With so many Sellers now using the BuyItNow! feature, sniping is less of a sure thing than it ever was. When an auction has a BuyItNow! price set at exactly the opening bid, chances are that potential Snipers will miss out completely if they wait. Too bad!
On the bright side, BuyItNow! ends the practice of Bid Shielding. For Newbies, Bid Shielding is where I place a $10 bid on an auction that starts for $10, then use a seperate account to place a $1,000 bid on it. Then, when the auction is almost over, I retract the $1,000 bid. That leaves my first account with a winning bid of $10. So, the BuyItNow! also prevents this type of fraud.
Not that every Seller is going to use BuyItNow!; but those who do will have a lot less hassles. Besides, ever since eBay started offering that Watch feature, the auctions have all turned into retail sales anyway. Enjoy this positive change!
posted on November 19, 2000 02:51:51 AM
I agree. If the BIN price is carefully chosen, an auction-style bidder has to get in there and start the bidding before somebody graps it at the BIN price.
posted on November 19, 2000 08:20:14 AM
"BuyItNow! ends the practice of Bid Shielding. For Newbies, Bid Shielding is where I place a $10 bid on an auction that starts for $10, then use a seperate account to place a $1,000 bid on it. Then, when the auction is almost over, I retract the $1,000 bid. That leaves my first account with a winning bid of $10. So, the BuyItNow! also prevents this type of fraud."
And how does it do this. The instant you place the $10 bid, the "Buy it now" goes away, leavnig the shielding bid in place.
posted on November 19, 2000 08:29:30 AM
If all you're going to do is sell at your opening bid then there was no need for sniping anyhow. So the only way I see that it changes things is that you won't get the 50 cent (or whatever increment range it ended at) bump up that a sniper added.
I commonly bid the opening amount early then come along and snipe it later with my full proxy. In your case, I wouldn't have to worry about anyone bidding me up further -- I could get it at opening bid. What a deal!
Violetta
(Not known by this nickname anywhere but here.)
posted on November 19, 2000 08:31:09 AM
Come-on lets give the newbies the CORRECT instructions on how to do bid shileding.
You need two phoney bids to get bid shielding to work. In the scenario you described, ebay will make the second bidders bid only $10.50, thus others would stil be encouraged to bid. So if the bidding ends at $350, and you withdraw the $1000 phoney bid the price only drops by the bid increment to $340 and the #2 bidder gets it.
To do it right you enter one good bid at $10, then two phoney bids at $900 and $1000. With an EBay high bidof $900 no one else will bid. Then near the auction close you need to withdraw both phoney bids.
Also WHY did EBAY make it so the buy-it-now option disappears after the first bid?????? Yahoo invented Buy-it-now (a.k.a. "sell price" and doesn't do it that way! Amazon copied the idea and also allows buy-it-now (a.k.a Take-it-now) at any time.
[Edited for typo's, MODERATOR: Why does my closing paran change to a smiley?]
[ edited by unknown on Nov 19, 2000 08:32 AM ]
posted on November 19, 2000 09:30:30 AM
I think Ebays way of doing the buy it now price is a little wiser then yahoo.
on yahoo an Item can end with bidding under the buy price but it cant end with a bid over the buy price.
On ebay if the frist bid isnt the buy price the auction goes on for the full time as a regular auction isstands a chance of going over the buy price even though that price wasnt frist met.
Also I think this is a set up for a fee in the future see they can set up a fee like if your item closes with the BIN price they can charge .25 or what ever.
Or make it like reserve auctions charge a .25 or .50 to list with BIN if it closes with BIN they refund the fee.
posted on November 19, 2000 11:34:43 AM
I have to agree we are being set up for another fee down the road. eBay's goal is to increase profits for it's shareholders. First they create the market for the new feature by giving it out free, afterwards, they will begin to charge. It's similar to Paypal's strategy, except eBay is not stating it will be free forever.
posted on November 19, 2000 12:18:10 PM
I like it so far, the sales have been nice but ebay is smoking something if they think I'm going to pay for it once the "free" trial period is over.
posted on November 19, 2000 08:20:00 PM
From what I read on the DNF board it goes more like this...
Option-- list BIN the SAME as list price - wham! it's over on 1st bid.
Option -- list BIN with a lower start bid- and if someone bids on the lower bid- the BIN disappears and a reserve is substituted (I believe if you chose it)AND you are charged the reserve price.
Problem 1.-- There is a good chance the item may not meet reserve and you've paid anyway...
Problem 2.--- IF you put BIN in the heading and someone bids the lower price, making the BIN price disappear-- when searched - your auction comes up AGAIN with the BIN in the subject
Problem 3. IF the bidder doesn't scrutinize the listing -and see that it has been CONVERTED to a regular auction, they MAY bid the "first" bid price - thinking they "bought it now" After all, it said that in the heading, right?
Problem 4. IF the above happens, and it doesn't meet reserve, you have a "no sale" and an angry bidder who says "it was in the heading"!
Problem 5. IF someone mistakenly bids on the BIN due to confusion, it ENDS your auction with no recourse but to relist.-
As I see it, the ONLY way to use this feature is having the opening price and BIN be the same. That is a true buy it now sale.
posted on November 19, 2000 09:38:42 PMioughta said, "Option -- list BIN with a lower start bid . . ."
You can't.
I was listing today and I accidently set the BIN price lower than the opening bid. When I hit the Continue button to overlook the auction, it instead took me to an Error page that blatantly informaed me of my mistake.
Therefore, no such scenario can exist. Maybe it just got fixed that way to avoid the problems that you mentioned in your post.
posted on November 19, 2000 10:31:16 PM
The bin feature might be a snipers delight. Scenario - Seller lists item with a BIN and a reserve. Sniper watches for new auctions and as soon as item sniper wants comes up with BIN, they put in the min bid, removing BIN price. Now they are armed with the knowledge of approx what the reserve is (smething close to the BIN price), and when they snipe the auction at the end, they can do so with the advantage of that knowledge that no other sniper has. -Rosalinda
TAGnotes - daily email synopsis about the Online Auction Industry http://www.topica.com/lists/tagnotes
posted on November 20, 2000 09:18:47 PMmrgroup> That assumes that Sellers will not reveal their Reserve price inside the auction description. Maybe some Sellers do that, but for our shoppers, they *HATE* reserve pricing and not knowing what the max is. After all, if they open up to see the auction and description, then you got what you wanted them to do anyway, IMO.
Personally, I'd like to see Reserves with BIN feature. It would be the usual Reserve price with no BIN option. However, once the Reseve price has been met, then the auction would automatically close.
Of course, that would have to be an optional feature -- those who don't want it, don't use it.
and doesn't do it that way! Amazon copied the idea and also allows buy-it-now (a.k.a Take-it-now) at any time.
