It would be nice if ebay did this

[maibock]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Support/SupportFA...=1036&NoCount=1

 

Eliminates the whole "sniping" aspect of ebay bidding..

 

[Red 5]

As a 'sniper' I hate to admit it, but that's a great idea.

[Christophero Sly]

I disagree. Such a system would be infinitely more frustrating than getting out-bid by a sniper and it wouldn't really put an end to sniping. Under a 15 minute rule system you'd have no choice but to follow your auctions in the closing minutes in order to guard against late bidders. Only now, instead of one shot to beat your proxy bid, they'd have 15 minutes to do it. Prices would skyrocket and you'd never win anything.

 

Why do people have such a difficult time understanding that no matter when it is placed, the highest bid wins!

[Susuwatari]

Why do people have such a difficult time understanding that no matter when it is placed, the highest bid wins!

 

In a live auction, highest bid still wins. It's a matter of how long since the last bid amount before it wins.

 

Doing away with sniping would help increase the seller's bottom line a bit and may help some buyers who don't have 24/7 access to eBay and don't want to use sniping service.

 

It can hurt the frequent snipers who usually tries to get the best deal so it's hard to tell if sniping if good or bad.

[SimonTemplar]

I could be wrong but I`ve heard that it works that way on ebay japan. The auction is prolongated by 15 minutes everytime a higher bid is placed.

The major difference between ebay and a live auction is that there is no "proxy bidding" in a live auction .

[Red 5]

Well that's just it...

 

As a sniper, I hate the idea. I will probably never win anything again at

a great price unless it's a newly listed BIN that I see before anyone else.

 

As a seller though, I love it. I'm sure it will jack prices up and nothing will ever sell lower than the average price ever again.

[Christophero Sly]

Why do people have such a difficult time understanding that no matter when it is placed, the highest bid wins!

 

In a live auction, highest bid still wins.

I would surely hope so.

 

It's a matter of how long since the last bid amount before it wins.

My point is that bidders should simply bid the maximum amount they are willing to pay. That's what snipers do. Sniping is just a strategy used so you don't tip your hand.

 

Under a 15 minute rule, people would still perceive an advantage in waiting until the final minutes of an auction to bid, which would turn the final minutes of an auction into a prolonged bidding war. I can see the process dragging out for an hour or more, especially if there were no proxy bids.

 

In the end, the winner has still bid the maximum they were willing to pay.

[128bytes]

Lousy idea, IMHO. I really like the proxy bid system, and think it's much more fair than a live auction, because it places a value on my spare time. A good proxy bid beats a good snipe every time you want to buy something at a fair price (ie not an insane honking bargain), and lets me bid early and not be around the computer when the auction ends. If someone wants to live on the edge, they can slavishly sit at their computer, or they can go ahead and use eSnipe or one of the equivalent sniping services to do the sniping for them. I also think that sniping is not wrong. A sniper is still willing to pay more than anyone else was for the auction -- isn't that what it's all about?

[Chickybaby]

I would think the new system if put in place would be great for sellers, since IMO and that of people earlier, it would jack up prices terribly. As someone who looks for the best prices possible it would just mean that I would put in a bid a few seconds before the 15 minutes mark (prior to close of auction) instead of in the last minute before the auction closes. It's more of a risk but what other coice is there.

*shrug*

I am sure this will lead to less good deals on Epay then there already are. (Not that there are many left anyway.) Everything it seems anymore is "retro, classic, collectible, rare, hard to find... or any other number of synonyms which still translates to "I think it's worth a lot more then it's actual value, so I will charge people rediculous amounts".

I still miss Bidiots.

[glitch]

There was another site that used this method. I believe it was uBid but their time extension was 10min. I never actually bought or sold from there so I cannot say what the actual effects turned out to be.

 

It seems like it would add a lot of stress at the end of the auctions for the buyers. The whole Arggh! I got out bid, can I afford more? Let me check my wallet, well if I don't pay the rent this month, etc...

 

Personally as a buyer I prefer the set end time that way it's over and done with, I either won or I didn't and can't do anything about it now. Otherwise I could see myself second guessing what it's worth to me. As a seller I'd probably love it, other than having to wait for my auctions to end because of a bidding war (although I'm sure the extra money would more than make up for this inconvenience).

[sku_u]

The one thing Ebay still has going for it is people's ability to snipe and hopefully save a little on a few items. Otherwise Ebay's a waste of time. I'd much rather them assume some accountability when an auction goes sour then see something as pointless as this.

[Mindfield]

I can't stand the idea. For starters I do snipe, of course, but as is oft repeated, the highest bid still wins no matter how (or when) it's placed. Furthermore, I like knowing that an auction is going to end at a specific time. It lets me budget my time -- this is especially important when I've got multiple auctions ending in a short span of time. If, all of a sudden, the 15-minute rule comes into effect, now I have to juggle auctions for lord knows how long trying to keep track of each one to see if I get outbid and then determine if I really want to up my maximum bid.

 

And yes, as a buyer I'd probably win far fewer auctions than I do. Frankly, that would be a disincentive for me to bother bidding at all.

 

The 15-minute rule only benefits the sellers. There's utterly no benefit to buyers. The highest bid still wins. Period.

[itsralph]

If eBay ever does it then that's it for me for buying, too many newbs to contend with, I simply won't waste time trying to babysit auctions, and shilling will be out of control. Snipe me and that's fine, I'll snipe you back with 2 seconds left, but don't sit there and peck the hell out of me for an hour. The sites that do this blather on about the "fairness" but there is nothing "unfair" about making a reasoned decision about how much you are willing to pay and then sticking it it up there and hoping it sticks in the last few seconds.

[maibock]

I suppose it would be beneficial for higher ticket items, where you would want to stick around and make sure you had your best bid placed. Yeah I see the point of not wanting to micro manage "frivilous" bids..

[yuppicide]

That's a dumb idea. So basically if someone keeps placing a bid 1 cent more than the last they can have your auction going on for well 50 cents x 15 minutes each = 750 minutes = 12.5 hour delay in auction for 50 cents.

[Cap5750]

I don't think you could increment by .01....it'd be by the minimum bid.

 

Personally, I don't care. Most of the time I bid on something, I either BIN or enter the max I'm willing to pay.

 

So, if I'm outbid, then that person (in my opinion) overpaid to get it.

 

And if two people get in a bidding war that continues to go back and forth, then so be it...it's their problem not mine.

 

Ohyeah...one more thing. To the person who said he'd wait until just a few seconds before the final call, I'm not sure that would matter. Someone else could come along and bid within the final 15 minutes which would then kick it off......or did I misread it?

[RecycledGamer]

If bidders are afforded more time (15 mins) to "think" about whether they are willing to offer a higher bid, I believe the results will most definitely be higher closing auction prices across the board. How many times have you been outbid and thought "I would have paid more to get that, but the auction ended so it's too late now". With the 15 minute rule, it would almost never be too late.

 

This would definitely benefit sellers, but not as much as you might think. I would think the extra 15 minutes would "encourage" a much higher number of bidders to bid beyond their means, increasing the average number of deadbeat bidders.

 

The 15 minute rule would benefit buyers only in that it would allow some people who are willing spend more the opportunity to purchase. Average closing prices on auctions would definitely go up which does not benefit bidders.

 

A nice compromise might be a 5 minute interval with a maximum number of extensions (maybe 3 extensions max for a total of an extra 15 minutes possible). Thoughts?

[Stingray]

I find it comforting that a place that sells guns has a "no sniping" rule.

 

-S

[davepesc]

I'm hearing a lot of contradictory arguments here.

First, I snipe if I can be by a computer at the auction closing time, but usually I just drop a bid and let the chips fall where they may.

 

But, I'm reading a lot of "the highest bid always wins" from the same people saying "I'll win fewer auctions/I'll have to sit by my computer longer."

 

To me, it boils down to this:

Extending the auction would, in many cases, lead to higher selling prices, but the "highest bid always wins" regardless of when it was entered.

 

Unfortunately, there would be fewer great deals to be had, but most of those "great deals" are things that only 1 person notices anyway.

 

Besides, Higher selling price = more ebay fees generated.

I'm surprised they're not doing this already.