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Re: [OM] Online auction editorial (Off topic)

Subject: Re: [OM] Online auction editorial (Off topic)
From: Dan Medley <dmedley@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 00:33:20 -0800
I love this topic :) To me it is so simple!  If you see an item on e-bay,
and you want it, then you bid an amount that you are willing to pay.  The
system will hold your high bid, and increment it automatically no matter
WHEN the other guy bids.  If someone comes in at the last moment and bids
some ridiculous amount, or even outbids you by a few dollars, then OH WELL!
 That's MORE than what you wanted to pay anyway!

Almost ALL of the Olympus items I've seen on e-bay can be found through
Shutterbug, or on-line catalogs.  I basically look through the magazine,
and compare the prices.  I then bid accordingly.  The few auctions I've
won, I've done so by just bidding what I was willing to pay.  I've lost
MANY other auctions by being outbid, but it boils down to the simple fact
that I was not willing to pay that much.

I will admit, however, that it does get a little crazy at the last moment,
and people sometime bid what I would consider ridiculous amounts just to
win a item - considering the availability of some of these items.  A good
example of some recent craziness was the auction of, what was essentially,
a mint- OM-2s a few weeks back.  It went for $350 or something outrageous
(IMO) like that.  I bid $285 I think, and had the high bid up to the last 4
seconds.  But that was what I was willing to pay for that item at the time!
 Afterwards, I ended up buying a rather beat up, but perfectly functional
OM-2s for $160 from a list member!  Sure, I'd rather have the nice pretty
one, but not at $350.  

OTOH, if I were a collector, and I REALLY wanted that item, I could have
bid $400, $500, or more when I first came across it.  The system would have
just incremented it as necessary so that the last minute bidder - last
second more accurately - would have lost unless he was as adamant about it
as I was.

I think that the people complaining about the last-minute bidders on e-bay,
seems more a reflection of their frustration at not getting and item for
cheap or at a bargain than anything else.


Regards,
Danyal Medley

At 04:38 PM 12/1/98 -0500, you wrote:
>The last minute guy does not know any more than anyone else 
>what the current potential (hidden) high bid is.  The computers 
>store the bids and bid incrementally until they hit each individual's 
>maximum.  If your maximum had been higher than his last moment 
>bid you would have won.
>
>
>To:                    olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Copies to:             lhawkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject:               Re: [OM] Online auction editorial 
>Date sent:             Tue, 01 Dec 1998 14:27:41 -0500
>From:                  "R. Lee Hawkins" <lhawkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Send reply to:         olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>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,
>


<snip>




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