In your message dated: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 09:25:06 PST you write:
>
> 3 or 4 people bid on the item in a humane, sane manner. You enter the
>most your willing to pay, the computers do the rest, incrementally matching
>other bids until you win or are overbid. Everythings just dandy. That is
>until a maniacal, shameless, profit-driven collector-seller comes along and
>bids at the last minute(sometimes within the last 5 seconds, I kid thee
>not), and takes his prize at a couple of bucks over the current high bidder,
Please think of how a real-life auction works. There, by *definition*,
the object in question is purchased within the last few seconds of the
auction. Admittedly, in that case you are face to face and have a
chance to outbid the other party, as there is no time limit on a "real"
auction.
>thus guaranteeing him any item he wishes as long as he's willing to stay at
>his computer 24 hours a day with 6 timers on the wall, sans life. I saw the
It only guarantees him the item if he/she is willing to outbid everyone
else who has bid on the item.
>same fellow get 3 of these lenses in this manner, and I was the high bidder
>on 2 of them. Now I know this is not against any rules. I also know it would
>be sour grapes to insist on some rule against this. Ultimately, you need to
>leave matters of ethics and morals in the hands of the buyers and sellers,
>and hope honesty wins out. I'm not very familiar with auctions, this being
How is it dishonest to outbid someone in the last few seconds of the
auction? By your own admission, you have already bid the max you were
willing to pay.
>one of my first attempts at one. I'm sure there's probably some slippery
>slang term for the situation I've described. Maybe I'm just a sore loser.
>Whatever the case, I think I shall save my sanity and stick to straight
>sales from now on, even if it mean a few more dollars. Just my three cents.
I have been beaten out in exactly this manner by so many people on EBay
that I have simply decided that that is how EBay works. Also, let's
turn this around. Since the person who bid in the last few minutes of
the auction was obviously willing to pay the amount they paid for the
item, and that amount was more than you were willing to pay, why is the
time they bid relevant? You (by your own admission) had already decided
on your maximum price. If that is completely true, then when the person
placed the higher bid for the item is irrelevant; they would have beaten
you out in any case. However, if you argue that "but if they had outbid
me sooner then I could have bettered my offer" then you obviously didn't
originally bid for the maximum amount you were willing to pay. I feel
your frustration (believe me, I've lost out to lots of nice items this
way), but I've come to realize I can't have it both ways. I either
place the max bid that I am willing to pay and not worry if I get
outbid, or I bid in the last minute or two to make sure no "money
grubbing scum" has a chance to do to me what was done to you and has
been done to me too often in the past. Sometimes, you have to fight
fire with fire.
Just my 2 kopecs
Cheers,
--Lee
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