Chuck Schmidt noted:
"From what I've heard over the years, bidding the item up instead of sniping at the end of the auction is a matter of honor amongst the Japanese; the honorable thing to do."
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Like I said, totally irrational. Makes no sense at all. Spend more money because why??? To show you have it? Not only is that irrational, it's immoral, imho. It's not honorable, it's just silly.
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IP Merkin responded to Chuck's comment, in part:
"For what it's worth, I say good for them."
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Huh? Good for them how, exactly? Seems like this practice is not good for anybody. It costs us all more money for no reason other than some kind of weird, backhanded ego-trip. When I was first on ebay many years ago, I indulged in some of that, but I soon gave it up when I realized how much it was costing me.
Seems to me parvenues with too much money on their hands indulge in this kind of behavior. Or guys with self-esteem problems.
Now, if you were the gambling type, and you had a bone to pick with a fellow bidder, you might try to get his or her dander up by driving up their bidding, and cost them some money, but it only works if they play along...and I doubt that goes on all that much.
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" While sniping is an effective practice, it's also downright sneaky, especially when done by somebody who comes in with his or her first and only bid in the last ten seconds of an auction. "
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With all due respect... I strongly disagree. There's nothing sneaky about it. I make my best bid, I make it using automated software at the last second. Anyone else is free to do the same. The way Ebay is designed, it's the only rational, economical way to bid on any auction, imho. And this from someone who's done it both ways many times.
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IP Merkin went on to say: "I'd rather see eBay run like real auctions, which keep going as long as the bidding continues. If you want to have scheduled end time, fine, but extend the auctions by another hour when a bid comes in during the last scheduled thirty minutes of the auction. The sellers would end up with more money, and all the prospective bidders would see who they're up against."
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as I mentioned earlier, I agree with you there. My own opinion is that Ebay continues to refuse to do this because they're afraid they'll scare off new buyers. They want to grow, and I suppose they feel the business will grow more on the buyer side than the seller side. This is in line with Ebay's long-standing bias toward buyers. They couldn't care less about sellers, even though sellers are the ones who provide their profits!
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"If somebody wants to go mano a mano with me over something we both want, be my guest and let the better of us win. Don't hide behind a stopwatch."
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Oh, c'mon. You gotta be kidding. I want the item. I don't care about you at all, or any other bidder, unless they are a friend of mine. I want to win the item for the least amount of money I have to pay. Sniping is ideal if this is my goal. On the other hand, if I got a big rush out of going "mano-a-mano" with someone, then I'd be stupid, and bid big bucks well before the auction was over. But, as I say, from where I sit, that'd be plain stupid.
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"To those of you who get some sort of rush (whether you admit it or not) by winning eBay auctions with snipes, I offer no apologies. "
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Uh....you sure you're not the one who gets a rush out of paying too much? I get no rush at all from sniping stuff. I snipe using e-snipe; I just set my best bid, and forget about it, until I win, or lose. The only way to fly. Although, that said, I do like it when I win, which I do most of the time.
Feel free to bid up my Freschi--or anything else I'm selling--well before the auction ends. I'm more than happy to take the money. ;>
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Charles Andrews
SoCal