Re: Re: Subject: [Harp-L] Sniping on Ebay

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't see the problem with this.  If your bid is higher than the 
reserve then you've shown your willingness to spend enough to 
purchase the item above the reserve price.  If your bid isn't raised 
above the reserve, you aren't going to get the item anyway, even if 
you are the high bid.  

-tim

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Larry L. Ravlin" 
<sheepdip@xxxx> wrote:
There is one problem with this.  Sometimes there is a reserve on the
auction.  If you place a bid on proxy and it is over the amount of 
the
reserve, ebay will immediately raise your bid to the reserve level 
instead
of waiting until it is done by each person bidding.  this inflates 
the price
immediately to the reserve.

Larry
----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne Stennett <waynestennett@xxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 10:15 AM
Subject: Subject: [Harp-L] Sniping on Ebay


> M. Erikson wrote:
>
> E-Bay should make bidders aware of sniping programs. It should be 
in big
> bold print. Otherwise, the whole bid process is fraudlent. I only 
found
> out about snipe programs by watching items myteriously bid out 
from under
> me, and then doing a google search and finding a whole array of e-
bay
> cheat programs. It's BS, and E-bay has a resonsiblity to let it's
> customers know. I've wasted a lot of time on e-bay thinking I was 
engaged
> in an honest, open auction.
>
>
> I have nothing to do with ebay, other than getting things there 
every
> once in a while, but here is their (ebay's) take on sniping.
>
> A note on sniping, from the ebay website:
>
> "Sniping means placing a bid in the closing minutes or seconds of 
an
> auction.
> Any bid placed before the auction ends is "legal" on eBay.  There 
is a
> way to protect yourself from snipers and prevent being outbid at 
the
> last moment. If you bid the absolute maximum you are willing to 
pay, our
> proxy system will do the work for you.  Human nature sometimes 
makes us
> resist making the highest bid within our spending limits, but proxy
> bidding *does* work.  There is a common misconception that snipers
> always win. The truth is that they don't. To win, they must outbid 
you.
> By placing a proxy bid at your maximum limit, someone else can 
outbid
> you *only* if they are willing to spend more for the item than you 
are.
> If someone places a last-second bid that isn't high enough, they 
almost
> never have enough time to get back in and place a winning bid 
before the
> auction ends."
>
> My experience: If you are bidding on an item on ebay, and place a
> maximum bid for what you are willing to spend, no sniping will get 
the
> product out from under you, unless that person is willing to spend 
more
> than you.  That is what proxy bidding is all about.  If I want a
> harmonica and am willing to spend 30$ on it, and I bid 30$, if 
nobody
> else wants to spend 30$, I'll get it.  If someone wants to spend 32
$,
> they'll get it.   Where is the problem with this?  Unless I change 
my
> mind on how much I'm willing to spend, I'm covered.
>
> Wayne
>
>
>
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>

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--- End forwarded message ---