I am SO done with eBay auctions!

[JamesD]

I usually put a bid in when the price is low so I get alerts before the end of the auction.
Then I put in my may bid with about 5 seconds remaining. It's enough time to get through most network congestion, but not enough time for a 3rd party bid sniping tool to run the price up a lot if I'm the high bidder.

[atari181]

This has been going on for years. Why bitch about it. You have every right to bid uo untill the last second. In items I value and really want I always snipe with my highest bid, it doesn't give people like you the chance to chang their mind and bid more. In the end you will generally pay less over time by sniping.

[Grimakis]

I always snipe. It's not against the rules unless you are using a 3rd party software to do it. I just put my bid in at 10 seconds left and it's my TRUE MAX BID.

 

Your issue is 100% that you are not putting in your max bid. That's what it's there for.

 

Unless the item that you are bidding on becomes more valuable to you due seeing others bidding on it, your max bid should not change from the beginning to the end of the auction. Of course I snipe because I know that other people don't bid what they really would pay, and I'll most likely pay less.

 

TL;DR I have studied auction theory in Economics and there is no good reason not to put your true max bid.

[MarkO]

I always snipe. It's not against the rules unless you are using a 3rd party software to do it. I just put my bid in at 10 seconds left and it's my TRUE MAX BID.

 

Your issue is 100% that you are not putting in your max bid. That's what it's there for.

 

Unless the item that you are bidding on becomes more valuable to you due seeing others bidding on it, your max bid should not change from the beginning to the end of the auction. Of course I snipe because I know that other people don't bid what they really would pay, and I'll most likely pay less.

 

TL;DR I have studied auction theory in Economics and there is no good reason not to put your true max bid.

 

I feel the Same Way... I wish that eBay allowed Silent Bid Auctions...

 

You can get Caught Up in the Bidding Frenzy, but later regret it...

 

 

MarkO

[Grimakis]

 

I feel the Same Way... I wish that eBay allowed Silent Bid Auctions...

 

You can get Caught Up in the Bidding Frenzy, but later regret it...

 

 

MarkO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickrey_auction

 

Something like this would work similarly to how eBay does now, and much better off.

 

A seller puts a minimum bid.

 

You put your sealed bid. Other bidders put their sealed bids. In theory, these bid are the max bids for each person. If you have the highest bid when they are unsealed, you win the auction, but pay the price of the second highest bid. If there are no other bids, you will pay the starting price.

 

This would results in sale prices that are similar to current eBay auctions, but would basically eliminate the need for sniping. It would help prevent shill bidding(which is a real problem). Also, one of the biggest downfalls with a Vickrey auction is bidder collusion, however since eBay is so large and other bidders are basically anonymous, collusion would be nearly impossible.

 

This system for eBay I think would eliminate many problems, but it would prevent bidders from updating their bid based on information about the other bidders bids. So it will prevent bidding wars, which sellers probably would not like.