Snipe S/W?

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire_at_neurotica.com>
Date: Thu Dec 21 14:17:39 2000

On December 21, Eric J. Korpela wrote:
> > . I'd pay several hundred bucks for a pdp11/34a in a
> > heartbeat on eBay. Why? Because I've been looking for one for a LONG
> > time [...]
>
> I don't think this invalidates the point Aaron made. In fact it validates
> it. Enter several hundred bucks for your maximum and you won't have to
> snipe. If it goes above that, well, it was more than you were willing to
> pay. What's the problem? If you are disappointed you didn't get it, then
> you apparently didn't have your maximum set high enough.

  You do have a point there, I must admit.

> That's usually not the goal of sniping. The goal of sniping is to get the
> item for less that you think others would be willing to pay. Then again
> if they really had entered their maximum, the technique wouldn't work. The
> problem is that most people really don't think through what their maximum is
> and are willing to change their "maximum" several times over the course of
> the week.

  This is a VERY good point. If one is doing it for business, say,
buying and selling Ciscos, it's easy to attach a dollar figure to an
item. But when I do a search for "pdp* -plasma", it's sometimes
difficult to figure out how much money something is worth to me.
Often it even varies with my mood!

> I usually bid my maximum right away. I'm never disappointed because someone
> else was willing to pay more, because I am unwilling to pay more. Sniping
> really doesn't buy you anything but the satisfaction of knowing you've paid
> more than you were originally willing to.

  I assume you mean "less"?

        -Dave McGuire
Received on Thu Dec 21 2000 - 14:17:39 GMT