Why are people stupid? Ebay and Porsche Parts

[David N.]

Thumper just made a point for early bidding. Consider the bid amount with an hour left on an item. Now consider what the final bid might be. Do you think going up by double, maybe even triple as much might not be too out of the ordinary?

Now imagine it went up some of that amount five days before the auction closed. An item that reasonably goes for $40 is sitting at $60. Would you really want to try to snipe on something like that? Occasionally I'll put in a reasonably high bid right early just for that reason. Usually people that bid against other people early are those that aren't that serious about the item, so they won't fight too hard. But they'll fight and get it "just high enough". Given time to think about it, "just high enough" is enough to scare off most serious people I imagine. It's when you have 12 seconds to think about it, and have spent the effort to be at the computer when the auction ends...that's when you get spending silly. I remember watching some football tickets sitting at $350, which was already pricey. I was going to snipe up to $525 and figured I was set (they were pretty good seats to a great game). When the dust settled the tickets had gone for $950. I don't think snipers went in expecting to pay that much. But had it been sitting at $500 for a few days?

Early bids remove emotion from the equation. Late sniping removes incremental bidders from the equation. I guess take your pick..

-David