I regularly participate at the Yahoo Japan auction, where if the seller chooses to set up this way, the ending time is extended ten minutes when a bid is place within the last five or ten minutes, on and on indefinitely. The experienced conclusion is that this leads to higher prices for the seller, and obviously higher prices for the bidders. One can conjure up strategies, but being sneaky isn't one.
Dennis Young
Hotaka, Japan
> For what it's worth, I say good for them. 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. If I don't bid high enough and
> lose to a snipe, that's my problem. I'm more put off by the folks
> who come in with some crappy little bid that only serves to jack up
> my purchase price by five or ten bucks.
>
> 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. 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.
>
> 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.
>
> IP Merkin
> Providence (where it's back to being cold as a sniper's heart), RI