eBay sniping

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwightk.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Thu Apr 24 12:02:00 2003

>From: Mike <ipscone_at_msdsite.com>
>
>> > a much preferred model for me. It is where the sale is extended by a
>> minute or two
>> > when each bid comes in at the end of the auction.
>>
>
>This hurts the seller and should make no difference to the bidder.
>
>NO ONE should ever bid more than they are willing to pay. But with
>sniping, people often bid a little higher just to protect their bid. If
>there is an extention bids will still not rise higher than anyone is
>willing to bid.
>
>I have seen auctions go for $400 on items that normally wouldn't sell for
>$300. One bidder contacted me because two people bid that $400 and he
>said, "I guess I got stuck. I was just trying to protect my bid." He
>paid the auction but clearly bid more than he ever expected or wanted to
>pay.
>
>The people that whine the most about sniping, NEVER win auctions, unless
>they are the first to see a "low" buy-it-now, on popular items. They just
>NEVER bid high enough and would lose anyway.
>

Hi
 I'd once sniped a bid with a value of $145 for an item I wanted.
Knowing the current going rate for the item, $120 was about the
highest I'd seen. The winning bid, also a last minute bid, went
for something over my highest. A couple of days latter, I got
a note from the seller. The asked if I was still interested.
They didn't specify a price so I told them that I thought
a fair price would be 1/2 between the my high price and the
next lowest below me( it was $90 ). They said that I should
pay the full $145. I told them that that was a proxy bid that
wouldn't have been exposed if the other bidder hadn't backed
out and that if I'd won the bid at that price, I'd have
honored it but since I didn't, I was not obligated to pay
that amount and that it was inappropriate for them to demand
that I did, considering that it was not a completed auction.
They claimed that I was wrong and that I was obligated to pay
my high bid.
 Anyway, later, I found that the same buyer had purchased
a number of different items from this seller. What was strange
was the variety of the types of items they bought. To be
honest, it really looked like it was a shill bid. Now I tell
sellers that I will only purchase through eBay and not
after bidding when the other seller backs out.
 There is more to the story but this gives you the idea.
Dwight
Received on Thu Apr 24 2003 - 12:02:00 BST