Banana top.

Some people might remember the Raleigh Banana I fished out of the river and
restored. The bloke who I gave it to has alerted me to this jersey:

http://qurl.net/3R

Simon Mason wrote:

Some people might remember the Raleigh Banana I fished out of the river and
restored. The bloke who I gave it to has alerted me to this jersey:

http://qurl.net/3R


You know it makes sense. Just save your bid for the last 30 seconds or
you'll push up the price.

On 23/8/04 4:33 pm, in article , "Simon
Mason" wrote:

Some people might remember the Raleigh Banana I fished out of the river and
restored. The bloke who I gave it to has alerted me to this jersey:

I have a long sleeved version that I don't wear very often, partly because I
have short arms and the sleeves are very long.

...d

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 16:46:55 +0100, Zog The Undeniable
wrote:

Simon Mason wrote:

Some people might remember the Raleigh Banana I fished out of the river and
restored. The bloke who I gave it to has alerted me to this jersey:

http://qurl.net/3R


You know it makes sense. Just save your bid for the last 30 seconds or
you'll push up the price.

Use Auction Sentry and save your bid till the last 8 seconds. Last
time we had this discussion James Annan completely failed to see how
sniping could possibly work. He has such a rational mind that he has
problems seeing that most people behave irrationally. This is the only
reason that sniping is a good strategy for eBay buyers.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

Dave Kahn wrote:

Use Auction Sentry and save your bid till the last 8 seconds. Last
time we had this discussion James Annan completely failed to see how
sniping could possibly work. He has such a rational mind that he has
problems seeing that most people behave irrationally. This is the only
reason that sniping is a good strategy for eBay buyers.

I fail to see how that mode of working does anything for me in most=20
cases... If the bidding hasn't started yet there is no particular point =

in being first off the block, but if there's at least one bid in and you =

know your maximum (and I don't get into auctions where I don't, that way =

lies madness and vastly overpriced merchandise) then I can't see any=20
reason for not just letting the built in bid raising functionality do=20
its stuff. A sniper doing it his way and me doing it the "normal" way=20
don't have any defective advantages either way if we both have a maximum =

bid, because the end result is the higher max bid will get it for the=20
lower maximum bid plus the minimum increment. The timing isn't=20
relevant. Or if I've missed the point, please describe, using examples, =

how I'm better off sniping given Item X with a start bid of =A31 that I'm=
=20
willing to pay =A315 for, and a sniper who is willing to pay in Case A=20
=A317.50, and in case B =A312.50.

Pete.
--=20
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote:

A sniper doing it his way and me doing it the "normal" way
don't have any defective advantages either way if we both have a maximum
bid, because the end result is the higher max bid will get it for the
lower maximum bid plus the minimum increment. The timing isn't
relevant.

The timing is relevant, because the longer you give someone to think
about whether they will spend that little bit extra, the more chance
there is that they will.

Also, people look at an auction and think: £25! For just £1 more I could
own it. And if the bidding has gone up to £35, which means at least two
people think it's worth that much, you'll still have people wandering in
and thinking: £35! For just £1 more I could own it.

By declaring your hand as late as possible:

you give the for £1 more I could own it brigade fewer chances to take
the bidding above your maximum price

you give more serious rivals less time in which to persuade themselves
that they want it more than you do

Other people aren't employing rationalistic benefit-maximising
strategies on eBay, and it's necessary to work around what they are in
fact doing.

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

in message , Peter Clinch
') wrote:

Dave Kahn wrote:

Use Auction Sentry and save your bid till the last 8 seconds. Last
time we had this discussion James Annan completely failed to see how
sniping could possibly work. He has such a rational mind that he has
problems seeing that most people behave irrationally. This is the
only reason that sniping is a good strategy for eBay buyers.

I fail to see how that mode of working does anything for me in most
cases... If the bidding hasn't started yet there is no particular
point in being first off the block, but if there's at least one bid in
and you know your maximum (and I don't get into auctions where I
don't, that way lies madness and vastly overpriced merchandise) then I
can't see any reason for not just letting the built in bid raising
functionality do its stuff.

If you put your maximum bid on early, other bidders have a chance to
explore what it is, so you'll be bid up to at least their maximum. If
you put your maximum bid on very late, they have no time to react and
you will probably get the item for much less than you would have been
prepared to pay. That is precisely how I was able to afford a Dolan
frame. URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk:8180/dogfood/story?article=12

A sniper doing it his way and me doing it the "normal" way
don't have any defective advantages either way if we both have a
maximum bid, because the end result is the higher max bid will get it
for the
lower maximum bid plus the minimum increment.

Yup. So you'll pay at least the other bidders maximum, which may be more
than you can easily afford and more than you would otherwise have had
to.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Morning had broken. I found a rather battered tube of Araldite
resin in the bottom of the toolbag.

(D.M. Procida) writes:

Peter Clinch wrote:

A sniper doing it his way and me doing it the "normal" way
don't have any defective advantages either way if we both have a maximum
bid, because the end result is the higher max bid will get it for the
lower maximum bid plus the minimum increment. The timing isn't
relevant.

The timing is relevant, because the longer you give someone to think
about whether they will spend that little bit extra, the more chance
there is that they will.

Also, people look at an auction and think: £25! For just £1 more I could
own it. And if the bidding has gone up to £35, which means at least two
people think it's worth that much, you'll still have people wandering in
and thinking: £35! For just £1 more I could own it.

OTOH, they may come along and think "Oh, that's more than I want to
pay".

I'd like to see a study done of this before I could reach any strong
conclusions. My hunch is that bid sniping may be something people do
so that they feel in control of a process that they have no control
of.

A

Dave Kahn wrote:


Use Auction Sentry and save your bid till the last 8 seconds. Last
time we had this discussion James Annan completely failed to see how
sniping could possibly work. He has such a rational mind that he has
problems seeing that most people behave irrationally. This is the only
reason that sniping is a good strategy for eBay buyers.

I see that it can work, but only to defeat grossly stupid opponents, not
merely irrational ones. The sniper is relying on someone choosing not to
bid their maximum because they don't understand how auctions work.

James
--
If I have seen further than others, it is
by treading on the toes of giants.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 08:45:45 +0100, Peter Clinch
wrote (more or less):

Dave Kahn wrote:

Use Auction Sentry and save your bid till the last 8 seconds. Last
time we had this discussion James Annan completely failed to see how
sniping could possibly work. He has such a rational mind that he has
problems seeing that most people behave irrationally. This is the only
reason that sniping is a good strategy for eBay buyers.

I fail to see how that mode of working does anything for me in most
cases... If the bidding hasn't started yet there is no particular point
in being first off the block, but if there's at least one bid in and you
know your maximum (and I don't get into auctions where I don't, that way
lies madness and vastly overpriced merchandise)

This is the key part.

Sniping obviates 'bidding madness' in your opponent.


then I can't see any
reason for not just letting the built in bid raising functionality do
its stuff. A sniper doing it his way and me doing it the "normal" way
don't have any defective advantages either way if we both have a maximum
bid, because the end result is the higher max bid will get it for the
lower maximum bid plus the minimum increment. The timing isn't
relevant. Or if I've missed the point, please describe, using examples,
how I'm better off sniping given Item X with a start bid of £1 that I'm
willing to pay £15 for, and a sniper who is willing to pay in Case A
£17.50, and in case B £12.50.

Pete.

--
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk