@jimmosk wrote:
Re snipe bidding: you're right, a_c_green, that eBay is saying this will add an extra screen, and some extra seconds, to your sniping attempt. But if it adds the same extra seconds to all other buyers' attempts, doesn't that effectively maintain the status quo?
Well, no, the status quo is being able to get a bid in within 1 second (and sometimes zero seconds) of the actual auction end time. By interrupting the bidder with an unexpected popup screen, it's effectively moving the goalposts on the end of the auction, making it impossible to get a last-second bid in before what's being shown as the actual end time of the auction. You would have to remember that the "real" auction ending is eight seconds (or whatever) ahead of whatever the ticking countdown clock is showing.
I mean, I get what you're saying, but the reality is that the prospective bidder is looking at a Bid button (or Confirm, or Go, or whatever it's labeled in various formats) that he expects to actually submit the bid at the moment when he clicks on it. Being confronted with an unexpected popup of paperwork at that moment is going to delay the process to the point where a possibly winning bid doesn't get submitted at all.
seller_update@ebay : Just have the bidder add his preferred payment info to his account details (i.e. in advance, not in the heat of battle at the end of an auction), so that any seller who is using that pre-submitted payment info option can draw on that if he wins. Per the Seller Update here, the bidder will still have a Golden Hour following the win within which he can select an alternate payment method if desired.
That approach avoids the whole problem of having an unexpected delay in the final seconds, and ensures that both the seller and eBay can realize the maximum profit from each sale.
