Bids Refused, Seller Stuffed.

[Ivan Viehoff]

I think there is something to be said for actually making a bid fairly early semi-serious bid in the auction, even if (indeed advisedly - because of the irrationality of other bidders as explained aboe) rather less than you intend to bid later.

(1) Listings of objects with no bids on them have a habit of disappearing after a few days (look at the wording on Cocoa's auctions - won't be removed if there are any bids); a concertina from another seller I was seriously considering buying vanished with 3 days to run, there being no bids on it - fool I should have put a bid on it to show my interest, it was certainly worth X, my concern was whether it was worth X+50%.

(2) You send out a message to bargain hunters - don't think you are going to get this without a fight, so go away and find something else to bid on. I think this is useful, because things that have a lot of activity on them tend to go for full price, and by putting a semi-serious bid on to start with you damp out a lot of the activity.

(3) You prove everything is working properly.

 

That said, I can understand why a bidder with a reputation doesn't bid until the last second, as explained somewhere above.

 

There are arguments for leaving the auction open for at least 5 mins after the latest bid, but on balance, mainly as a buyer, I think I prefer it as it is.