Quote:
Originally Posted by hcv123
1) I wholeheartedly believe this was unintentional. I also agree it is a crappy situation with no possible positive outcome for everyone.
2) I agree with others who have commented that the auction should have been restarted at whatever point (9PM is fine) from where we left off yesterday at the 10 minute closing rather than having an entire day of additional bidding.
3) There is A LOT of psychology to bidding and auctions - the argument that "people will bid what they would have bid" holds no water with me. If someone gets outbid - the more time they have to think about it, the greater likelihood there is that they will place a bid they would not otherwise have placed if not given the time to think. This is certainly not on every item, but will occur on many lots. If this wasn't a factor "sniping" wouldn't exist.
4) The thing that bothers me most was the lack of communication between ~12AM and 1:14AM - The clock was counting down on each lot - I and others were permitted to place bids without clarity on whether the auction would end last night or be pushed till today. I placed bids in that time period thinking there was a chance the auction would close according to the clocks that were counting down. At 1:14 well over an hour after the problem started the email went out saying the auction would be extended. Fairer (imo) would have been to "pause the auction" closer to when the problem began until a decision was made and clearly communicated with everyone.
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All of these points are spot-on in my opinion as well...
Especially #3. It's a proven fact that given more time to think about it, more bids will come in. That's precisely why sniping is so effective. What if your winning eBay snipe erroneously registered an hour early? More than likely, someone would outbid it.