Greetings and Salutations...

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 17:32:23 GMT, xray
wrote:

I've been looking for a 4-jaw chuck for my lathe. Here's one that I was
following, but I think got too high for some reason:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=7527214875

When I look at the bidding history, I see one person bidding up the
price with no other bids in between. I have seen this before on other
eBay auctions.

I can't figure out how this can happen. Is there something missing in
the history that is displayed or is there some other explanation.

Just curious about this weirdness that I have seen before.


As has been explained elsewhere, that is the way the proxy
bidding by the system works. Since the smallest timeslice is
a second or so, it simply LOOKS as if there were multiple bids
with no other bids in between. I suspect that if Ebay cared,
they could tweak the software to add a sequence number to ensure
that even "immediate" proxy bids would get listed with the
correct interleave.
As for the flame wars following on Sniping...I have to
say that I tend to snipe, but, mainly because I have become
convinced that there is a cadre of bidders who search for the
auctions I am bidding on, and, immediately run up the selling
price to retail or more. It has happened QUITE a number of
times when I have bid a max amount well before the end of
an auction.
As for whether or not sniping is an attempt to defraud
the seller...This sounds more like complaining about not
being able to sell stuff for as much as one would wish...which
is NOT an Ebay problem. As things stand now, there are three
ways to get the amount one might want for an item:
1) Sell it retail on Amazon, or a personal website, and
don't use Ebay at all.
2) Set a reserve price on the item.
3) Set a minimum opening bid.
The alternative is to start with a low opening bid, and
hope that competition will kick in, so that one or more
folks will decide that the item IS their's, and, they will
have it no matter what they have to bid.
As a seller, my goal is to make the item so sexy that
several folks will decide their lives will be incomplete unless
they have it. This ensures that a bidding war will kick in.
As a buyer, my goal is to get the item for as close
to free as is possible. It is the same mindset that I have when
I go to the boneyard at a hamfest, or a fleamarket. I don't
care what the seller has listed as a price. I will decide
what I want to pay, and offer that. If the seller is more
interested in taking cash home than the items they brought,
they may take it. Alternatively, they may refuse...no problem.
The good news is that no matter what you see on Ebay
now...there will be another one coming down the road, so if
one does not win THIS one...there will not only be another
chance down the road, but, there will be one FEWER person
competing for the item.
Regards
Dave Mundt