ebay rant (short)

[danws69@earthlink.net (Dan)]

Neal- you have proxy bidding wrong.....
if the item is currently at: $4.99 and I place my max proxy bid for $10.00,
the current high bid jumps to the next incremental increase...i.e.- $5.25
(or whatever)....now, you come along and put in YOUR max bid of $15.00- NOW
it goes back and forth (real fast) and you come out on top....AT $10.25- NOT
$15.00


...with me so far? (I know you are Neal)

NOW- what I like to do is watch the item, then, in the last 15 seconds or so
(less if I'm at work on DSL), I bid. I win. I smile.

The advantage is that the high bidder is caught off-guard and can't update
his/her high bid fast enough. So many cheap-asses (tm)(no offence of course)
put in their 'high bid' and it's ridiculously low for the product, if no one
counters them early on, they become complacent and don't worry about
watching it........that's when I come in and nail the item.

Dan
Tam-pa, FL
'87 16v Scirocco
'81 Rabbit Sportruck
'00 Jetta
http://home.earthlink.net/~danws69/index.html

-----Original Message-----
From: scirocco-l-admin@scirocco.org
[mailto:scirocco-l-admin@scirocco.org]On Behalf Of Neal Tovsen
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 11:02
To: '84 Scirocco; EUROROC II; VW List
Subject: Re: ebay rant (short)


Funny you say that. IMHO, proxy bidding is the reason
for inflated prices. If two people put in their proxy
bids, one at $25 more than the current price, and the
other at $30 more, the price will IMMEDIATELY make a
$25 jump. Very good for the seller! "Bid snipping" is
not good for the seller, but it ensures that the price
stays as low as possible until the last few seconds of
the auction. As a seller, the only way to limit this
is through a reserve price, but that often discourages
people from bidding...

The happy medium for both parties is if bidders don't
use proxy bids, and bid continuously throughout the
auction. The price is only increased by people who are
paying attention, and the seller is more likely to get
a fair (but still low) price for their goods.
Unfortunately, it doesn't often happen that way.

In the end, though, it doesn't really matter. These
are the rules of a (pretty good, IMHO) free
marketplace. Sometimes you pay more. Sometimes you pay
less. You are absolutely right: if the price goes
beyond what you're willing to pay, stop bidding and
move on.

Neal

--- '84 Scirocco <scirocco@macslut.org> wrote:
> This is why people pay too much for stuff on eBay.
> The benefit of proxy
> bidding is that you can bid your max up front - if
> someone beats you, well
> then you move on, even if it was only by a penny.
> That9s my philosophy
> anyhow - besides I find eBay too expensive for most
> things.
>
> Greg
>
>
> --
>
>
> '84 VW Scirocco
> '01 Ford Focus ZX3
> St. Louis, MO
>
> > From: Neal Tovsen <nealtovsen@yahoo.com>
> > Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 07:55:05 -0600
> > To: EUROROC II <flaatr@yahoo.com>,
> scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > Subject: Re: ebay rant (short)
> >
> > I feel for you, man. But you gotta be there in the
> > end! It's happened to me on a number of occasions,
> and
> > I've done it to other people too. That's just the
> way
> > it goes sometimes.
> >
> > What was it?
> >
> > Neal
> >
> > --- EUROROC II <flaatr@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> Don't you hate it when you find what you need on
> >> ebay and bid on it.
> >>
> >> No one bids against you at all.
> >>
> >> Then 14 seconds before the end of the action some
> >> one jumps in and out bids
> >> you.
> >>
> >> Aaaaauuuuurrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!
> >>
> >> -Raffi
> >>
> >> The search continues...
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
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> >
> > =====
> > ~Neal
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
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>
>
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=====
~Neal

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