Guest guest Posted September 5, 2004 Report Share Posted September 5, 2004 adamsCLAYADAMS@... wrote: > > > Really bummed out this morning. A few days ago, I put in a bid on > ebay for a book by Jane, " Everywhere House " . Somebody waited until > the last couple minutes of the auction and then " sniped " me out of > it. The good news is that just yesterday I received another book by > her, " We Are All Part of One Another " , a Barbara Deming Reader. > Looks interesting. > > Clay > > Dear aspiemooncat, You are no longer the high bidder on the following > eBay item: Everywhere House by Jane Meyerding. - Item #7919091310 > > Current price:GBP 1.04 > > Your maximum bid:GBP 0.99 That's why Ebay does proxy bidding. You've got to bid at least a pound! Did you try half.com? I typically bid on items in Ebay during the last 30 seconds. Sniping, shotgunning, whatever you want to call it... it is the best way to get the item at the lowest possible price. The idea of proxy bidding is that each person enters the highest price they would be willing to pay, and the one that has the highest price willingness will win, but that does not take into account the psychology of an auction. Bidding at the last moment does not give others the chance to ruminate and decide that they are willing to bid more than they previously entered as their max bid. He may have thought that he only wanted item X for a max of $30, and maybe I would be prepared to enter a bid for up to $35, but if I bid $35 with five days to spare, he has all kinds of time to reconsider his maximum of $30. Since everyone else has the same chance to bid at the last moment, I do not consider it to be unfair. I consider it to be the way the game is played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 5, 2004 Report Share Posted September 5, 2004 Clay wrote: >Really bummed out this morning. A few days ago, I put in a bid on ebay for a >book by Jane, " Everywhere House " . Somebody waited until the last couple >minutes of the auction and then " sniped " me out of it. The good news is that > just yesterday I received another book by her, " We Are All Part of One >Another " , a Barbara Deming Reader. Looks interesting. Well, this is final proof, as far as I'm concerned, that you can fine *everything* on eBay. ;-) Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 5, 2004 Report Share Posted September 5, 2004 wrote: >Since everyone else has the same chance to bid at the last moment, I do >not consider it to be unfair. I consider it to be the way the game is >played. It's not true that everyone has the same chance to bid at the last moment. That would be true only if everyone were using equivalent computer equipment and had the same web access. In reality, access differs widely. I have been told that some people use a program that automatically ups their bid (according to their pre-set instructions and up to a pre-set amount) up to the last second, in reaction to bids from other people. Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 5, 2004 Report Share Posted September 5, 2004 wrote: > Did you try half.com? No, never did any business there. I've bought 31 items at ebay though. I could look for her name at amazon... > I typically bid on items in Ebay during the last 30 seconds. > Sniping, shotgunning, whatever you want to call it... it is > the best way to get the item at the lowest possible price. I bid the lowest price acceptable, and I was the highest bidder for at least 6 days. No one else placed a bid. I had been watching it, but then last night I got caught up in something else, and forgot when the bidding closed. My bad. > Since everyone else has the same chance to bid at the last > moment, I do not consider it to be unfair. I consider it to > be the way the game is played. Yeah, I didn't mean that it was unfair. There have been a few times when I was right there, ready to make a last minute bid and winning that way, but often I'm at work when the bidding closes. Once I won an hotly contested item, cutting it so closely that there were only 15 seconds left on the clock. I was really jazzed. Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 Fank wrote: > Since everyone else has the same chance to bid at the last moment, I do > not consider it to be unfair. I consider it to be the way the game is > played. I don't consider it unfair, either. When I discovered Ebay I quickly learned that bidding early could drive the price way up on an item, out of my reach. So I figured out that waiting until the auction was almost done to bid was the best way to win *and* get an item at a good price. To me it is only logical. I didn't even know that some people considered it unfair until I read posts from people on various forums who lost bids this way and were angry. It puzzled me that they would be. Take care, Gail :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 >Fank wrote: >> Since everyone else has the same chance to bid at the last moment, I do >> not consider it to be unfair. I consider it to be the way the game is >> played. and Gail responded: >I don't consider it unfair, either. When I discovered Ebay I quickly learned >that bidding early could drive the price way up on an item, out of my reach. >So I figured out that waiting until the auction was almost done to bid was >the best way to win *and* get an item at a good price. > >To me it is only logical. I didn't even know that some people considered it >unfair until I read posts from people on various forums who lost bids this >way and were angry. It puzzled me that they would be. I don't consider it " unfair " on the part of the late bidders. But I can understand why some people see the system as unfair. When I had web access at home, it was so slow that my " last minute " for an eBay bid was more like five minutes. Compare that with access that takes seconds, and it's clear I had no chance when bidding against high-speed last-minute bidders. Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 Jane Meyerding wrote: > > I don't consider it " unfair " on the part of the late > bidders. But I can understand why some people see the > system as unfair. When I had web access at home, it was > so slow that my " last minute " for an eBay bid was more > like five minutes. Compare that with access that takes > seconds, and it's clear I had no chance when bidding > against high-speed last-minute bidders. > Ebay is a business, it is an auction. It has nothing to do with fairness. If it is important to get in on the last 5 seconds of bidding a person has the same rights as anyone else to pay for a high speed internet connection. Go to some real live auctions some day. The high speed patter of a good auctioneer is specifically designed to get people to bid without thinking. Las minute ebay probably works the say way, in the words of Clay " Once I won an hotly contested item, cutting it so closely that there were only 15 seconds left on the clock. I was really jazzed. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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