26 Oct
1998
26 Oct
'98
4:23 a.m.
I've taken the position that I'm going to deliberately ignore the
snipers. I usually bid on the first day listed. I ask myself, "What
is the maximum I'm _really_ willing to pay for this?" and that's what
I bid. I get outbid on the last day (I don't track it more closely
than that) fairly often, but it means that the high bidder is paying
more than I would, and I can't argue with that. As often as not, when
I'm outbid, my disappointment is tinged with relief: "Did I really
bid _that_ much? What was I thinking of?"
On the whole, I find it liberating to just bid my maximum and let the
chips fall where they may.
Dav Vandenbroucke
Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov
26 Oct
26 Oct
5:07 a.m.
On Mon, 26 Oct 1998 david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov wrote:
I've taken the position that I'm going to
deliberately ignore the
snipers. I usually bid on the first day listed. I ask myself, "What
is the maximum I'm _really_ willing to pay for this?" and that's what
I bid. I get outbid on the last day (I don't track it more closely
than that) fairly often, but it means that the high bidder is paying
more than I would, and I can't argue with that. As often as not, when
I'm outbid, my disappointment is tinged with relief: "Did I really
bid _that_ much? What was I thinking of?"
Well I guess I may as well chime in on this lovely off-topic subject.
Yes, I snipe at least 95% of the time. It is the only way to achieve a 70
or 80 % success ratio. Ill-described auctions or stuff out of favor and
snipe at the end.
I believe Ebay just made a recent change that negated the use of most
automated software snipe helpers. I don't know what the scheme was, but
somehow the software hooked into Ebay code and made things more certain.
Anybody have an idea what this was about?
One can still script an auto-dialin with an accurate clock on your own
machine or just manually snipe.
I have never relied on any automated solution.
Sniping is not 100% certain either. It still is possible to submit a bid
late, to not be at a useful machine at a key moment, to simply forget, or
to be outbid anyway (more of a trend lately).
Rather than looking at sniping as a "bug", perhaps it should be
considered a "feature". There are scavengers in all ecosystems. I
guarantee you the powers at Ebay probably consider sniping to be an
asset. If they got rid of it, bid traffic would be 20 or 30% lower and
prices overall (complete total) might actually be lower. Perhaps sniping
is one of those key reasons why Ebay has grown so large.
I have a much longer note in the can on the subject of Ebay, which I am
still polishing up and will post in a couple of days. Hopefully I can
include enough on topic material within to justify its size.
-- Stephen Dauphin
10:50 a.m.
Yeah, but it's *such* a pisser when the sniping twit gets it for your
maximum plus 50 cents!! Like you'd say "Golly - I *really* want that
Altair that's autographed by the original designers, and I'll pay $5,550
for it, but not $5,550.50!" I know I'm *way* too good at convincing
myself that my original bid was too low... And then there's always the
"Oh yeah??? Well screw _you_ buddy - take THI$$$$$!" mindset that has
led me to establish new records for ridiculous prices on eBay... (But I
_did_ get the item, dammit!! ;-)
On Mon, 26 Oct 98 13:23:26 -0500, david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov wrote:
<snip>
On the whole, I find it liberating to just bid my
maximum and let the
chips fall where they may.
Dav Vandenbroucke
Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov
-Bill Richman (bill_r(a)inetnebr.com)
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r - Home of the COSMAC Elf Microcomputer
Simulator, Fun with Molten Metal, Orphaned Robots, and Technological Oddities.)
9:06 p.m.
It's just as bad in live auctions too. I used to go to auto auctions and as the
item/car
was closing someone would bid $5 over mine and get the car I waited around to bid on for
two or three hours. That's life I guess.
Bill Richman wrote:
Yeah, but it's *such* a pisser when the sniping
twit gets it for your
maximum plus 50 cents!! Like you'd say "Golly - I *really* want that
Altair that's autographed by the original designers, and I'll pay $5,550
for it, but not $5,550.50!" I know I'm *way* too good at convincing
myself that my original bid was too low... And then there's always the
"Oh yeah??? Well screw _you_ buddy - take THI$$$$$!" mindset that has
led me to establish new records for ridiculous prices on eBay... (But I
_did_ get the item, dammit!! ;-)
On Mon, 26 Oct 98 13:23:26 -0500, david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov wrote:
<snip>
On the whole, I find it liberating to just bid my
maximum and let the
chips fall where they may.
Dav Vandenbroucke
Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov
-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.)
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days inactive
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david_a._vandenbroucke＠hud.gov -
rhblake＠bigfoot.com