Re: [Leica] Bidding on eBay (was: something else totally unrelated)

[Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>]

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
>
>