[CUBE] Cube with custom case ends at $1312.87

[Rick Rodman]

On Monday, February 10, 2003, at 01:30 PM, Laurie A Duncan wrote:

> On 2/10/03 12:53 PM, gnarlodious at cybermesa.com typeth:
>
>> Sniping is the slimy bidding practice of entering a bid 20 seconds 
>> before
>> the auction closes. You know they can't enter a bid in the short time
>> remaining.
>
> What some call slimy, others call strategy. There is nothing illegal or
> unethical about it - although using one of the paid sniping services I 
> do
> believe crosses the line into unethical.
>
> A bid is a bid - whether it's placed 20 minutes before the auction 
> closes or
> 20 seconds or 2 seconds. When I am bidding on something I really want, 
> I
> will gladly sit at my desk, with several browsers open, constantly
> refreshing, during the last minute of an auction and do whatever I 
> need to
> do to be the last, and highest bid.  I have won auctions in the last 
> few
> seconds using this practice and make no apologies for it. If you want, 
> you
> do whatever is legally within your right to do. The last 20 seconds of 
> an
> auction count just as much as the other 3 or 7 or 10 days.

It's irritating and unfair from the seller's standpoint, however.  What 
happens is you hope to get $50 for an item, but 10 bidders wait for the 
last minute and all place bids at once.  One wins at $5; the others are 
outbid and all you get is $5, even though there were 10 bidders.  As a 
frequent seller, I definitely consider sniping "slimy".  I've suggested 
many times to eBay that the auction should automatically be extended on 
any winning bid - LIKE A REAL AUCTION - and of course they have ignored 
it, because that would be too hard to program.  After all, one can't 
expect people making millions of dollars from a system to implement any 
improvements.