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I put in my highest bid when I snipe. I've won some and lost some, but I have never bid more just to win the auction. That's the key. Let's say what I wanted was $100 new. To get a used one away from the snipers I'd have to commit about $70. I'm not gonna do that. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Why don't one of you Portland guys quit bitchin about ebay for awhile and go over to Craigslist and buy the Legend for $170 before I do? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | MIB sez--- "Why don't one of you Portland guys quit bitchin about ebay for awhile and go over to Craigslist and buy the Legend for $170 before I do?"
It's in Vancouver, I don't have a car, it don't have any electronics, and I've already got one. |
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Location: closely held secret | Don't need it and don't have room for it. |
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Location: Portland, OR | huh? |
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| Ebay/Government always want to have it both ways, so they shoot themselves in the foot, then charge their customers for the hospital bill... :)
They might control the sellers initiative, but they can't control the buyers initiative...
That's an excellent comparison with the government, except while ebay can just layoff employees, the government just raises taxes (prints more money :rolleyes: ) and hires more employees... |
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Location: closely held secret | Well, of course... the rules don't apply to them... |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by stephent28:
You NEVER lose a bid because of a sniper. The sniper is ALWAYS willing to pay a higher price than you. That's why their bid wins. Exactly right.
But I still think its a flaw in the eBay system, that actually works against the sellers' interests.
I think they should modify their auctions so that they won't end until the most recent bid is at least 60 seconds old. That way, a last second snipe has the effect of extending the auction for one minute, giving other buyers a chance to respond with higher bids. Essentially, the proxy auction that eBay normally runs transforms into a live auction at the end.
Why not? |
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Location: closely held secret | Because ebay doesn't care about the sellers. |
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Location: Central Massachusetts | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
Why don't one of you Portland guys quit bitchin about ebay for awhile and go over to Craigslist and buy the Legend for $170 before I do? Empty guitar fund |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Originally posted by Omaha:
giving other buyers a chance to respond with higher bids
Why not? If interested, the bidder should have bid his max to begin with and then he wouldn't have to worry about being sniped. Allowing him extra time just drives up the price for the true winner.
I get tired of seeing posts where the loser whines that they lost by "10 dollars". Come on guys.....get a clue. You didn't lose by 10 dollars you got "OUTBID" by 10 dollars. If you had bid $100 more you still might have lost by $10.
A loss is a loss. While I do use a snipe program bottom line is if I don't bid enough to win the snipe is useless. I plug in my maximum and walk away and check my email later. Works great at removing the emotions from the bid. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Well put Stephen! |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Why thank you Bradley.
It is true that sometimes great minds think alike! |
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| Omaha, excellent point.. 'proxy auction' verses 'live auction'. I went to live auctions when I was a kid. It wasn't over until it was over..
Going once, going twice, Sold!... but then again, there weren't any shills or snipers. You had to basically put up or shut up... |
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Location: Orlando, FL | I got tired of getting sniped a long time ago. If there is something I want on eBay I use BIN or snipe it for the most I am willing to pay.
If I lose, oh well, somebody else was willing to pay more than me. But at least I don't get caught up in a bidding war during the last 60 seconds and pay more than I wanted to and regret it later. |
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Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by Omaha:
I think they should modify their auctions so that they won't end until the most recent bid is at least 60 seconds old. That way, a last second snipe has the effect of extending the auction for one minute, giving other buyers a chance to respond with higher bids. Essentially, the proxy auction that eBay normally runs transforms into a live auction at the end.
Why not? As a seller, it sounds like a good idea leading to higher final prices. But as a seller, I'm afraid what would happen is there would be a sudden upsurge of NPB's (non-paying bidders) who got caught up in the frenzy. Sellers are already dealing with this because of the new meaningless feedback system. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Originally posted by The Wabbit Formerly Known As Waskel:
Don't need it and don't have room for it. Like that's stopped any of the rest of us . . . |
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Location: closely held secret | Point taken... |
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Location: NJ | i can go on for days on this topic......... |
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| Al, OK, so just give us some highlights then... ;) |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | If you want to read it all, and I do mean ALL, visit the ebay Discussion forums. It's under the "Community" link in the upper right of the eBay pages when you're logged in. Then click DIscussion BOards and pick.. Soapbox or How to Grow and Ebay business. There are single threads that have over 12,000 to 14,000 replies on some of the hotter topics.
Enjoy |
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Location: closely held secret | Yup. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by The Wabbit Formerly Known As Waskel:
Originally posted by Omaha:
I think they should modify their auctions so that they won't end until the most recent bid is at least 60 seconds old. That way, a last second snipe has the effect of extending the auction for one minute, giving other buyers a chance to respond with higher bids. Essentially, the proxy auction that eBay normally runs transforms into a live auction at the end.
Why not? As a seller, it sounds like a good idea leading to higher final prices. But as a seller, I'm afraid what would happen is there would be a sudden upsurge of NPB's (non-paying bidders) who got caught up in the frenzy. Sellers are already dealing with this because of the new meaningless feedback system.
A number of years ago, I was CIO of an internet startup that was built around on-line auctions of wholesale equipment. As such, I spent a lot of time studying various auction systems and methodologies. Really fascinating stuff actually.
I came away thinking that eBay's setup was "so so". Could be better, could be a lot worse. By and large it works, but mainly they continue to live off the simple fact that they achieved critical mass of buyers and sellers before anyone else. Once they got there, they effectively sealed off the market.
But I think the market is opening back up. There is going to be room for a competitor to come in and start eating their lunch. But that is going to take time and money. eBay is not going away quietly.
Anyway, the change I proposed above, where the proxy auction is extended until 60 seconds beyond the most recent bid, is a simple change that would eliminate a huge amount of buyer frustration, and generate better sales prices for sellers. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | "I came away thinking that eBay's setup was "so so". Could be better, could be a lot worse. By and large it works, but mainly they continue to live off the simple fact that they achieved critical mass of buyers and sellers before anyone else. Once they got there, they effectively sealed off the market."
- In a nut shell
"But I think the market is opening back up. There is going to be room for a competitor to come in and start eating their lunch. But that is going to take time and money. eBay is not going away quietly."
- That last bit.. the " But that is going to take time and money. eBay is not going away quietly."
is the real hurdle for any competition.
Someone would have to come up with a model that was arguably better... and that's probably not that difficult, but they would also have to roll it out in a way that eBay didn't notice. That part just isn't possible. As soon as any competition would hit the net, eBay would just make an adjustment of whatever, for however long it would take to ensure the competition just didn't succeed.
Amazon.com has the closest "better mousetrap." They were established, they already have the technology, and they have several features that eBay doesn't.
- They have "store fronts" a little better than eBay stores in visibility.
- They can sell your product for you if you want.
- They had/have a central payment system where you could can add products from several vendors into your cart and pay once. Amazon takes care of getting the money to the right people.
- They provide warehouse services
- They provide the ability to see both used and new version of the same item and the price range.
- They not only have seller feedback, but product reviews.
- They accept all forms of online payment.
Read this . Check out the timeline and the acquisitions sections. Looks like the formula to squash ebay doesn't it. An established company with 14.8 billion in revenue (2007), $476 million net and 17,000 employees.
In 1999 Amazon started to get into the Auction game, and by 2001 (and ever since) have been irrelevant as an auction site.
As stated above, "But that (squashing eBay) is going to take time and money. eBay is not going away quietly."
FWIW eBay is only about 8.5 billion in revenue and $348 million net with 15,000+ employees. You'd think someone like Amazon could have them for an afternoon snack. The wiki for eBay here is quite the yawnfest compared to Amazon, but there you have it. "What ever it is, you can get it (or sell it worldwide) on eBay" with a few exceptions.
But.. If you want an Adamas guitar, you need to contact Alpep !!!!! That's all I'm say'n. |
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Location: Utah | Sounds like I blew my good will with swmbo by buying the Hamer instead of an A. This ominous talk is getting me worried. |
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The Bay is Only For the Pros Anymore
