Unfair Auction Bids?

[DiceX]

Why is the name "Peter" not spooned?

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Although it would be easy to, I'm not going to be as rude as those of you who took the time and energy to go out of your way to show just how big an A hole you could be. DrWatson at least made an attempt at humor. Batty Scrooge, Thank you for your input. Fantastic Four, thank you for your thoughtful reply. tth2, take two aspirins and read it in the morning. I'm sorry for those of you who lacked the critical thinking necessary to see beyond the $1 increments up to lets say the $1000 increments stage at which point you may reconsider offering me that kind of money to delete the thread. A decent person would have just read my post and decide to move on without leaving snide comments behind.

 

Has the whole board gone insane...? Is this the result of last week's elec...er, Conan returning to late night?

 

You need to understand that your opinions on this matter aren't reasonable, in any way. They're totally lacking in reason.

 

You might as well try to suggest that you don't think it's right that 2+2=4, that you much prefer if it would equal 5, and would like it if we all agreed that 2+2 AND 2+3=5.

 

To get upset because people are so incredulous is also a wildly unreasonable reaction.

 

 

Seriously...no offense...but you've probably written the obituary to your credibility as far as the board is concerned. You've dug a hole from which it will be difficult to get out, unless people A. forget (and the board never forgets), or B. you contribute so much astonishingly clever, sage, and witty musings to the board that they will be willing to overlook this as a momentary lapse in sanity.

 

Seriously. Good luck.

[Comicopolis]

How do you feel about this auction situation? Am I unreasonable or totally out of line in my thinking here or what?

 

Situation is fine. If you don't like the rules of the auction house then don't bid with them.

 

They are there to make a profit, not pander to everyone's whim.

Profit? WTF? That is harsh - I thought this was hobby...., ?

 

Should the hobby be made up of socialists?

 

 

Do you hate socialists?

 

When they nurse on my teat, yes.

 

 

Your teats are big enough.

 

Apparently.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Although it would be easy to, I'm not going to be as rude as those of you who took the time and energy to go out of your way to show just how big an A hole you could be. DrWatson at least made an attempt at humor. Batty Scrooge, Thank you for your input. Fantastic Four, thank you for your thoughtful reply. tth2, take two aspirins and read it in the morning. I'm sorry for those of you who lacked the critical thinking necessary to see beyond the $1 increments up to lets say the $1000 increments stage at which point you may reconsider offering me that kind of money to delete the thread. A decent person would have just read my post and decide to move on without leaving snide comments behind.

Hey, your first few posts around here are going to be baptism by fire. Don't take it personally. You haven't met any of the real "A holes" just yet. Well, maybe one or two.

 

Relax, settle in and once it's decided you aren't a shill, you'll have a pretty fun time around here. (thumbs u

 

I must be lucky, I never got any krap for being a n00b. I wonder if I've recived "non shill" status yet

 

Yeah you did. You just don't remember it. (thumbs u

[marvelcollector]

And therein lies the only way to win an auction and feel as close to 100% happy as you can about it. Bid whatever you're willing to pay whenever you want and ignore the other factors.

 

Couldn't agree more. (thumbs u

 

Decide your max, bid it, walk away, and check in at the end.

 

This idea of sniping is foolish. If somebody is willing to pay more than you , you are going to "lose" , whether it's with four days to go or four seconds. It won't matter.

[DrWatson]

Although it would be easy to, I'm not going to be as rude as those of you who took the time and energy to go out of your way to show just how big an A hole you could be. DrWatson at least made an attempt at humor. Batty Scrooge, Thank you for your input. Fantastic Four, thank you for your thoughtful reply. tth2, take two aspirins and read it in the morning. I'm sorry for those of you who lacked the critical thinking necessary to see beyond the $1 increments up to lets say the $1000 increments stage at which point you may reconsider offering me that kind of money to delete the thread. A decent person would have just read my post and decide to move on without leaving snide comments behind.

 

Has the whole board gone insane...? Is this the result of last week's elec...er, Conan returning to late night?

 

You need to understand that your opinions on this matter aren't reasonable, in any way. They're totally lacking in reason.

 

You might as well try to suggest that you don't think it's right that 2+2=4, that you much prefer if it would equal 5, and would like it if we all agreed that 2+2 AND 2+3=5.

 

To get upset because people are so incredulous is also a wildly unreasonable reaction.

 

 

Seriously...no offense...but you've probably written the obituary to your credibility as far as the board is concerned. You've dug a hole from which it will be difficult to get out, unless people A. forget (and the board never forgets), or B. you contribute so much astonishingly clever, sage, and witty musings to the board that they will be willing to overlook this as a momentary lapse in sanity.

 

Seriously. Good luck.

Is there.....

[JazzMan]

Why is the name "Peter" not spooned?

 

 

 

Just imagine...

 

*spoon* Parker

*spoon* Cottontail

*spoon* Rabbit

 

[passion4comics]

I can usually read this boards threads and multi-task at other things and reading all of these posts I have no idea what the hell is going on. You bid your max and as other people bid it bumps it up. No matter what the highest bidder wins so what's the issue? (rhetorical)

[passion4comics]

And therein lies the only way to win an auction and feel as close to 100% happy as you can about it. Bid whatever you're willing to pay whenever you want and ignore the other factors.

 

Couldn't agree more. (thumbs u

 

Decide your max, bid it, walk away, and check in at the end.

 

This idea of sniping is foolish. If somebody is willing to pay more than you , you are going to "lose" , whether it's with four days to go or four seconds. It won't matter.

 

I've found automated sniping works well at times. If the bid is raised by you it gives the other party a chance to rethink their max bids. I set my timers for 6 seconds Compared to the normal 5 because people with the 5 second timers may get bumped because the bid increment isn't met. If this works or not I don't know, but I've won a lot of auctions with sniping plus I don't have to baby sit auctions. I get email updates.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Although it would be easy to, I'm not going to be as rude as those of you who took the time and energy to go out of your way to show just how big an A hole you could be. DrWatson at least made an attempt at humor. Batty Scrooge, Thank you for your input. Fantastic Four, thank you for your thoughtful reply. tth2, take two aspirins and read it in the morning. I'm sorry for those of you who lacked the critical thinking necessary to see beyond the $1 increments up to lets say the $1000 increments stage at which point you may reconsider offering me that kind of money to delete the thread. A decent person would have just read my post and decide to move on without leaving snide comments behind.

 

Has the whole board gone insane...? Is this the result of last week's elec...er, Conan returning to late night?

 

You need to understand that your opinions on this matter aren't reasonable, in any way. They're totally lacking in reason.

 

You might as well try to suggest that you don't think it's right that 2+2=4, that you much prefer if it would equal 5, and would like it if we all agreed that 2+2 AND 2+3=5.

 

To get upset because people are so incredulous is also a wildly unreasonable reaction.

 

 

Seriously...no offense...but you've probably written the obituary to your credibility as far as the board is concerned. You've dug a hole from which it will be difficult to get out, unless people A. forget (and the board never forgets), or B. you contribute so much astonishingly clever, sage, and witty musings to the board that they will be willing to overlook this as a momentary lapse in sanity.

 

Seriously. Good luck.

Is there.....

 

Like blowing the whistle summons the dogs....

 

Of course, that thread wasn't irrational, except for the dogpile by the clique.

 

(thumbs u

[DrWatson]

Although it would be easy to, I'm not going to be as rude as those of you who took the time and energy to go out of your way to show just how big an A hole you could be. DrWatson at least made an attempt at humor. Batty Scrooge, Thank you for your input. Fantastic Four, thank you for your thoughtful reply. tth2, take two aspirins and read it in the morning. I'm sorry for those of you who lacked the critical thinking necessary to see beyond the $1 increments up to lets say the $1000 increments stage at which point you may reconsider offering me that kind of money to delete the thread. A decent person would have just read my post and decide to move on without leaving snide comments behind.

 

Has the whole board gone insane...? Is this the result of last week's elec...er, Conan returning to late night?

 

You need to understand that your opinions on this matter aren't reasonable, in any way. They're totally lacking in reason.

 

You might as well try to suggest that you don't think it's right that 2+2=4, that you much prefer if it would equal 5, and would like it if we all agreed that 2+2 AND 2+3=5.

 

To get upset because people are so incredulous is also a wildly unreasonable reaction.

 

 

Seriously...no offense...but you've probably written the obituary to your credibility as far as the board is concerned. You've dug a hole from which it will be difficult to get out, unless people A. forget (and the board never forgets), or B. you contribute so much astonishingly clever, sage, and witty musings to the board that they will be willing to overlook this as a momentary lapse in sanity.

 

Seriously. Good luck.

Is there.....

 

Like blowing the whistle summons the dogs....

 

Of course, that thread wasn't irrational, except for the dogpile by the clique.

 

(thumbs u

Of course it wasn't... if you consider the entire boards a clique.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Although it would be easy to, I'm not going to be as rude as those of you who took the time and energy to go out of your way to show just how big an A hole you could be. DrWatson at least made an attempt at humor. Batty Scrooge, Thank you for your input. Fantastic Four, thank you for your thoughtful reply. tth2, take two aspirins and read it in the morning. I'm sorry for those of you who lacked the critical thinking necessary to see beyond the $1 increments up to lets say the $1000 increments stage at which point you may reconsider offering me that kind of money to delete the thread. A decent person would have just read my post and decide to move on without leaving snide comments behind.

 

Has the whole board gone insane...? Is this the result of last week's elec...er, Conan returning to late night?

 

You need to understand that your opinions on this matter aren't reasonable, in any way. They're totally lacking in reason.

 

You might as well try to suggest that you don't think it's right that 2+2=4, that you much prefer if it would equal 5, and would like it if we all agreed that 2+2 AND 2+3=5.

 

To get upset because people are so incredulous is also a wildly unreasonable reaction.

 

 

Seriously...no offense...but you've probably written the obituary to your credibility as far as the board is concerned. You've dug a hole from which it will be difficult to get out, unless people A. forget (and the board never forgets), or B. you contribute so much astonishingly clever, sage, and witty musings to the board that they will be willing to overlook this as a momentary lapse in sanity.

 

Seriously. Good luck.

Is there.....

 

Like blowing the whistle summons the dogs....

 

Of course, that thread wasn't irrational, except for the dogpile by the clique.

 

(thumbs u

Of course it wasn't... if you consider the entire boards a clique.

 

Whatever flys up your dress, mate. (thumbs u

[DrWatson]

Had a couple of yellow jackets fly up me pants leg before...

[dupont2005]

And therein lies the only way to win an auction and feel as close to 100% happy as you can about it. Bid whatever you're willing to pay whenever you want and ignore the other factors.

 

Couldn't agree more. (thumbs u

 

Decide your max, bid it, walk away, and check in at the end.

 

This idea of sniping is foolish. If somebody is willing to pay more than you , you are going to "lose" , whether it's with four days to go or four seconds. It won't matter.

That is true but sniping still has it's advantages. Sometimes if people have several hours or days to decide how bad they want something, they decide they are willing to bid a little more. I have lost an auction by a penny from a sniper, and although I did bid what I wanted to bid, I would have gladly threw in an extra penny to win it. I don't often try sniping. I like to get a bid in early if the auction has zero bidders so when someone feels me out with slight increases of the current max bid only to see my max is higher each time, I think it might make them just give up. If I see an auction with several bids already on it though, I will wait until the last minute to put in my max bid.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I have thought about this as well.

I remember winning an Ebay auction for $3050.

I had placed a $3500 bid early,and with very little time left,someone bid $3000.

I won,but also realized that if i had only bid $3000 at the beginning,i would have still won the book for $3000,as i had the earlier "same" bid.

So in those situations,Ebay gets an extra $50,for absolutely nothing.

Not that it's something that's stopped me,or is going to stop be from bidding on future stuff,but just an observation inline with the OP's thoughts.

That's exactly what I'm saying. And it doesn't affect just the final bid, it's happening on every bid all the way through. It offends my sense of fairplay. Just another example of the giant corporations stacking the deck against the little guy every way they can. And I have bids in at two different auctions right now so I guess I'm playing the game even though I feel it's crooked.

 

What about Flaming_Telepath's explanation that you have to beat the underbidder as opposed to match their bid in order to win (unless it's a tie obviously, then the earlier bid wins)?

 

The only real discussion that I see you have here is the increment, and that is written up within the rules of the auction house.

 

My contention is that by virtue of the higher proxy you have already beaten the underbidder who has really only matched you. You've demonstrated a willingness to pay a higher price than he is. You got to his bid first, he should have to go the next increments, not you. The increment level is irrelevant, $1, $10, $1000, the effect is the same. I'm really amazed by all the people who defend the practice that I see as screwing everybody who bids at an auction.

 

No, he didn't match you. You "matched" him. Without the increments, people wouldn't understand that they need to bid MORE to outbid the previous bidder. People will bid $51, see the high bid is $51, without seeing that it's not THEIRS, and they will think they've won, or at the very least, are the high bidder.

[mycomicshop]

With some further thought, I agree with Michael and don't see a compelling reason to keep the current behavior. I'm changing it so that when you put in a max bid, if somebody puts in a new bid below your max, your bid is bumped up equal to their bid, but not bumped up by the bid increment. This is fair since your bid was in first. I don't think it makes a big difference either way to most people, but since this is slightly more favorable to bidders and strengthens the incentive to enter a max proxy bid, I think it's a good change.

 

 

On the subject of sniping--I don't think there's anything ethically wrong with sniping. It's true that sniping is useless against a true max proxy bid if the goal is just to win the item. But, since many bidders don't enter a true max, sniping can certainly help to win an item at an amount less than what some other bidders might have been willing to pay had they known the snipe was coming and had time to react.

 

For our auctions, we've set them to automatically extend the end time by 5 minutes any time a bid is placed in the last 5 minutes of the auction. Doesn't completely eliminate the motivation to bid at the last minute rather than putting in a bid earlier in the auction, but it does give other bidders an opportunity to respond.

 

 

[VintageComics]

Your new method will open the doors for a bunch questions with bidders wondering why they didn't win when their bids are the same as the winning bid number.

 

Personally, I don't see a problem with a bid increment. It's just logical.

[RockMyAmadeus]

And therein lies the only way to win an auction and feel as close to 100% happy as you can about it. Bid whatever you're willing to pay whenever you want and ignore the other factors.

 

Couldn't agree more. (thumbs u

 

Decide your max, bid it, walk away, and check in at the end.

 

This idea of sniping is foolish. If somebody is willing to pay more than you , you are going to "lose" , whether it's with four days to go or four seconds. It won't matter.

 

100% true, with one exception: sniping is actually very clever. It prevents people from bidding emotionally, which is what you don't want your opposition to be doing.

 

If I bid $500 with four days to go, high bid is $100...I'm inviting thrill bids and test bids against my high bid.

 

Or, if I outbid anyone in the process, this tends to anger (rationally or not) a lot of people, and they decide they want the item more than they originally did, they will punish bid.

 

If I bid $500 with 4 seconds to go, high bid is $100...no one has a chance to react in an emotional manner.

 

But all of that fails if someone has bid more than your max bid, whether 10 seconds after the auction starts, or 10 seconds before it ends.

[Bunky Brian]

I want to know which auction house is selling books to

 

a Harry Peter.

Watson in t house

[RockMyAmadeus]

Had a couple of yellow jackets fly up me pants leg before...

 

So, do you keep your board dossiers in Excel, Word, or do you just have stacks of notebooks painstakingly written out by hand...?

 

Because written out by hand, Unabomber style, would be a lot more impressive.