E-bay complaints: was Re: "Response" from seller with the "Apple-1"

[Vintage Computer Festival]

On Fri, 8 Jul 2005, 'Computer Collector Newsletter' wrote:

> Do these services have any kind of monetary buffer built-in?  For example,
> let's say you are willing to pay $100 for something.  Your sniping service
> enters that amount at the last possible second, and you lose to someone
> whose bid was $101.  You'd feel pretty dumb about losing the item because of
> one dollar.

Why should I feel dumb?  I already thought about what I was willing to pay
at a maximum, so if someone gets it for $1 more than me then more power to
them.  And in 99 times out of 100, if someone does get it for $1 more than
you, they probably put in a bid that is several dollars more than what
your maximum was.  So even if you did bid $2 more, their max will still be
larger than yours.  And this also negates the point of the sniping service
and starts to get into the silly psychological games that drive up prices
well beyond what's reasonable and sane.

  How do you know that winner's bid wasn't $101 maximum?  I know
> that's an easy trap because, in reality, you can keep going back and forth
> in small increments, and the next thing you know, you've bid $120, which is
> really more than you allotted for the item.  Still, though, it's a
> legitimate problem with sniping services as I understand them -- you have no
> chance at all to say "okay, I'll bid just a little bit more."

Again, you don't want to bid "just a little more".  You set your maximum
and you are content whatever the outcome.  If not, well, you have
problems.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
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