geoffrey, The problem ebay has right now is the average price has fallen, even as the volume goes up.
So they get their listing fees and 10 days fees etc, but the final value fees have not reached their potential.
I feel this is mainly due to the different classes of bidder on ebay, and in addition to sniper sites and the increase in sniper ability in peopls in general.
The 2 classes of bidder are broadband bidders(cable and ADSL) and phone line bidders(not ADSL)
So the fast BW people wait until the bid has 3-5 seconds to go and they bid. Their bid arrives, but by the time the 33.6 bidder sees it has gone up, the auction has closed.
Slow BW people can also subscribe to a sniper site. A sniper site is a high bandwidth site and you send them your ID and passord and the bid amount and it waits for the last 3-5 seconds and then enters your bid, and it beats the others.
Of course with 5 sniper sites, the one with the highest final bid amount will win.... As long as the cycles are free to complete. Of course the final clock rings down before this completes and ebay gets screwed and the seller gets screwed and those on 33.6 phone lines also get screwed.
Ebay need to invoke a 2 minute wait after the final bid before the clock can tick the end of the auction.
After all in a real auction would the auctioneer shut the auction down at a set instant if he could see other bids trying to get in? Not at all, he would let the bids into the auction.
I know of many people who are fleeing from ebay to other auction sites that fight snipers this way.
Of course, ebay pontificates and says people should place their high bid in and let it win...HAH, human nature being what it is people want to watch and wait and place a higher bid manually, when they feel it is called for.
A 2 minute rule would let auction prices rise a lot higher. ebay would make more $$ and the sellers would make more. The losers would be the buyers, but lose no tears for them, they are getting a deal anyway.
Bill |
