "sniping" is; a user-created form of sealed
bidding.

People like me are the reason that bidding the max early is no good. I am
a fool with my money, and I don't know when to say "when." I view a dollar
as something that won't even buy me a cup of coffee most places, so it's
never a big deal to say, "Hmmm...just one more dollar..." to try to top a
bid. That's the biggest reason I bid in the final few seconds, to protect
me from myself. By the time I can reload the page after I bid, the auction
is over and I either won for that amount or lost...


Aaron
Received on Mon Oct 18 1999 - 02:04:06 BST