In article ,
Dave Hinz wrote:
On 11 Jul 2005 08:39:53 -0700, jim rozen wrote:
In article , Dave Hinz says...
People who are sniping are doing it so they can outbid the guy with the
top bid, at the last minute, so nobody else can do the same thing to
them that they're doing to others.
Dave, consider 'sniping' as such (putting ones maximum bid
in at the last second or two) to be the moral equivalent of a
sealed-bid auction.
But, it's _not_ a sealed bid auction. The sniper can see what's in the
other envelopes, or at least, who else is bidding. They're looking at
some of the other guys' cards, without showing any of theirs.
That does not change my (snipe) bid. I decide early what I want
to bid. If, by the time the auction is approaching its closing time,
the visible bids are above that, I won't bit. If the visible bids are
not above my maximum, I bid my maximum. Sniping only gives me two
benefits:
1) I don't wind up with someone who isn't *sure* what it is worth to
them bumping my bid up a few dollars at a time until they find
my maximum or they finally decide that they don't want to spend
*that* much for it after all -- after pushing my bid to more
than I otherwise would have needed to pay.
2) I don't have the time to increment my own bid, if someone outbids
me, so I can't be *goaded* into bidding more than I had already
set as a maximum.
Oh yes -- also it leaves me free to bid on another auction for
the same item. Let me give you an example:
I remember that there was a long auction (10 days, IIRC) for a
nice set of three or four Tesa tri-mikes. (I forget whether it was the
0.6-0.8" set or the 0.8-1.2" set. I now have both.
The description in this auction was wonderful, as were the
images. Lots of them, and lots of detail. As a result, this drew quite
a bit of attention -- both early bidders and snipers..
Then a second set showed up. Not as nice a photo, not as nice a
description, but the photo showed that it had the wrenches for the
extension tubes and both setting rings.
That second auction was set to close a day before the first.
Since I had not put in a bid for the first, I opted to bid on the
second, which had quite a lot fewer bids. I got the more complete set
for a significant but acceptable price (far from dirt cheap). A day
later, I watched the first auction close for $300.00 more than I got the
second set for.
Now -- if I had put in a bid early on the first, what I was
willing to pay for it, I would not have felt free to bid on the second
set (as I don't buy things just to turn around and re-sell them -- I buy
them to *use* them.) The first closing auction would have closed for
less than I was willing to pay, to the loss of the seller of that
auction. And -- the final closing price of the second closing auction
*was* well past what I was willing to pay, so I would have had no effect
on the closing price of that one either -- and would still be without
that set of tri-mikes.
I can see your point if you think that all sniping is done with
full knowledge of the current bids, and with a bid calculated to just be
above the visible bids. But -- remember that a sniper does *not* know
what remaining unused escrow is in the top bid which is showing, and he
also does not know what other snipers will be bidding. A sniper, to
have a *serious* chance, must also bid what he considers the item to be
worth to him. If there is no competition (as is sometimes the case) the
sniper is lucky. Often there are other snipers who bid more than what I
think something is worth to me. How do you think that *you* lose in
that case?
But ebay has decided that those are the rules of their game,
and eveyone follows them. There are other auction houses online,
and real, live auctions, that extend bidding times once that
'one last bid' shows up, so folks have the chance to trump it.
Yup.
If sellers really felt that ebay were screwing them out of
money, they would sell some other way.
And in fact, I have decided that, and am selling on other sites, for
that reason.
O.K. Then you won't be seeing my* bids, even if you have
something which I want. There is not enough time to search all of the
auction sites. eBay has a greater chance of having what I want, so that
is where I go for my searches.
I like ebay's rules
as they are now, and would not bid in online auctions unless
there were a set time limit. So I don't.
Well, like I said, if there was a seller's option for automatic
extension following late bids, I'd use it. If it's visible, and the
snipers decided not to bid on that item, well, that's just fine.
Depending on what you were selling with such an option, I might
or might not bid.
But --- if there were such an option, you would simply see a new
form of sniping -- seeing how close you could get to that fifteen-minute
period without triggering an extension.
Remember -- there are a *lot* of people out there, and some
percentage of them will figure out the best way to make the auctions
work for *them*.
Enjoy,
DoN.
* Actually, I do not make the bids. my wife does. And sometimes,
neither of us remember that an auction is closing until too late
which is another way that you (as the seller) can loose from
manual sniping.
We do not use a sniping service, as we don't believe in
releasing our eBay password to anyone else.
Aside from that, using a sniping service presumably makes it
more difficult to back out of a planned bid, if an alternative
one which is better shows up set to close earlier. :-)
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