*mutter*

[ksmith]

Well, I am the proud owner of a 1966 paperback copy of Modesty Blaise. When I entered the bid a few days ago, I entered a ceiling that I thought at the time was over the top, but I didn't want to have to think about the bid and if anyone wanted the book so badly that they would push it beyond that price, they could have it.

So a few minutes ago I'm watching the last few minutes of the bidding on the dial-up, which means about 30 seconds between refreshes. My original low bid still held, no one else had bid, and I thought I had a good deal. Hit refresh one last time and found that hey, I won.

Then I went to pay and found that the winning price was 2 and a half times my original bid! Not as bad as it sounds, but it took the book from mass market pb into trade paper range. So I went back and checked and found that someone had tried to snake me by entering a bid about 3 seconds before the end of the auction.

I know all's fair in love and Ebay, but three seconds is a little below the belt.

So, my high ceiling proved to be not so high after all. And I got the book. So there. Nyah.

Comments

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

As I have learned from hard experience as both a buyer and a seller on eBay, that's the way it goes sometimes. I've been sniped as little as a second before closing, and being on dial-up like you, I'm operating at a distinct disadvantage. You have big heaps of empathy from me. I'm glad you won your auction, though, even if the price was a bit of a surprise. It's always nice to come away with something cool.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

A friend told me that there are actually programs out there that submit last second bids. In cases like this, even DSL isn't fast enough--a 5 or 10 second delay is all it takes to lose an item.

All you can do is set your ceiling high enough and stick with your limit. Or if it's an object you really really want, get hold of the program and play the game yourself.

It's so weird. I am reluctant to bid on things that already have several bids. It's as though I'm concerned about appearing rude or something. Pretty ridiculous when you stop to think. It's not a particularly gentlemanly game, so why should I care? That, and the fact that it *is* an auction site and multiple bids are sort of the point. Duh.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I am reluctant to bid on things that already have several bids. It's as though I'm concerned about appearing rude or something. Pretty ridiculous when you stop to think. It's not a particularly gentlemanly game, so why should I care?

I totally understand this instinct. I'm always irritated when I get sniped at auction. It seems grossly inconsiderate somehow, a little like cutting in line, and yet... if I had a way to do it (sniping at auction, not cutting in line), I would if I wanted something badly enough. Bad, bad me. But I never have, mainly because I know that part of this whole auction business is the addictive nature of the suspense and competition created by the auction environment. One can get too caught up in the last-minute bidding, too involved in punching in numbers to ensure a win, only to discover later that one has over-committed oneself.

For any item, more often than not (there are rare exceptions) I'll pick my top dollar and then forget about the auction until it's done-done-done. If I win, great; if not, well, I'll be disappointed but, as I have learned, there will always be another opportunity. I once spent a year bidding on duplicates of the same item (a Royal Doulton flambe cat (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13825&item=6148235651&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V)to acquire just one at the price I prefered. I finally (after something like 20 auctions) prevailed at a price I thought was not only reasonable, but something of a bargain given what I'd seen the item in question go for before. (Note that the price on the item I've linked to is more than twice what I finally paid.)

So, you know, there are virtues in patience, one of the few lessons that sticking with dial-up has taught me. ::grin::

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

For any item, more often than not (there are rare exceptions) I'll pick my top dollar and then forget about the auction until it's done-done-done. If I win, great; if not, well, I'll be disappointed but, as I have learned, there will always be another opportunity.

This is how I felt about something I bought recently. I looked over how much it sold for in previous auctions, how much it was selling for retail, and made the mid-high end auction amount my top bid. I was actually hoping someone would snipe me as that sale neared the end because someone had just posted the item at the Buy It Now price that would have saved me a few bucks. IOW, it was a common enough item that my patience would have been rewarded eventually.

So, you know, there are virtues in patience, one of the few lessons that sticking with dial-up has taught me. ::grin::

Well, I confess that I do have DSL on my office computer. The laptop stays pretty much dial-up.

But I never expected someone to try and snipe me so close to the end of the auction. Any program that can place a bid within a second or two of closing is going to beat out anything, including DSL.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Lovely cat, btw. You definitely got it at a very good price.