ebay question

From: Brian Knittel <brian_at_quarterbyte.com>
Date: Wed Feb 25 17:53:00 2004

Oh, I'm probably going to regret weighing in on this but: ebay proxy
bidding is MUCH better than a sealed bid auction because if you win,
you only end up paying one increment more than the second highest
bidder (usually a buck or two). In a true sealed bid auction, you pay
whatever you bid, which might be a lot more than the second highest
bid. So, the ebay model almost always gives you a better deal than a
sealed bid, and never a worse deal.

What most people don't like about sniping is the emotional letdown
they get when their bid sits at the minimum for a week, and then
their maximum gets exceeded at the last second. I have to admit, I've
ended up feeling cheated myself, as if I actually deserved to get a
PDP-8 for $10. But all they've cheated me out of is the opportunity
re-think my maximum bid after that find out that someone else may be
interested.

What would make eBay much more interesting (and more expensive for
buyers) would be the going-going-gone approach used by live auctions,
and the old onsale.com site. Real auctions stay open until bidding
activity has ceased for a period of time. Onsale kept auctions open
past the posted closing time until 10 minutes had passed since the
last bid. This made sniping irrelevant, but in exchange you could get
a frenzy of emotional incremental end-stage bidding.

Brian
Received on Wed Feb 25 2004 - 17:53:00 GMT