[Boatanchors] auction time linked to what timing source?

[Grant Youngman]

On Feb 11, 2010, at 7:36 AM, Rob Atkinson wrote:

> The practice of swooping in out of nowhere in the last few seconds
> when others have faithfully put in a bid an hour or days earlier in my
> opinion stinks.

Well, frankly, it's the only way I bid there, although I very rarely buy stuff there anymore, or anywhere else for that matter  -- too many BA's already, and if you don't believe me, just ask my wife :-)   But when I do bid, I use a 3rd party sniping application with it's time sync'd to the time that place keeps.

It doesn't always work -- in fact it most often doesn't work on anything I think I might really want -- because there always seems to be somebody who wants it more.  With sniping happening or not,  if you set your maximum bid at what you think it's worth, and get out bid in the end game by someone else, then you were saved from foolishly paying too much for a <whatever it is>.  I do the same thing.  Often times (most times?) my maximum bid amount will be outbid before the auction ends, or someone else who bid days before the end will have set a maximum higher than mine.  And he gets it.  There's always somebody who wants something more than I do :-)

I don't think it's unfair or stinks at all.  It's neither ethical nor unethical.  It's just a case of using all available tools.

Grant/NQ5T