Subject:
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Re: why eBay proxy bidding is broken
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Fri, 8 Oct 1999 18:47:27 GMT
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Viewed:
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414 times
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Christopher Weeks wrote:
>
> James Brown wrote:
> >
> > That is how eBay does it, I believe. However, Larry (among others, myself
> > included) feels that you should be required to exceed the proxy by the minimum
> > bid, not just the current bid. I'll let Larry explain the reasoning behind
> > this, he's better at it than I am.(1)
>
> I was going to chime in with an explanation like Eric's but now I don't
> have to. I would be keen to hear an explanation of why one proxy should
> have to beat another by a full increment.
>
> Say I'm selling my car and the current bid is $5,000 and the bid step is
> $500 (example step, not the ones eBay uses). If two bidders place proxy
> bids of $6,000 and $6,300 which one should get it?
>
> My opinion is that the one willing to pay more should, but it sounds
> like you and Larry think that the one who placed the bid first
> (regardless of being lower) should. Do you think that because of some
> innate fairness issue or because of the verbiage used by eBay in
> discussing how it works?
A couple points:
1. We aren't saying that the 2nd buyer shouldn't get the item, we are
saying that the 2nd buyer should be willing to beat the current maximum
bid by the minimum bid increment.
2. Had the 2nd buyer placed a proxy of $51 or higher, I believe they
would have been given the bid at $51. I base this on the fact that in
one auction I increased my proxy, and my bid jumped up to the minimum
increment above the previous high bid, while normally, when I increase
my proxy when I'm not already at my maximum, my proxy doesn't change.
Now if eBay wants to change it so the minimum increment is a penny, I
would have no problem with the 2nd bidder getting the item for $50.01
when the first bidder bid $50, but you're going to have a LOT of pissed
of people who get outbid by a measly penny on that $6000 car.
Now as a seller, which would you rather have? An extra penny and an
annoyed bidder, or a happy bidder, or an extra bid increment (because
the 2nd buyer does want the item at something close to the price the 1st
bidder was willing to pay), or even better, several bid increments more
because the 1st bidder has the opportunity to realize that maybe the
item is worth more than he thought, and is willing to outbid, or try to
outbid, the 2nd bidder. Personally, I would prefer the last.
So how do I bid with eBay? First off, NEVER bid an even dollar amount.
That significantly reduces the number of times your bid is beat by a
penny. Second, I bid somewhat above what I am willing to pay for the
item so that when someone outbids me by a few pennies, I feel they had
to pay a fair price to get the item.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: why eBay proxy bidding is broken
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| (...) I was going to chime in with an explanation like Eric's but now I don't have to. I would be keen to hear an explanation of why one proxy should have to beat another by a full increment. Say I'm selling my car and the current bid is $5,000 and (...) (25 years ago, 8-Oct-99, to lugnet.market.theory)
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