Fortunately someone legitimately outbid me -- I was glad to be out of it ...

I must confess to being confused.

You placed a maximum bid amount of $1600 (?) and now you're upset because ??

It sold for more than you were willing to pay?
Somebody out-bid you?
Somebody bid and then changed their mind?

It's an auction. No guarantees. If you wanted it really really badly, then you should have made your max bid $2000. Looks like somebody wanted it more than you.

I have been using eBay pretty regularly for just about as long as they have been around, and am always baffled by the people who think it is being done all wrong. I think it's being run pretty damn well. People who don't like uncertainty should go down to their local retailer and just buy the stuff they want retail.

That said... I do have one idea for a change in eBay procedure that could work very well. A lot of people seem to be upset about the idea of bid sniping (not me -- I do it myself in an attempt to minimize the amount I pay. Sometimes I get out-sniped, and when that happens I have been known to send a congratulatory e-mail to the successful sniper. Hey, it's part of the fun and he beat me at my own game -- excellent!) Anyway, I have a simple method of stopping sniping: indeterminate auction end times. I do NOT advocate extending the auction as long as new bids come in. Instead, make the auction end time be a fixed time, give or take 5 minutes.

Simple, it would end sniping, and encourage people to make their maximum bids a reasonable amount right up front.

tanstaafl.