Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'm not sure about eBay, but Yahoo auctions allow the seller to automatically add 5 minutes onto the deadline for bidding if someone bids within the last minute. This would seem to solve the problem of "sniping". Dan C. At 02:28 PM 22-12-00 +0100, Hans-Peter.Lammerich@t-online.de wrote: >The idea behind bidding as late as possible is that lower bidders have >no chance to change mind. I believe there is indeed software that places >multiple, incremental bids during the last seconds of an auction. But I >haven't the slightest clue what you could achived by this. Instead of >sending your maximum bid directly to ebay, you tell your own software to >make incremental bids up to a defined limit. In any case, you have to >determine your maximum limit. > >At the end the second highest bidder determines the final auction price. >He will never know whether the winner offered only $0.01 or $1000 more. >On the other hand the winner may get the auction way below his maximum >bid. >If you are the leading bidder, say at $100, any a later, higher bidder >has to offer at least $5 more. However, during the last minutes of a >very "hot" auction, ebay's web site might have trouble to keep pace with >incoming bids. If a higher bidder placed his $100.01 bid seconds before >your $100 bid, he gets the auction for just $0.01 more. But in >comparison to a "slow" and "manual" auction, the high bidder has gained >only $4.99, at the cost of the seller, not the of the second bidder. If >something like this has happened to you, check the bid history and >whether the $0.01 higher bid was placed before yours. To minimise >frustration, I determine my conservative limit, add a marginal extra >amount and generally avoid "rounded" amounts (no $99 bid from me). > >After all, some bidders are in the process of completing collections, >finding complementary bodies, lenses parts etc.. Some bidders purchase >equipment for a specific assignement or holiday trip and thus can't wair >for later, better chances. > >Hans-Peter > >