P3D Re: Auctions

[Peter Davis <pd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:49 PM 10/24/98 , you wrote:
>The problem with bidding at a live auction rather than thru the net, is
>that the high energy of the bidding, and the egging on of the auctioneer
>and his crew often influence you to bid higher than you normally would
>when you have time to ponder.

This is, in fact, the purpose of auctions.  If it were not for this effect,
people would simply set a price for items and sell it to the first person
willing to pay the price.  The purpose of an auction, on-line or live, is
to goad people into paying more than they otherwise might for an item by
pitting them against one another.  Obviously, it's pretty effective, or it
wouldn't be used so much.  Our desire to possess something is only equalled
by our desire to prevent someone else from getting it.

However, I do have a couple of observations about eBay auctions:

1) If you don't want to "sit on" the auction, you can simply contemplate
your maxmimum bid, and enter it at any time.  As other have said, you can
take the attitude that anyone outbidding you is overpaying.

2) Placing a maximum bid early does NOT reveal your hand, since others will
only see the next bid increment, not your maximum.  However, in the event
of a tie, the earlier bidder wins!  This means that if you place an early
bid, and at the last minute, a sniper matches your maximum, or you raise
your bid to match the sniper's, you win!

3) Certain categories of merchandise have more bargains than others.
Cameras and photography equipment seem to have few bargains, because there
are many knowledgeable people bidding the prices up to competitive levels.
There are other areas of the eBay in which there are many bargains to be
found, often with few bidders and no sniping.  Of course, that pre-supposes
that you're interested in these other things.

-pd


--------
                             Peter Davis
               Funny stuff at http://world.std.com/~pd

          Boycott spammers and other intrusive advertisers!


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