eBay being sued over patent infringement

From: Mail List <mail.list_at_analog-and-digital-solutions.com>
Date: Fri Apr 25 10:39:01 2003

Jeffrey,

> (I wouldn't trust a sniping service IMHO)

The sniping service has missed getting a bid in on a couple of occasions
due to delays caused by high network traffic loads

> You have to be paying attention when the auction ends

This one gets me sometimes. There have been some items I had meant
to bid on, but ended up getting too busy, and then when I got to checking
the auction, found I had let the time get away from me, and it was already
over and done.

There are some advantages to getting one's bid entered early also.




At 10:02 AM 4/25/03 -0500, you wrote:
>On Thursday, April 24, 2003, J.C.Wren wrote:
> > > My favorite idea is simply to have sealed bids. That is, you don't know
> > > the high bid until the auction closes. Doing it that way prevents
> > > last-minute psychology from causing bad decisions.
> >
> > Out of curiosity, why is it in my best interest as a seller to prevent
> > people from making rash decisions?
>
>As a seller, there are two advantages that I can identify. First, it
>promotes customer satisfaction, which leads to a more profitable long-term
>relationship with the customer. Second, people who make rash decisions are
>less likely to pay, and nonpaying bidders are a real pain. It may be worth
>it to reduce the probability of experiencing that pain.
>
>As both a seller and a bidder, eBay is a great tool for discovering the
>approximate values of things. Last-minute auction psychology, IMHO,
>artificially inflates these prices (though generally not by much). A
>sealed-bid system, by decreasing the last-minute effect, would make eBay's
>market values for things more accurately reflect the market values outside
>of eBay. Thus, eBay would become a better value estimation tool.
>
>As a bidder, it's currently inconvenient. The way eBay works (and I'm not
>really a big eBay basher; I have lots of fun with it), if you really want to
>be competitive, you have to snipe. You have to be paying attention when the
>auction ends (I wouldn't trust a sniping service IMHO). That's difficult to
>do for a great many people and depends on work, weather, and a virtually
>infinite number of other factors. A sealed-bid system would enable people
>to bid -- competitively -- at their convenience and then go on about their
>lives.
>
> > It's not my moral or social responsibility to keep others from making
> > stupid decisions.
>
>I do not have the following view, but some may say that it is unethical to
>take advantage of people by exploiting their psychology.
>
>--
>Jeffrey Sharp
Received on Fri Apr 25 2003 - 10:39:01 BST