EBaying; howling after an auction

From: Carlos Murillo <cem14_at_cornell.edu>
Date: Tue Oct 19 00:09:01 1999

At 09:56 PM 10/17/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Putting in an
>early bid is IMHO not a wise idea since there is always someone pushing just
>to see if they might get it. The wise bidder bids their maximum bid at the
>latest possible time. FWIW, sniping can be compared to a sealed bid.

Ahhh.. yes. It is plain psychology. No one wants to be outbid (for proof
of this, look at all recent posts regarding those low-scum-collectors-
who-happen-to-pay-more-than-myself in this very list... ;-) ).
In most people, this will trigger a desire (most times, it will be
followed-through ) of bidding even higher... even if it is not the
(perceived) right price anymore. This is good for eBay, and its stock
value (or, at this point in time, "rating" is a more appropriate word)
also depends on it. Me, I see that eBay is pushing this behavior even
further; it used to be that if somebody bid on something, and someone else
had set a higher max bid than one's own, the message to the newer bidder
would be something like "sorry, someone has outbid you". Period. Now,
what you get is the following:

 ``Try again ? someone has outbid you! This means you'll need to bid again.''

Clearest proof so far that they actually try to push prices up. But, on the
other hand, these are just good 'ol classical marketing strategies.
They still work.

Therefore, I agree with the practice of "sniping". Closest thing to
an unbiased, responsible, self-refrained bid.

Carlos.
Received on Tue Oct 19 1999 - 00:09:01 BST