there are people who don't seem to understand how an individual
bid and the increment differ. i've received one hate mail with
the writer being very frustrated at how everytime he raised his
bid, i immediately outbid him... this was at the last minutes of
the auction. of course it was the proxy system raising the high
bid by the increment everytime he bidded, and my limit was never
met. i was sound asleep at the time.
i confess that i sometimes bid at the last minute too, on
purpose. partly i simply take advantage of the fact that many of
the other bidders have not submitted their real limit and aren't
going to be online at the last minute. on the other hand, there
is always a risk that eBay isn't working at all at the crucial
moments or lines are so congested that you can't place your bid
in time.
at the end of the day, i think the best way to control oneself at
eBay is to do what eBay itself instructs: submit a bid that's
your limit - simple as that. and remember to exclude shipping
costs from that figure - especially if you are in another
country. even if someone outbids you, your bid makes sure that
no-one gets it cheaper than what you were prepared to pay... ;-)
--jussi
