Ethics of last minute auction "poaching"

Msnloeth, BLBloom and Going Once all hit it on the head with various points. Why telegraph your moves to "the enemy" that your competing against ? It makes no sense if your competing for the same item and there are only so many to go around. There are two types of people that end up with expensive or rare items. Those that can afford to outright buy it and pay face value for it or those that know how to manipulate the best possible deals that bring it down to their price range. Auctions are the same way. You either have to walk over the top of everyone else with a monster bid or do you best to camoflauge your attack and try to sneak in when nobody is expecting it. I will say that Audiogon's auction process is much closer to that of a real live auction, as those don't end at a specified time. As long as there is bidding going on, the auction is still open. Sean
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Cutting in line ? Hardly. Doug's basic premise is NOT what an auction is about. Putting in bids "in an orderly fashion" would be just like the seller "taking offers" in a specific order. If that is what the seller wanted to do, they would have done that instead of putting it up for auction. Auctions are completely unpredictable in real life with no set ending time, so why should it be different here ? As it is, having a "set" closing time ENCOURAGES "sniping". A "pro" knows EXACTLY when to bid and knows that it would be hard to beat them, so they wait till the end and lull you into self-confidence. Having the auction go into "overtime" actually minizes "sniping" and allows that are interested the opportunity to "defend" their bid. As was suggested, place your max bid and then hope for the best. If you REALLY want that item, hang out and ride the wave until the very end. Hopefully you won't get drowned in the process. Sean
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