[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Terrible news in my opinion. I don't see 2 min bid reset timers ever getting a higher price than what I've seen (and been a part of) sniping auctions with max bids.

The amount of times I've seen an auction jump from $50-$500, $10-$200, no bids at all once to $750 in the last few seconds is insane. These jumps will never happen again. It will just be a few people stuck at the screen bidding a few dollars hoping the other people get bored/busy and leave. Those same crazy last second snipes will instead sell for a fraction of what they should because two people bid a dollar for an hour straight, waiting 1.58 minutes to press $1 bid. Because what would be the point in sniping at all/setting a Max bid early when you could just do the same thing.

I am with you, I think it will result in lower sales prices without the need for large max bids because people understand the sniping and thus place the largest bid they are willing to pay.

It will also damage sales as the average buyer on eBay does not use or participate in traditional auctions. They will get confused and frustrated leading to avoidance of auction formats. A dumb move like this is only going to rush the already strong movement towards fixed pricing on eBay. This is likely the nail in the coffin for the full switch to BIN. It is fantastic news for LCS and Card shows.