[R-390] R-389 Sold For $3550.00 on eBay

Mon Nov 14 12:58:26 EST 2005

Although I've used eBay for purchases - and sometimes got stuff 
for bargain prices,   I have a fundamental gripe about the way 
that ebay operates.  
In any conventional auction, the bidding proceeds until the final 
highest bid is placed. The auctioneer goes into the 
going-three-times routine, but if further last-minute bids are 
made, the auction continues.  eBay's system of timed ending 
leaves everyone vulnerable to last-second sniping.  The buyer who 
wants an item is denied further time to bid higher and the seller 
is denied further bids that may increase the price he gets. So, 
everybody loses.  Even ebay loses extra commission that would 
come from an increased sale price.
Extending the running time for a couple of minutes after a late 
bid is received is not a huge problem in programming, so why 
won't ebay do it?

Andy G8JAC

|>Back to my other thoughts about Ebay....
|>
|>All Ebay has done is expand that exposure and marketplace 
globally which 
|>drives prices up.  Are we to fault Ebay for putting a seller 
and a buyer 
|>together halfway around the world or across the country for 
that matter. 
|>Depends I guess whether you are a seller or a buyer of a 
|>particular piece of 
|>equipment.  As a buyer I can find things that were not 
available to me in 
|>small town USA.  As a seller I can find a buyer in small town 
USA that's 
|>looking for the widget I just happen to have.
|>
|>An example....my wife has been buying China from a lady in N.J. through 
|>Ebay. (been married 25 yrs and have never bought China...it's a 
|>big deal to 
|>wives)  It's expensive stuff normally but she is buying seconds 
|>that comes 
|>directly from the factory store in N.J.  The lady she is buying 
|>from makes a 
|>trip to that store twice a week and picks over the pieces and 
|>buys what she 
|>thinks will sell...as well as things that are on my wife's 
needs list to 
|>finish her full 8 place settings.  I'm delighted because she is 
|>buying this 
|>stuff at a fraction of the cost she would have paid from a 
|>retailer and we 
|>can't see anything flawed in any of the pieces.  I'm sure the 
lady we are 
|>buying from is making 100+% profit but my wife would never have 
had that 
|>opportunity if it were not for her selling the stuff on Ebay.  I 
|>think it's 
|>a great thing...and wish I had thought of it..(that and post-it 
|>notes)..I'd 
|>be rich.
|>
|>Now that said I disagree sharply with Shill bidding practices and have 
|>protested to Ebay about their policing of that practice.  I have mixed 
|>feelings about the folks that have made a business out of selling 
|>on Ebay. 