Re: More eBay insanity (was Re: Apple IIc+ on eBay)

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Roy replied (and thanks for the topic change ;-):

>Michael J. Mahon wrote:
>> Scott Alfter wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>In article <BdOcncN9rJ5-yamjXTWcpg@comcast.com>,
>>>GarberStreet Enterprises <willy46pa@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>There is an Apple IIc+ on eBay right now ready to close
>>>>in a matter of hours. I decided I don't really want it, so if
>>>>anyone does, just outbid my $9.99 and it is probably
>>>>going to be yours. Here is the link.
>>>>
>
>>>>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4610&item=2302607736
>>>
>>>I put in a bid 10 minutes before the end.  (Yes, it's sniping.  No, I'm not
>>>pissed that I was outbid.
>> 
>> 
>> <snip>
>> 
>> I have no problem with sniping--it simply converts an auction into
>> a sealed bid auction, and avoids the emotional bidding which works
>> newbies into a sweat.
>> 
>> For the record, a bid placed 10 minutes before the close is hardly
>> a snipe, since 10 minutes is plenty of time for an outbid bidder to
>> respond.  A proper snipe is placed seconds before the close, so
>> that no one can "respond", even the sniper (to increase his bid).
>> 
>> The effect of everyone sniping is that no one knows what anyone
>> else is willing to bid until it's over--it's a sealed bid auction.
>> 
>> Being angry at being outbid is silly--like being angry that it is
>> raining.  If you were willing to bid more, then _do_ it!
>> 
>> But to hang your final bid amount out there for days (as a
>> proxy bid) to be shot at by passers-by--that doesn't make
>> business sense to me.
>> 
>> -michael
>
>I've won any number of auctions by doing just that Michael - knowing 
>that I'm not willing to go higher than a certain price, making the bid 
>at that price, and then seeing I'm the only nut in the world willing to 
>pay that much for something. Granted, I could do it shortly before the 
>auction is over, and I have done that, but either way, it seems to me 
>that if you want an item, bid your highest price, and take what comes.

Proxy bids long before the end of an auction represent "bait" for
other bidders to bid up.  Granted, most bidders (?) bid reasonably,
but all it takes is one to drive a proxy up, perhaps needlessly, and
two unreasonable bidders are enough to make a "war" with occasionally
humerous, if disappointing, results.

If you look at bid histories, you will find that about one-fourth of bidders
will "chip away" at a high proxy bid just a few percent at a time, for
little reasonable gain, but some kind of emotional high.

It makes perfect sense to decide ahead of time how much you are
willing to pay without feeling that you've made a mistake, and bid
that amount (after taking shipping charges into account).

Of course, what will make me not sad is quite different from what
will make me happy.  ;-)

What doesn't work as well (from the point of getting an item for the
minimum price) is putting in your "ultimate" proxy early, and letting
other bidders ping away at it.  In fact, showing _any_ bid on an
object before the end of the auction can only arouse interest and
drive up the price.

The fact is that sealed-bid auctions cause each bidder to consider
what the object is actually worth to them, and then submit that
bid once and for all.  This is an inherently more reasonable (not to
say objective--which it obviously isn't) way to set a price, compared
to the emotional competition which emerges in open bidding.

-michael

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