From: DDoyle9570@aol.com
Date: Sun Nov 07 2004 - 08:04:53 PST
Can you or anyone explain to me the
logic of bidding before the close? I bid the max I'm going to pay, not to
"win" against someone else.
Yes, I can. I have won lots of auctions, and I have lost a few. The ones I lost, I lost because someone else bid more than I thought the item was worth....almost exactly what you say in the second line above.
If a left hand widget is worth 187.42 to me, its worth that the first day its offered, as well as in the last seven seconds. If it were worth 188.00 to me I would have bid that. Just because Pete may think its worth 190 doesn't make it worth that to me.
Ebay automatically increments the bids up to the preset limit. I have always been amazed, and amused, to look at bid historys and see folks bidding back and forth against each other as if it were a live auction....they clearly do not understand the entire premise of "bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay."
Why wait until the last moments and have to rely on either my memory, my internet connection, or some "services" hard or soft ware?
If someone is bidding against me, they ONLY way they win is if they think its worth more than I do, and bid accordingly. When they bid has nothing to do with whether or not they win.
You mention bidding early drives up the price. I don't understand how that could possibly effect what the item is worth to me.
In my example above, if you think the widget is worth 190 bucks, and I think its worth 187.42, how does the time of my bid effect the final price you pay? If I bid in the first minute, or the last minute, you still must outbid me, and whether I bid in the first minute, or last minute, I still must outbid the guy who thinks its worth 185.00. UNLESS someone doesn't get the bid in before the end of the auction, the price will remain the same. Since the only variable is a glitch in the bid process, I prefer to have 7 days to correct any errors, not 7 seconds.
Regards,
David Doyle
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