Chris Brogden wrote:
>
> On Thu, 1 Feb 2001, John Francis wrote:
>
> > The way to eliminate sniping is already known - some of the other on-line
> > auction houses already do it. It's to make the auction behave like a
> > real auction, with no artificially-imposed last-bid deadlines. Real
> > auctions have a 'going, going ... gone!' cycle after the last bid.
> > All you have to do is to guarantee some amount of time such as three
> > hours after the last bid before the auction closes. That way any
> > attempt at 'sniping' in the last 30 seconds simply extends the whole
> > auction by three hours.
>
> But then in theory a bidder could keep adding on increments of a few cents
> to keep the auction going more or less indefinitely, couldn't they? I
> don't imagine too many sellers would be keen on 2 week or longer auctions.
In theory, yes (although not 'a few cents' - there is always a minimum
bid increment). But as the incentive to wait until the last minute
goes away, we wouldn't see the five days of inactivity followed by 15
minutes of frantic bidding that is typical of eBay auctions at present.
A seller is not required to wait until the action deadline expires -
the auction can be stopped at any time (although why a seller would
cut short an auction while the price was still increasing escapes me).
--
John Francis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Silicon Graphics, Inc.
(650)933-8295 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. MS 43U-991
(650)932-0828 (Fax) Mountain View, CA 94043-1389
Hello. My name is Darth Vader. I am your father. Prepare to die.
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