Latest eBay seller BS

[Chuck Guzis]

On 1 Oct 2010 at 21:55, Tony Duell wrote:


> OK, I do the naive thing and put in the maxiumum I am prepared to pay
> for the item when I first bid. If somevbody else outbids me, I am not
> really upset fro long.. It jsut means they were prepared ot pay more
> than I was. No problem

Back in the early days of eBay (when Paypal would *pay* you $20 to 
join) I did my bidding using a dialup line and Mosaic, I became very 
frustrated to be aced out by bidders with faster connections.  

I purchased a software package that did sniping; it was better, but 
my connection speed and quality still limited me--and eBay frowned on 
sniping and changed its web pages several times in an attempt to 
thwart auto-sniping software.

Eventually, I signed up with a new service called eSnipe and paid a 
fee (1% of the winning bid with a cap at $100 gavel and nothing for 
items under $25).  I still use it and enjoy the original terms.  
Since most of what I bid on is under $25, I haven't paid eSnipe a 
cent in years.  (New subscribers do not get the sweetheart deal).

I tell eSnipe to bid what I'm willing to pay.  Sometimes I get the 
item; other times, I don't.  I don't get caught up in the final 
minutes frenzy.

Exposing everyone's bid maximum during an auction  would be like 
playing poker with all cards showing.  No fun.

All in all, eBay's kept a fairly honest game.  Excite and Yahoo 
auctions were rife with abuse--fortunately, they're gone--and good 
riddance.

--Chuck