Snipe S/W?

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire_at_neurotica.com>
Date: Thu Dec 21 12:48:16 2000

On December 21, Iggy Drougge wrote:
> But do the end justify the means? I have also found it an unpleasurable
> experience to lose something which I have put a bid on in some cases several
> weeks ago, only to be outbid at the very last minute, possibly when I'm at
> school or fast asleep. In a real-life auction, there are the three rounds in
> which you may increase your bid, giving everyone a fair chance. On Ebay, the
> auctions do instead go on for weeks, and jumping in at the very end of this
> time frame is really quite dishonest. Some play with their cards on the table,
> whereas the snipers literally rip the thing out of your hands. It's really
> annoying, and and example of very bad behaviour. Perhaps the reason why
> anarchy doesn't work very well.

  While I do agree, and I admit that this is no excuse, I must point
out that a *lot* of people snipe. It boils down to this...if you want
a particular item, either snipe...or be sniped.

  People need to stop comparing eBay to a "regular" or "real life" (what
exactly is "real life"?) auction. While eBay calls itself an
"auction", it is very different from what is traditionally known as an
auction. That's just the way it is. If you think this is a good
thing, so be it. If you think it ISN'T a good thing...well, don't use
it! As long as eBay has many happy buyers and many happy sellers (I
happen to be both!) it will do fine...and anything that has happy
followers will always have a group of people with sour grapes who do
nothing but complain about things.

        -Dave McGuire
Received on Thu Dec 21 2000 - 12:48:16 GMT