If eBay??
BAJJERFAN
Posts: 31,392 ✭✭✭✭✭
Allowed the seller a choice between a fixed ending time and a {so much time after the last bid} ending time would that make most folks here happier? Also would you want the option to reveal that info or not?
theknowitalltroll;
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Comments
<< <i>{so much time after the last bid} >>
I think that owuld result in A LOT of auctions closing for far less than they should
I think that owuld result in A LOT of auctions closing for far less than they should
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For clarification, the auction would run for a fixed time OR a fixed time plus so many minutes after and if there was no bidding within that extra time the auction would end. In other words bidding could continue after the fixed end time until there were no more bids.
<< <i>If it will make more money for eBay then they will adopt it as a rule fooner or later. >>
That's the question. You'd imagine other people would have tried this already. Has this type of strategy been historically more or less successful than eBay's current approach?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i> and they have a 30 second automatic extension for each & any bid placed in the last (minute??)... so the hot auctions may close hours after the original end time. >>
I like and agree with this procedure.
<< <i>Isn't this the way a real (live) auctions work? >>
Yep, but they don't drag on very long.
<< <i>Allowed the seller a choice between a fixed ending time and a {so much time after the last bid} ending time would that make most folks here happier? Also would you want the option to reveal that info or not? >>
The way uBid does it?
<< Isn't this the way a real (live) auctions work? >>
Does eBay own an automatic bidding/sniping program? If I were eBay and I were considering this I'd make sure to have something in place.
I think this kind of bidding can work in a live situation because the auctions are single-threaded, only one auction is going on at the same time. If one auction takes longer, everything gets pushed back. On eBay, OTOH, you can have multiple auctions you're watching start overlapping in unexpected ways. This can be frustrating for many bidders because you can't necessarily finish one auction and move on to the next anymore.
It can be ok for eBay if they can get bidders to start using programs for all their bidding but that's far from certain. If bidders can't all move to such programs and they can get frustrated trying to keep track of multiple overlapping auctions. From a business perspective, I think eBay is similar to Apple's iTunes and that eBay's first priority is to make sure their ultimate end users, listeners and bidders, are happy and then make sure their suppliers, music publishers and sellers are happy. At the end of the day, having upset bidders is a much bigger problem than having upset sellers.
The sellers would realize less money, not more because I wouldn't be bidding on their auctions.
Ray
<< <i>I wouldn't bid on any auction that extended the time. >>
So where would you be doing your auction buying?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>I wouldn't bid on any auction that extended the time. I snipe, and I put strong bids in.
The sellers would realize less money, not more because I wouldn't be bidding on their auctions.
Ray >>
But what if you did not know if there was an auto time extension on the auction????? It makes the chances of a snipe bid winning a lot less.
Lets face it, because of this flaw using ebay as a price guide is worthless.
AL
The current system heavily favors the sniper buyer, but the current system does not allow the true highest prices to be realized. In order to realize true prices, everyone has to have a fair chance to outbid other bids.
I always thought the point of an auction was to realize the true highest "market value" possible, and with a hard deadline and having no "going once... going twice... period shortchanges sellers and frustrates buyers who either a) don't understand the system or b) didn't put in the true highest bid when they should have.
<< <i>Most of those people would have bid more if they had the chance. >>
Most auctions run for seven days. If a bidder is willing to bid more, they've got plenty of time to do so already. What you're really saying is that those people aren't sure what the item is worth and want to have the assurance that somebody else values it as much as they do so as to avoid the possibility of overpaying.
<< <i> How many of you have been outbid by pocketchange at the last minute and didn't have a chance to to increase your bid by $1 but you would have happily done so? >>
Having the opportunity to happily bid $1 more is no guarantee that you will have the winning bid- you have no way of knowing if you need to bid $1 or $100 more.
I snipe a lot of auctions that go off at hours when i cannot be at the computer. The advantages to changing to another system will not outweigh the disadvantages. Sure a few auctions may bring more but what about the shill aspect? Also frustrating potential buyers by constantly being nipped out by a person that nips the bid up one increment at a time to figure out what your top bid is and either then nips out your bid or sticks you with it at that amount when you could have gotton it for less?
The auctions would be more fair and would fetch higher prices
Not true. Why is a higher price more fair? Could just be two bidders that won't give up because of ego. Most bidders already have a top bid in mind even when they snipe. I always use my top bid in the sniper. The system that you suggest may eliminate sniper programs. I dont think that potential bidders want to stare at the computer screen for an extra fifteen to twenty minutes or more and continue to see if they have to throw in another bid and beome frustrated when they lose or overpay or their computer or internet has a problem at just the time the auction goes off. This is not a constuctive use of time.
Most auctions run for seven days. If a bidder is willing to bid more, they've got plenty of time to do so already. What you're really saying is that those people aren't sure what the item is worth and want to have the assurance that somebody else values it as much as they do so as to avoid the possibility of overpaying.
Just imagine people that collect something that a well known bidder bids on a the last minute. All of sudden they will have a new following.
Sorry this idea absolutely spells disaster.
<< <i>Isn't this the way a real (live) auctions work? >>
Yes.