Sniping Does Not Require Justification!

At 07:58 AM 2/21/2011, Liam Proven wrote: In the average real-world auction that I'm accustomed to, at best as a bidder you might need to register in advance. Once you're there, there is no requirement to notify all other bidders of your interest in an item. In fact, bidders tend to be quite subversive about their interest in an item, so as not to draw attention to themselves, the potentially more-valuable item, or their interest in it. You're free to bid "in the last second." Yes, the auction continues at that point, and that's different than eBay. You're not just wishing for an auction format where all bidders must make their presence known, and then a moment where no additional bidders can register before bidding begins. You can't seriously be wishing for an auction format where all other previous bidders and their max price be known before you bid. We can't just wave our hands and think that it would solve the problem if eBay extended the auction N minutes beyond every moment there was a bid. That would greatly encourage the demand for and use of automated bidding tools. Part of the appeal for buyers and sellers on eBay is that you are generally searching items you know will be for sale and that you can bid on immediately. Would you be happier if multiple proxy bidders all registered to bid and made some token bid just to be part of the game? - John