Re: [Amps] Blowing off steam

[W0UN -- John Brosnahan <shr@swtexas.net>]

At 12:35 PM 10/20/2004, Bill Turner wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:57:41 -0400, Will Matney wrote:
>
> >All in all, it makes me think about Jay Leno's "Jay Walking" skit. I
> >didn't know there was that many folks out there that dense.
>
> _



Bidding will auto-increment on eBay.  So if two (or more) people set
an upper limit the program will increment each one until it runs out
of "limit".

In a recent case I put in a limit of $310 for an item that had a minimum
bid of $298.  Since I was the only bidder on the item I got it for $298.
The auto-increment program didn't have to do anything.

I am not positive of the details of how the auto increment works but I
think it will work so that if someone puts in a $300 bid and I put in a
$310 LIMIT bid and someone else puts in a $315 LIMIT bid then the third guy
will get the item at $311.  But I am not sure if the computer will increment
my bid to $301 and then auto increment the other limit bid to $302 and then
auto increment mine to $303 until it gets to the total final $311 or if it 
is "smart"
and just makes the jump to the top automatically.

So, from that perspective, it is not like an "in-person" auction exactly.
This might explain how the bidding jumps up a number of times
by the same people.   It may just be auto incrementing.

Under this scenario you just decide what is the maximum price you
are willing to pay and the bidding will get you the item for the least
amount of money that exceeds everyone else's idea of what the
maximum they will pay.  If you get beat then it is because someone
else was willing to pay more for it than you would.

BTW  I have only done a couple of eBay bids--lost one and won one--
so I am NO expert.   But it seems like a pretty fair way to run things--
because you set your own max that you are willing to pay.  There is
the risk that you are bidding against a shill of some sort.   But you
never have to pay more than you are willing to pay.   And "shills"
are not unique to eBay.  I once bid on a lathe at a "live" (real people
holding up their numbers) auction and was beat out by someone else
when they went higher than I wanted to go.  But, amazingly, the item
was RE-auctioned at the end of the sale and I bought it the second time.

It could have been a shill bidding against me--but maybe it was someone
who exceeded his ability to pay by buying too much and just could not
afford to pay for the item when it was time to settle.   But I assume it
was a shill.  The good news is that the second time I got it for less money.

--John   W0UN


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