Subject: Re: eBay sniping

From: James Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Apr 24 14:03:25 2003

I can't always be around at the end so I use esnipe.  It costs a penny 
per dollar of the final price on a winning bid, but if I want something 
bad enough, it's worth it.  I was told by a friend that was cheating.  
Why?  Because I pay a server to snipe for me?  If I get snipe, I don't 
really care, I must have not wanted it as bad as they did.

I'm also really getting tired of everyone bad mouthing ebay.  I work 
50-60 hours a week, every week.   I don't have time to hunt through junk 
shops and salvage yards for bargains. I can use my time to make more 
money and do my collecting on ebay.  And let UPS deliver to my office.  
I paid  $342 for a Daystar Millennium last night because I want one to 
finish out my Daystar clone collection.  Is it worth $342.00?  I don't 
know but, I really don't care if it is or not, because I wanted it.   
When I sell something, I usually use ebay.  I've offered things in 
private sales to people on mailing lists and get tired of getting 
low-balled on offers.  On ebay, it's a worldwide market and there is 
always someone who wants almost everything.  If I have to have a certain 
price for something, I set a reserve.  Free enterprise will set the 
proper price for any item.

James

Dwight K. Elvey wrote:

>Hi
> I have no problem with sniping, other than that
>I can't always be around at the last minute.
>The only time I didn't like being sniped was the
>first item I lost to this method. Once I understood
>what was going on, I couldn't understand why bidders
>would make incremental bids. I usually will post
>a lower bid, early on. This way, other savy bidders
>will check what I've previously bid on items and
>they will either back out or, in those cases that
>they just have to have an item, they will out bid
>me. I think it tends to even out the play field.
>I always look to see what other bidders have been doing.
> I wouldn't mind having a combination of open and
>sealed bits. I could then snipe without having
>to wait till the last minute.
>Dwight

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From: The Design Fort DTP <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Apr 24 15:04:29 2003

Hi all,

I'm in the process of digitizing a lot of old manuals and books. Some pieces
I want to make downloadable on my website.
But I don't want to run into trouble with copyright etc. Does anybody have
experience with publishing old stuff on the internet?
I'm thinking about stuff like Heathkit manuals, or the "How to build a
digital computer" book. Or articles of old Popular Electronics magazines
that are relevant to vintage computers.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Herbert
Computer Museum of Nova Scotia

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From: Guy Sotomayor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Apr 24 15:40:28 2003

> really care, I must have not wanted it as bad as they did.
I have mixed feelings about sniping.  I've lost a number of bids to
"snipers".  The thing that bugs me about it is that for items I care
about, I don't have an opportunity to respond to the snipe.  Most of the
bids I've lost due to sniping have been where I was the original bidder
and there were no other bidders until the snipe.  I think this is unfair
to not only me, but the seller as well.  For example I may have put in a
max bid on something for $30.  An esnipe comes in for $31.  Upon seeing
that I may have re-assed my bid and bid it to $50.  But because esnipes
happen in the last few seconds, I can't respond and the seller
potentially looses additional funds for the item.  But in the end, if I
wanted really badly, I would have bid more.  So it's a tough call.

> proper price for any item.

I don't have a problem with e-bay.  Sometimes people get into a feeding
frenzy over an item which drives the price on an item way up.  I look
for items on e-bay that I either think I will get a bit of a discount on
rather than finding it at a dealer or it's just not available
elsewhere.  There are also sellers who think their items are worth more
than they really are, but as you said free enterprise will determine the
proper price.
-- 

TTFN - Guy

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From: Mike Ford <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Apr 24 17:58:27 2003

>But I don't want to run into trouble with copyright etc. Does anybody have

Make a nice pretty web page, but only put links to the files on the 
official web site. Keep the actual files on some other unrelated , unnamed 
site, and zip the files and give them meaningless file names. This way if 
somebody complains and the file site boots you off, just find another 
freeby file site and update the links.

---

From: Mike Ford <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Apr 24 17:59:09 2003

>about, I don't have an opportunity to respond to the snipe.  Most of the

A) Sniping makes us feel bad about losing items we really would not have 
bid a lot more for anyway.

B) Sniping makes us feel bad about losing items we really would have bid a 
bit more for (and maybe, maybe not have won).

Solution
Always bid what you REALLY would be willing to pay for an item and stop 
fussing about it.

or

Start sniping, especially on items you really want, but really prefer to 
get at a lower price.

The simple fact is that seeing that somebody else is willing to bid X, 
often increases the value of an item to X+ something in our minds. With one 
of a kind items, that + something can get pretty wild too. Paying too much 
for something you really want can't be that great of a sin anyway.

---

From: Gary and the Samoyeds <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Apr 24 19:13:41 2003

I just set the maximum amount to what I'm willing to pay and then let it sit there.  If I get beaten, so be it.  I've had My bid jump by $20 in the last minute of the auction, but I still won and wanted to send a "ha ha" to whoever tried to steal it.  

Of course, I only buy a little bit, nothing really expensive, and nothing really rare.  I suppose if I were bidding on a Kenbak or Apple I, it might be more annoying.

-- 
Sic semper tyrannus  

Send eMail to ----> [email-masked].  For contact info, see:  
        http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/contact.htm

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Apr 28 01:34:23 2003

> that are relevant to vintage computers.

I would just put them up.  If/when you get a cease & desist letter, take
the offending material off and that's that.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

 * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

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From: "Wayne M. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Apr 28 01:35:16 2003

> > I'm in the process of digitizing a lot of old manuals and 
> books. Some 
> > pieces I want to make downloadable on my website. But I 
> don't want to 
> > run into trouble with copyright etc. Does anybody have 
> experience with 
> > publishing old stuff on the internet? I'm thinking about stuff like 
> > Heathkit manuals, or the "How to build a digital computer" book. Or 
> > articles of old Popular Electronics magazines that are relevant to 
> > vintage computers.
> 
> I would just put them up.  If/when you get a cease & desist 
> letter, take the offending material off and that's that.
> 

There's also that small matter of $150,000 statutory damages for willful
infringement per copyrighted work ($30,000 per work for non-willful)
under the copyright statute.