All I can say is... Hard cheese! Snipers, shills, and all of the other nasty things, some legally shakey, have been around since auctions were invented. Ebay is no different. At least there is no annoying auctioneer (actually an American thing - the European auctioneers do not talk at several hundered words per minute). I have been in the same situation quite a few times with Ebay, and now I must just live with bidding ONCE, and if I am outbid, then I do not win. None of this high-stress, keep-hitting-the-reload-button, waiting for me. William Donzelli william(a)ans.net

I hate that too! If somebody did that to me in "real life" I'd probably have to kick them in the nuts just for being a jerk. I've suggested to eBay more than once that they should (possibly at the seller's option when the auction begins) allow an automatic extension of the bidding period for perhaps 6 to 8 hours every time a new bid is received, _but_ increase the "minimum bid increment" by a fairly large factor each time. This would allow people who really wanted an item to "go for broke" if they decided they couldn't live without it, it would shut down "sniping", and it would make the seller (and hence eBay) more money! Seems like a win-win-win situation to me, but they've never so much as replied to my mail. "Snipers" should get their pants stuffed with rabid weasels! On Mon, 26 Oct 1998 18:32:01 +1, you wrote: -Bill Richman (bill_r(a)inetnebr.com) http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r - Home of the COSMAC Elf Microcomputer Simulator, Fun with Molten Metal, Orphaned Robots, and Technological Oddities.)