On Wed, 25 Feb 2004, Lyle Bickley wrote:
> I've been to a lot of live auctions - especially for antiques - and many
> times the bidding is "normal": $50, $55, $65, $75 - going once, going
> twice - and somebody bids $300 at the last moment - everybody is caught
> off guard - and before one catches his/her breath, the gavel is down and
> the item sold.
But at least someone else in the crowd still has a highly conceivable
chance of submitting a counter bid. When the time to the gavel coming
down is a matter of seconds (literally, as on eBay) then the analogy
breaks down.
> Sometimes on eBay (or other auctions) I will put in a low bid on an item -
> because I just "kinda" want it - and am not interested in bidding it up.
> "Snipes" could bother me less - if they want to pay more, so be it.
By default, I program all my bids in StealthBid and let it do my work for
me. I program in the most I am willing to pay. If I get it, great; if
not, oh well. But at least I get to put my maximum bid in at the last
minute and therefore am usually able to get it for a very low price,
rather than programming my proxy in at the beginning and letting some
idiot peck away at it until he either gets $1 past my high bid or gives up
after he determines that he's gone as high as he can stand and ends up
costing me more money than it would have. It can also work the other way,
where my last second bid pushes up someone else's bid, but oh well. This
is eBay.
> If I really want an item, and I'm short on time - I just bid the maximum I'm
> willing to pay and forget it. If I win O.K., if not, it's still O.K. Sniping
> doesn't bother me at all - I've already determined the maximum the item is
> worth to me - and if someone bids more in the last 4 seconds, so be it. If
> they bid an hour earlier it wouldn't make any difference to me - I've already
> determined what I'm willing to pay for the item - they can have it.
And that's the way it should work, but people always discount human nature
and the depths to which human stupidity can plunge (hint: there's no
limit).
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Wed Feb 25 2004 - 14:04:01 GMT