The whole proxy bidding thing is a good concept in theory, but for some reason most people seem to have trouble working their heads around what it does exactly.

AMEN TO THAT!!! Like Bitt said, people seem to think eBay's auction model is going, going, gone where you can always outbid someone that bid above you. It's not, why can't people figure that out?

When I do bid early, always the absolute MAXIMUM I am willing to pay, but, there is always one person looking for a deal by nibbling away at my bid. Snipers also snipe to prevent this type of behavior. I have won many auctions sniping, and lost many as well, but every time I lost, it was because someone was willing to pay more than me for that item. Seems pretty simple to me...

Yeah, actually I tried to reword that sentence a million times to get it to sound right. "Freedom" does not always mean politics, though. If I were to say a certain shirt restricted my freedom to move and that was why I didn't buy it, you wouldnt' be calling me out on that.

I fully understand that Ebay has the right to do whatever it wants. But no one likes to feel restricted or have an option taken away. So I mean "freedom" in the sense of "free to bid the way I always have", not "free to do something and not go to jail."

there is always one person looking for a deal by nibbling away at my bid

Which means "I want to beat you, but I don't care whether I win the auction or not."

Which means "I want to beat you, but I don't care whether I win the auction or not."

I don't quite understand that statement. "Beat me" as in raising the bid as high as they can, whether or not they win the auction?
IMO, most people think eBay is the land of cheap stuff. People will constantly increase their bids by the minimum increment until they reach their max price. In other words they are looking for a deal by trying not to pay what they think is a fair price, and don't get the proxy bid concept.

If they keep inching up on you, they're looking for the amount you bid and bid $1 over. But if they do that, anyone bidding anything more at all will win. Instead, they could bid $50 (for example) over and still get to purchase the product at $1 over what you bid. Unless someone else bids more and they'll have to pay more.

So they're interested in beating you, but not interested in paying any more than what it would take to beat you, including whatever it would take to beat the next high bidder.

Of course, there's also the notion that they're just idiots who don't understand how the proxy bidding works, which I didn't consider.

My problem with ebay is that people don't bother to research the market price for anything and, under pressure, bid substantially higher than, say, the low-end prices found on a froogle search for the items. I got tired of playing the bid game with idiots...

For example, I looked yesterday at the prices of used Rio Receivers on ebay (historically) and found I could do better getting a refurb via an online merchant elsewhere. Also, the shipping would certainly be cheaper than the typical $15-$20 that most ebay sellers charge.

-brendan

You tell your proxy (eBay itself) what your maximum bid is and it bids on your behalf.


Yes, I agree.

But what if I put in my max bid, find out it's not enough, and then after some soul searching decide, "Well, OK, I'll go a little bit higher." I don't think I've ever actually done that -- but I would resent not having the option to do so.

category of auction warriors who are more interested in the battle than the prize

I have to confess that I do enjoy the excitement of the auction process, which is one of the reasons I like to bid-snipe. "Will it be enough? Did I cut the end time too close?" That sort of thing.

Considering that I rarely bid on anything that sells for more than about $30, it's pretty cheap entertainment.

tanstaafl.

But what if I put in my max bid, find out it's not enough, and then after some soul searching decide, "Well, OK, I'll go a little bit higher." I don't think I've ever actually done that -- but I would resent not having the option to do so.

I did that just recently, and ended up winning the auction. I didn't really want to go that high, but considering that the next lowest price I found on a similarly used item was nearly double what I won the auction for (and new ones are $1000+ over what I paid), I'm reasonably happy. So yes, I'd resent that, too.

Well, that may be a little draconian, but thirty updates an auction is ridiculous. Maybe give 'em one update per couple of hours or something, but restricted enough that nibbling, etc. isn't useful.

But, then, this was about not being able to get into a bidding war. I liked my second option better anyway.