(OT) Re: Is This A Shill?

[Warner Losh]

On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 9:34 AM, Tapley, Mark via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:

> > On May 2, 2018, at 10:22 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> >
> > On 05/02/2018 08:06 AM, Eric Christopherson via cctalk wrote:
> >
> >> When you say you snipe with a bot, do you mean you use eBay's
> highest-bid
> >> functionality to do it? Or do you use third-party software?
> >>
> >> I've never been clear on how the built-in highest-bid functionality
> works.
> >> I often see things where the same person has several consecutive bids,
> >> which doesn't make any sense to me in the absence of other people's
> bids in
> >> between them.
> >
> > When you submit a bit do eBay using the traditional method, your bid is
> > really a proxy bid--it's increased by specified increments until it's
> > outbid by another bidder.   If you prevail, you win by the minimum
> > winning proxy bid.
> ….
>
> If the successive bids are at a constant ratio (is it still 5%?) that is
> eBay making public higher and higher portions of the not-to-exceed (but
> still private) value that person originally entered.
>
> The other possibility is that the original bidder, on being outbid, lets
> their competitive instincts get the better of them and enters a higher
> not-to-exceed bid … and then a higher one …
>
> if the successive bids have a minute or two between them, or a
> non-constant ratio, that is likely what is happening, and it’s a *great*
> reason shills exist in the first place. I think the original intent of the
> eBay system, and my recommendation, is that folks dispassionately, calmly,
> decide what their true ceiling is, enter that value the first time, and
> then walk away. eBay doesn’t promote that behavior now, though. The “you’ve
> been outbid! But there’s still a chance!” email they send seems pretty
> calculated to stampede you into competitive behavior. I suspect that leads
> to regrets.
>

Yes. It drives more traffic to the site. It's really gamification of the
process, which sucks for the bidders (they bid more than they should). In
the ideal world, you set a price you're willing to pay, pay a trusted third
party to place that bid in the closing minutes of an auction. It limits the
amount of information that you give to ebay and/or the seller. The only
time there's an issue is if there's another bidder whose top bit is exactly
the same as yours and they bid first. It's a pretty small benefit from
bidding first vs the tendency for others to bid if they see your bid
early.... Last second bids also limit the window in which someone else can
game your vote, and wondering if someone is shilling you or not...

Warner