>> I wonder if it would be feasible to put up an auction stating very clearly that the auction would be ended by the seller, as allowed under eBay rules, about 24 hours prior to the deadline.
Not a bad idea but I think that this would probably just cause a lot of really hacked-off bidders to harass sellers who ended their autions early (which already happens now, tho to a far lesser degree).
I think it would be better to take the decision concerning when to end an auction (due to lack of further bids) out of the seller's hands and make it an automatic part of the process. In other words, (as I believe was already suggested), something similar to what Yahoo does, where a new bid entered just before close automatically adds a few minutes to the auction, giving other bidders time to react and enter new bids should they so desire. This would mimic the tradional live auction where the auctioneer yells, "going once, going twice," as a warning to everyone that they need to either bid now or let the item go.
This woukd eliminate sniping, and it would also take the pressure off those who still feel that the best tactic is to bid close to the end of an auction... they would at least have two or three minutes to decide, "Do I really really really want to up my bid again?" Overall, I think it would benefit both buyer and seller, since the buyer would have the aforementioned time to ponder, while the seller would have the advantage of knowing that every bidder had a fair chance to up his bid no matter how slow his reflexes might be.
Bob Hovey Columbus, GA USA
In a message dated 2/25/08 3:04:24 PM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.or g writes:
> I wonder if it would be feasible to put up an auction stating very
> clearly that the auction would be ended by the seller, as allowed under
> eBay rules, about 24 hours prior to the deadline. The seller would act
> as his own auctioneer, and after a reasonable time (as determined by
> seller) if no one countered the high bidder, the auction would be ended
> and the item awarded. Would this be a viable alternative for sellers
> who just don't like sniping? I can already anticipate one problem: I
f
> the seller didn't like the numbers he might be tempted to hold the
> auction open. He would then have to contend with the wrath of the
> unsuccessful bidders.
>
> John Hurley
> Austin, Texas USA
> -----Original Messag
>
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