31 Mar
2009
31 Mar
'09
1:35 p.m.
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:05:08 +0100 (BST)
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
I don;t understnad this. How come if I put in my high
bid several days
before the end of the auction does it make others bid higher?
Because many of the buyers on Ebay are not rational--or at least, not what
you and I would consider rational. Rather than deciding ahead of time on
their maximum bid, they check the item over an over again during the
auction and if they've been outbid, they enter a higher bid--usually $2 at
a time, until theirs is the highest bid.
If you come along and outbid them, they will do this again. If there are
two of them, they'll do it to each other in a rather comical fashion (not
so comical if you want the item in question).
The only way to defeat these jokers is to not bid until the last moment,
depriving them of the chance to come nickel and dime you to death.
Even if they don't outbid you, several of their little increments will
drive your price up. Remember, you don't pay your bid amount, you pay a
fixed increment higher than the second highest bid amount.
Of course, from a seller's point of view, these folks are (maybe) useful.
Jeff Walther
31 Mar
31 Mar
2:33 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Jeff Walther <trag at io.com> wrote:
Yes, and if you are rational, and enter your real maximum bid, you will lose
the auction to someone who bids higher than your maximum. If you go back
later and change your maximum, then I would consider that irrational.
If you come along and outbid them, they will do this again.
If you go back and increase your "maximum bid", then you are acting in an
irrational manner. The maximum you had previously entered wasn't really
your maximum, was it?
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:05:08 +0100 (BST)
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
I don;t understnad this. How come if I put in my
high bid several days
before the end of the auction does it make others bid higher?
Because many of the buyers on Ebay are not rational--or at least, not what
you and I would consider rational. Rather than deciding ahead of time on
their maximum bid, they check the item over an over again during the
auction and if they've been outbid, they enter a higher bid--usually $2 at
a time, until theirs is the highest bid. The only way to defeat these jokers is to not bid
until the last moment,
depriving them of the chance to come nickel and dime you to death.
No, the only way to defeat these jokers is to actually decide on a maximum
bid, and stick with it. You are assuming that these jokers wouldn't have
bid the item up in the absence of your bid. The only thing you are doing by
bidding in the last 30 seconds is to set a maximum bid that is higher than
the one you would have set if you had acted rationally. "I won the auction"
is not an appropriate means to determine whether your strategy works. The
way to determine whether it works would be to find out if snipers pay lower
prices than rational bidders for the same item. (Note: I don't consider
bidding in the last minute on an item that has no bids to be sniping.)
Even if they don't outbid you, several of their
little increments will
drive your price up. Remember, you don't pay your bid amount, you pay a
fixed increment higher than the second highest bid amount.
Actually, I believe you pay the second highest bid amount. And I don't
really think you can make an informed case that the second highest bid
amount is lower if you snipe.
Of course, from a seller's point of view, these
folks are (maybe) useful.
Yeah, we wouldn't want a system that is fair to both buyers and sellers.
2:33 p.m.
Eric J Korpela wrote:
On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Jeff Walther <trag
at io.com> wrote:
<snip>
Yeah, we wouldn't want a system that is fair to both buyers and sellers.
it is not a question of fairness. I just do not want the amount of
money I have to spend to acquire an item to be controlled by someone
whose behavior is easily avoided by just not giving them a chance to
evaluate, change mind, be irrational, you call it.
Also, if the behavior is irrational, the why would there be such a call
for a procedure nearer to a live auction, such as extending time based
on last bid, rather than an absolute schedule. This would make it
impossible to avoid this other than simply not to purchase in auctions,
but in the buy / offer sales ebay offers.
I have listed all of my current items for sale using the buy it now /
offer, so that I can guarantee a sale for the value I need, or the
potential buyer can give me an offer, which I can evaluate. I am
liquidating lab equipment, and am not at liberty to take whatever the
market decides to offer on a lot of the equipment.
For my personal items, I would auction them, but the buy it now is a
good tool as well. Also before someone points out the reserve, ebay
charges a lot for reserve auction now, so the buy it now is cheaper.
One can also leave a sale up till complete, or for 30 days.
Jim
1 Apr
1 Apr
10:57 a.m.
Yes, and if you are rational, and enter your real
maximum bid, you will lose
the auction to someone who bids higher than your maximum. If you go back
later and change your maximum, then I would consider that irrational.
I wouldn't, under one specific case (which is about the only time I do
increase my maximum bid). That is when I've found out more about the item
on sale and think it is actually worth more to me that I've already bid.
Then I will enter a higher bif whether or not I've already been outbid
(or for that matter whether or not anyone else has bid at all).
Ans yes, that's how I normally act on E-bay. If I see something I am
interested in, I enter a maximum bid of what it's worth to me. If
somebody outbids me, fine, they're prepared to pay more for it. And I
don't increase my maximum bid even if there are still days to go.
-tony
5525
days inactive
5526
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
jws＠jwsss.com -
korpela＠ssl.berkeley.edu -
trag＠io.com