Extended Time Auctions. Good or Bad For eBay? Would you use them or bid on them?

[*help_no_brakes*]

I have accepted the challenge to post this topic.

It was suggested that a Fire Truck be on standby.

I live in a remote location with a volunteer Fire Service...however here we are...

[muttlymob]

This is an obviously misleading and invalid argument.

Only to those who don't understand that the eBay auction format is not the same as an in-person going-going-gone auction.

Apples to oranges.

If you ever watched a "real" auction, you understand that every time a bid is placed, everyone is given an opportunity to counter that bid.

eBay auctions are "real."  They just are a different format.  The g-g-g format that you are used to is not the only auction format. 

Never in the history of auctions, except here on eBay, has an auctioneer stopped the bidding suddenly while several bidders have had their paddles in the air.

Incorrect.  Just because you have never seen it doesn't mean it never happens.  Again, different formats have different rules and endings. 

Never in my history of attending g-g-g auctions have I sat for 7 straight days, nonstop, for 1 item to be auctioned.  So why try to compare the live format with the online timed format?

We never really know, because eBay stops the bidding at the "stroke of midnight," just when the auction was scheduled to end.

BINGO!  When the auction is scheduled to end.  Anyone who has taken the time to learn how eBay works knows when that ending time will be, and will know how to bid accordingly either through an early proxy bid, or a late snipe, or nibbling.  If the scheduled ending time sneaks up on you and you miss the item that is on you - for not taking advantage of the format and bidding tools available to all bidders.

[threshold.sales.group]

+1,  I agree Castle. 

The set ending point on ebay is equivalent to the drop of the gavel.    The idea that there's more money out there to be had than the actual selling price seems to me to be a myth. Easy to assert, but of course, impossible to prove.  Shoulda, coulda. 

Fixed price has grown because it offers the buyer the ability to quickly, with little hassle make a purchase. Adding more time, confusion (that soft closes will cause ) and hassle for the buyer to the auction process is a plan to fail the ebay auction biz faster (imho). 

The folks who do the online - timed auctions, with the extended (soft) closes are generally professional buyers - ebay resellers & etc. They invest the time and know the ins and outs because it's their business.  That's not the general ebay buying population. 

[7606dennis]

No, I would not use them here just as I don't use them on other sites that offer such things.  I give plenty of time for bidder's to locate a listing and place their bid.  Since all these auction listings have a specified ending time available for all potential bidders to see,  I would not consider using an extension to be a fair treatment of other bidder that have placed their bids in good faith.

[Anonymous]

I snipe or I don't bid, it's as easy as that.  Will I go out and find the same item elsewhere on a BIN if I can't snipe it?  Probably, but I won't be looking just on eBay.

[castlemagicmemories]

I said earlier that I don't think fixed time ending auctions interrupt bidding wars.

To expand on that, I actually think they hinder them, because the bidder knows that if he wants to bid again, he can just place a minimum bid that will extend the time, and keep doing that until everyone else dies or falls asleep.  Well, maybe not that long, but the mere fact that they can keep it running, in my opinion, discourages bidding  higher amounts.  There is not incentive to bid high if you can keep extending it; the extension of time is insurance AGAINST higher price wins.

BUT knowing it ends in 2  minutes gives the impetus and inspiration to put your ALL on the table right THEN, because when the time is up, it is UP and you are out of luck.

[castlemagicmemories]

You read my mind.  There are much more fixed price listings now than there were years ago because it provides for a faster turn over for both buyer and seller.  People want things faster now and to wait 7 days, only to lose it to someone else and have to start all over is not something many want to do anymore.

I'm not saying that there isn't a place for auctions, or that they are obosolete,

but I definitely agree with you that many just want to buy what they want, with little hassle.  And since sellers can tack on immediate payment required, that helps them avoid sport bidders, and chronic non payers.  So fixed price has advantages for both buyers and sellers.  Most of what I buy on ebay is fixed price listings.  

Another thought: since fixed  price has become SO popular, and people may find it hard or undesirable to wait out a 7 day auction, do you really think they will jump for joy when they find out that now they have an additional hoop to jump through with an added layer of uncertainty as to whether they will get their item or not?  I don't think so.  

[castlemagicmemories]

I second that!  You are a brave man!

You accepted the challenge to boldly go where no man has gone before!

(With apologies to Star Trek)

[siberians_forever]

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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@lookng2015 wrote:

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It's not No Brakes fault... It was a long & arduous discussion on the Bid/Buy Board and Trinton popped in and said :"This sounds like a good idea", he plans to suggest it to TPTB.

Brakes volunteered to do the dirty work and bring it here for MORE feedback- OMGOSH I said Feedback.. SSShhhhhhhhhhh

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@pikabo-icu

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Let me just leave this here. Everyone who thinks AE will help thinks they are THE seller. However it's just as likely I am THE seller and the bidder will be so busy bidding on my never ending auctions that they will miss bidding on yours.

That doesn't matter though because they spent so much money in MY nibbled up bidding war that they have none left to buy yours anyway. Mine ended first so now YOU are out of luck.

Bidders are not walking pocketbooks ready to be held down while the maximum amount of money is vacuumed free m their pockets. There's a word for people who do that and it isn't seller.

[thatsallfolks]

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@slati_2013 wrote:

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@muttlymob wrote:

Besides, if buyers or sellers want extended auctions they can always go to other auction sites that use them.  Like Yahoo Auctions.

Oh, wait, nevermind.

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Yahoo!Japan Auctions still does it that way and people have just learned to snipe right before the extension kicks in, so it hasn't actually had any effect on bidding.

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Then it has not been implemented properly. The time matters.  In a true extended auction, any bid placed in say the last eight minutes will restart the bidding again for say sixteen minutes. So any time anyone places a bid again, it starts again back at sixteen minutes. If a bid is placed outside the sixteen minutes, and there is no other bid, that is not sniping. It simply means no one was interested in the item and the last bidder wins. It all comes down to the time set for the extended auction to kick in. The longer the time, the more it will keep going until the person willing to pay the most wins. 

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Exactly. For a snipe to be effective AND to be just outside the period that triggers an extension, the "trigger" time would have to be 10 seconds or less. IIRC, Yahoo Japan extend the auction if a bid is placed within the last 5 MINUTES. A bid placed with 5:01 remaining is NOT a snipe.

[thatsallfolks]

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@omgitlightsup wrote:

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@threshold.sales.group wrote:

A successful snipe **increases** the sale price for the seller.  IMO, sellers should be all for sniping.  

As for the soft close, imo ordinary buyers would hate it - takes up way too much time. Requiring folks to sit around for 10 or 15 extra minutes while the bid clock resets and resets is not going to appeal to many people. The hardcore auction buyers sure, but that's a really small group, imo.  

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This is an obviously misleading and invalid argument. Yes, every bid increases the selling price. But the issue here is not that a bid was or was not made.. it's that further bids are prevented by the ending of an auction. 

If you ever watched a "real" auction, you understand that every time a bid is placed, everyone is given an opportunity to counter that bid. Never in the history of auctions, except here on eBay, has an auctioneer stopped the bidding suddenly while several bidders have had their paddles in the air.

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LOL. eBay auctions are "real" auctions. There's "real" bidding, for "real" items, paid for with "real" money. It always amazes me when I see posts like this from people who think there was only one auction format "in the history of auctions" before eBay came along. Here, I'll even look up a reference for you; all of the formats you can read about here are also "real" auctions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction#Types

I've been to dozens of live auctions that have a fixed end time for each item being sold. They use the "silent auction" or "sealed bid" format. When the clock strikes the scheduled end time, bidding stops. It's not an eBay invention, but it's the perfect format for a 24/7 environment.

[emerald40]

This is how ebay has been running their auctions since day 1 and if they changed them I would no longer bid on one.

For disappointed buyers, just bid the maximum you are willing to pay.

For me, I know exactly when an auction is going to end, as does everyone else interested.  So there is plenty of time within that time frame to do your bidding.

And imo I see it going terribly wrong.  You could have a few people so engaged in winning it that they bid way beyond their means then realize they do not have the money to pay for it.

Or a few wise guys who will continue to bid and bid just to make a game out of it.

[thatsallfolks]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

Bidders are not walking pocketbooks ready to be held down while the maximum amount of money is vacuumed free m their pockets. 

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Wait, what???

Next, you'll tell me there's no Santa Claus.

[castlemagicmemories]

Click your heels together three times and say, there's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

Maybe it will negate that previous word that shall not be named.

You could say, input, instead!

[godzilla_goose]

*help_no_brakes*

As a bidder/buyer and being mindful of UNWANTED MAIL to me from Lithium, I will just say, "No, I will not bid on them" and leave it at that.