a little venting- shutting Ebay auctions down

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Posted By: Larry

Josh- You have the same message posted I feel would solve the problem..

For those that complain about ending auctions early and comparing to auction houses, the MAJOR differences is that sniping is NOT part of auction houses..If you do not put up a bid, then extended bidding is NOT allowed while at e bay level, as I once posted before, if everyone waited until the last minute to bid by sniping, no one would risk putting good material up for auctions on e bay, even with "so many interested parties". Why bother????
Solution- Have e bay allow a 3-5 minute extended bidding time for additional fee(option) and for ONLY those that put a bid of some type prior to scheduled closing time, early auction closes would most likely drop drastically, then dealers would not take their items and sell privately and good bidders would have a fair chance. Sniping creates the climate that dealers and collectors prefer to wait till the end, but the seller should be able to protect themselves too, it is their investment at stake. Fortunately, we auction good cards so the right prices and usually do hit expected levels most of the time.

Lately, If an item I start and it has a higher than normal $9.95 start, lets say $295, BIN $500 and everyone waits until end and there are no bids, if someone makes a fair offer and there are no bids, I will definately think about closing auction because there is no way e bay is making it fair for dealers to sell if sniping is allowed yet closing early is discontinued for legit reasons. Late closing of an auction(at least 12 hours)after bids are posted is e bay's way of making sure dealers do not end early on last day and remember, you cannot close early within the last 12 hours so e bay does insure that they get a lot of money in this way. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but from a dealer and collector stand point, auction houses and E bay operate way differently so they should not be equated until e bay allows extended bidding priveleges.