Subject:
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Re: Good things about E-Bay ...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 11 Feb 1999 04:18:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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316 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, ulringmc@email.uc.edu (Michael Ulring) writes:
> Lee has beaten me to my two cents, which is to bring up the one easy way
> for ebay to escape their reputation of being a sniper haven. If anyone
> else has participated in an Onsale auction they have experienced this
> "extension" rule at the end of auctions. Onsale auctions (from what I
> remember - haven't participate since last Fall) do not end until there are
> no bids entered for a period of time, usually 5 or ten minutes. So if
> someone bids with 10 seconds left, there is suddenly 5:10 left - and if
> that time winds down again but someone places another bid then 5 more
> minutes are added.
But is 5-10 minutes really enough time to make a true difference? What if
you're sleeping, or eating dinner, or in a meeting at work, or really really
constipated? Or what if you're on a modem and your connection drops a
couple times?
BTW, when eBay first started, it had a 5-minute extension rule. Have they
actually removed it? If so, did they say why?
IME, anything less than 12 hours is a recipe for frustration among bidders.
But better yet is some kind of dynamic curve which discourages late bidding
by increasing the minimum-raise amount as time runs out. This encourages
early bidding rather than late bidding.
Bidding curves should NOT look like this:
^ x
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| .
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p | .
r | .
I | .
c | .
e |
|x
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+------------------>
Time
They SHOULD look like this:
^ x
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| .
p |
r | .
I |
c | .
e |
|x
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+------------------>
Time
That is, get the price up to its ultimate conclusion point as quickly as
possible so that (a) there is no last-minute frenzy and (b) bidders and
refocus their energies on other items sooner. The ultimate conclusion point
might even be lower too, which is better for buyers.
--Todd
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Good things about E-Bay ...
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| (...) The 5-10 minute works to disable people who snipe in the last 30 seconds or so. When people slam in bids with less than 1 minute left in the auction, it's extremely challenging for anyone to re-bid in time. With a 5-10 minute (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Good things about E-Bay ...
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| (...) Lee has beaten me to my two cents, which is to bring up the one easy way for ebay to escape their reputation of being a sniper haven. If anyone else has participated in an Onsale auction they have experienced this "extension" rule at the end (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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