The post below in its critisism is actually identifing ebay for what it really becomes - a sealed bid auction. With snipe services just think of every auction as a sealed bid auction where a few folks may decide to shout out their bids in advance if they feel like it.
It is what it is and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. But folks shouldn't be criticized for playing by the rules - completing their bid at a snipe service and then waiting for the bids to be opened.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> Charles Andrews wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> "No ethics involved. No fair-play either. People
\r?\n> behave during ebay auctions EXACTLY the way they
\r?\n> behave at normal in-person auctions. In a normal,
\r?\n> in-person auction, no-one reveals how much they're
\r?\n> willing to pay until the end of bidding. Ebay's
\r?\n> proxy-bid system violates that basic tactic: it
\r?\n> forces you to reveal what you're willing to pay."
\r?\n>
\r?\n> "Snipe systems fix this problem, by allowing all
\r?\n> bidders to bid exactly as they would at a real
\r?\n> auction. Sniping makes ebay into a REAL auction
\r?\n> site."
\r?\n>
\r?\n> No, it doesn't make eBay into a REAL auction site. In a REAL auction (not
\r?\n> counting sealed bid situations), bidding continues until only one high bidder
\r?\n> is left and the rest have thrown in their towels. For eBay to be like a REAL
\r?\n> auction site, auctions would continue for some amount of time after the last
\r?\n> bid was placed. If bidding continued, so would the auction. Of course,
\r?\n> that would remove the opportunity to get a "fair" deal. Snipe systems just
\r?\n> make
\r?\n> it possible to be sneaky AND lazy at the same time. I personally have more
\r?\n> respect for someone who goes in with a minute or two left and places a high
\r?\n> bid. Just as in a REAL auction, all the other bidders are given fair notice
\r?\n> to (as my late grandmother would say) s**t or get off the pot. Then again,
\r?\n> maybe I'm just naive.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> As another writer noted, the whole sniping matter has already been beaten to
\r?\n> death many times over, and I offer my own apology for continuing it. I
\r?\n> suppose I just get a bit irked by the rationalizations (or plain old
\r?\n> absolution)
\r?\n> that some give of their own behavior. Few people ever seem to think their
\r?\n> own conduct could possibly violate the tenets of ethics or fair play. Just ask
\r?\n> a few Congressmen if you don't believe me.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I.P. Merkin
\r?\n> Providence (where it'll be 80 tomorrow), RI