[78-L] bidding

[DAVID BURNHAM]

f you look at the bid page, they state right on top how many different 
bidders there are, and they only count the actual bids, not the 
automatic bids.  So if you start high and someone does a step bid but 
gets topped each time, the number of total bids is only the number of 
his steps plus one for your one original bid.  You can click on the "see 
all bids" to see the automatic bids. Of course if you hadn't been so 
stupid to put in an early high bid, the other guy might have stopped at 
his first low bid and you could have won it with a snipe at a lower 
cost.  Bidding wars are dumb.

Mike Biel  

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e-sniping or whatever it's called is hardest on the sellers.  I used to buy all sorts of stuff on e-bay but then I got frustrated as every thing I bid on was being over bid in the last few seconds - in fact the notice that bidding is over and that I didn't win the item usually arrived before the notice that I've been over bid and that I should bid again.  These sniping bids usually come in within the last 5 seconds.  Hence I've substantially stopped buying on e-bay and I see many items of value being purchased at the minimum bid in the last seconds.  Of course, it's fun seeing something of mediocre value suddenly shoot up to a hundred dollars or more as two snipers take each other on.

Although it's a risky business, I have also bid an item up just to give the seller a chance to recoup something approaching the value of the item. 

db