Ethics of eBay??

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Does eBay turn a blind eye to people who use auto-bidding or sniper programs?

I was always under the impression that eBay frowned on this activity. I suppose they dont care anymore. I recently saw an enormous amount of bidding activity on an item I was watching. I was curious so, I looked up the bidding history.

Turns out that 1 bidder was able to put in 16 bids, $2 at a time... and each bid had no more than 2 seconds between them 

So either this person is the fastest fingers on the Internetz OR he was using an autobid system.

Thoughts??

[kothoma]

You can set up any number of tabs/windows with preset bids and then fire them one by one.
No need for any automation...

But truth is, one can't really tell a manual bid from an auto bid.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

But truth is, one can't really tell a manual bid from an auto bid.

When the bids are 1 second apart..... It is kind of a tell-tale sign 

[kothoma]

But truth is, one can't really tell a manual bid from an auto bid.

When the bids are 1 second apart..... It is kind of a tell-tale sign 

But aren't musicians known for fast fingers?

[Haberdasher]

But truth is, one can't really tell a manual bid from an auto bid.

When the bids are 1 second apart..... It is kind of a tell-tale sign 

no.  if the winning guy's bid was already higher than the folks bidding against him, ebay automatically increases his bid on his behalf, because he is still the highest bidder.  and yes, that would happen in one second or so.
so just looking at the bid history won't tell you the whole story, and like kothoma said, you'll never know.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Interesting Haber.....

So, if the current bid is $20 and the current winner has an existing max bid of $50... and I make a max bid of $45, then the system will automatically increment the bid $2 at a time... at 1 second intervals..... up to $45?? 

Why would it just make the bid of $45 and be done with it and say "You have been Outbid?" Why do the incrementing?

[aion]

I've been sniping for years with Auction Sniper. eBay is clear about encouraging people to enter their highest bid the first time, but I've never seen any official word from them disparaging sniping, or any action on their part to block it from happening.

They're a big company so my view is that if they wanted it to stop, they could very easily add some authentication checks to make life difficult for external sniping services, or they could just make it against their terms of service and start sending warnings to accounts who are using it (it'd be extremely easy to detect).

I guess I'd never considered the ethics of it - I do it all the time, and likewise wouldn't be bothered by someone using it on my auctions. Just part of the game!

[kothoma]

So, if the current bid is $20 and the current winner has an existing max bid of $50... and I make a max bid of $45, then the system will automatically increment the bid $2 at a time... at 1 second intervals..... up to $45?? 

No. The currently seen bid of $20 would then automatically be increased to $46.  (Or is it $45.50?)

[Govmnt_Lacky]

No. The currently seen bid of $20 would then automatically be increased to $46.  (Or is it $45.50?)

Not the current price.....

I was talking about the incrementing of MY bidding. The current price is $20 and the "winner at the moment" has a max price of $50. If I enter max bid of $45..... the bidding history would show bids from ME of $22, $24, $26, $28, etc. up to $46 (each bid being 1-2 seconds apart) at which time the winning bidder would still be the original person because their max bid was $50.

Are you with me? 

[Haberdasher]

my bad, i clearly misunderstood what you were saying the first time.
yeah, i think it's fairly commonplace for folks to use autobid/snipe utilities.  i have friends who have used them.  i personally have not.  but if that's how the game is played, and you aren't using one yourself, you may be at a disadvantage from time to time.  you just have to know that going in.
ethics or no, ebay is in business to get their cut, and it seems like as long as the winning bidder pays for and receives the item as described, that's mostly what they are going to concern themselves with in regards to policing the place.

[kothoma]

No. The currently seen bid of $20 would then automatically be increased to $46.  (Or is it $45.50?)

Not the current price.....

I was talking about the incrementing of MY bidding. The current price is $20 and the "winner at the moment" has a max price of $50. If I enter max bid of $45..... the bidding history would show bids from ME of $22, $24, $26, $28, etc. up to $46 (each bid being 1-2 seconds apart) at which time the winning bidder would still be the original person because their max bid was $50.

Are you with me? 

Sure, all the time. I described what the eBay auto bidder would do.
These $2 steps are clearly not done by eBay. And I agree, they most certainly are not done manually.

[GermanCdn]

I snipe items on a fairly regular basis, but in my defence, I do it all manually. 

Truth be told, ebay doesn't care what you do, as long as they get their 12%.  This from a fairly disenfranchised ebayer, currently on trial separation from them, and rapidly considering divorce, except that I clearly have a deeply entrenched habit, and they are the dealer with the biggest stash.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I snipe items on a fairly regular basis, but in my defence, I do it all manually. 

Truth be told, ebay doesn't care what you do, as long as they get their 12%.  This from a fairly disenfranchised ebayer, currently on trial separation from them, and rapidly considering divorce, except that I clearly have a deeply entrenched habit, and they are the dealer with the biggest stash.

Don't forget the sister company Paypal that gets their 3% on all transactions! Oh yeah..... and the 10% they get off of the shipping too!

[aballen]

I had two sniper on one if my auctions the other day.  Once bidder two got involved I got spammed with bids for about a minute.  Definitely automated bidding.

[derevaun]

No. The currently seen bid of $20 would then automatically be increased to $46.  (Or is it $45.50?)

Not the current price.....

I was talking about the incrementing of MY bidding. The current price is $20 and the "winner at the moment" has a max price of $50. If I enter max bid of $45..... the bidding history would show bids from ME of $22, $24, $26, $28, etc. up to $46 (each bid being 1-2 seconds apart) at which time the winning bidder would still be the original person because their max bid was $50.

That wouldn't happen--Ebay would automatically bid your $45 right away and raises the max bidder's current bid to $47 (or $45 plus whatever increment). When you make a bid, Ebay bids the lowest price that is higher than the previous max bid (unless it's lower than the previous max bid, as in this example). It wouldn't nibble it up--that could cause errors in the last seconds of an auction.

Your scenario above sounds more like the max bidder's current bid automatically increasing in response to a flurry of other, lower max bids, from several different bidders. It would only benefit the seller to nibble the price up, and I've never seen a utility that would automatically nibble up a bid for a bidder.

Generally, ebay's structure means that one should bid the most they want to pay, as close to the end as possible. That's arguably unfair to ebayers who want to bid in increments for the enjoyment of it. But it also may reduces buyer's remorse after the fun's over.