Hey GreggH, got an Idea for eModelcars......

[Guest zebm1]

Hey GreggH, do you want to have the most popular Auction site in the Whole Wide World? It's a simple Fix, and I don't understand why it hasn't been done, as it would be a He11 of an income generator for both the Sellers and the On-Line Auction provider.

Let me explain, in the Real World, the Final Bid Price is determined by the Bidders when they decide that the Item has been Bid up to as Far as they are willing to Pay,Going Once, Twice....Sold! But this doesn't happen on an On-Line Auction because of the Dreaded Time Limit. This brings in the Infamous Auction Sniper (He11, you can even buy Sniper Programs to do just this, while he/you is/are sleeping in his/your bed), who bids tha Moon thereby stealing someone's Dream Model - that he/she has been waiting 5 days to win it - and everybody loses...except for the Sniper.

Here's tha suggestion GreggH, to eliminate Snipers and Provide a more Realistic Auction. GreggH, have your friendly neighborhood programmer write a few lines of Code for your Auction Program, here's how it works. A Sniper tries to Steal the Auction in the last minute - he Bids $50.00, knowing it will only cost him a few bucks more - the Sniper's Bid becomes his Actual Bid, the model at $10.99 is now worth $60.99 AND the Auction Clock Resets - 5 Minutes more - to give other Bidders a chance to offer a Counter-Bid.

GreggH, I predict that if you do this on eModelcars, you will be swamped with Sellers once the Word gets out that Gregg Hutchings is running an Honest Man's Auction. He11 you might get so busy that you'll have to hire Ghostwriters to write your Columns...just kidding.

So, what does the Modeling Community think of my idea?

[torinobradley]

I don't know that 5 extra minutes will be enough. That will only affect those that watch the auction close. There is still that segment of bidders that may not have the time to watch the auction end. Would an hour or a few be more in line with the theory of the auction, given the media (internet as opposed to live auction)? That would at least give the folks that can't watch the end of the auction a little bit of time to get somewhere they can re-bid and maybe get that holy grail or treasured item... But, that is just my opinion...

[Guest zebm1]

I would think that an hour or two would be way too long....but perhaps 5 to 15 minutes. You can't go on forever...and ifn everybody knew the rules.....

[sdrodder]

i dont realy see the point in this for 2 resons

1 if the kit is worth 10.99 and you bid 50 for it and your gona pay 60.99 isnt it just a waste of your money? If it is that cheap couldnt u just wait for another one UNLESS u realy need it?

2 on ebay it happens all the time with snipers. U watch an aution and its like so cheap till the last minute and then wamm it want form 99 cents all the way to like 50 bucks.

Please correct me if i am wrong on this

[CAL]

I kind of agree.

On ebay, when I do find a kit I want I figure out this is the MAX i will spend on it. X Dollars on Y kit. Usually retail or less.

If I am out bid or snipped oh well. However, there was a time where it seemed like I was being snipped or out bid buy the same guy over and over and over again and was starting to crack. It was a little strange; too, the guy had won like 900 auctions in the last 6 months. That must be all he does is sit on Ebay all day long. I don't even bother on anything where I see his name as a bidder. I just pass.

Needless to say, but I will any way. Is those extra 5, 10 or 15 minutes would not have made a difference. Except once, where it was just a computer freeze with 4 seconds to go and I missed out when my bid didn't go through in time.

In the end, I feel I won because he ended up spending $50.00 + shipping on the same kit that I ended up with for $8.50 just a few weeks later.

Only once did I go above my originally set top price, but I still feel I got a a great deal on a Mattle Vac U Form for $70.00. A lot of them were, have and are going for a lot more than that.

Otherwise, I haven't felt like I have, or feel bad about missing out on a auction. Eventually it seems that everything I have been looking for has come around for a fair or better price. It just might take some time.

The only thing I have never ever seen anywhere and have been looking for is a Monogram Diablo VT. Otherwise, eventually I have been able to snag virtually everything I was really looking for at an reasonable price. I also found a lot of steels at times that I snag up too. I have got a number of kits under 10 bucks (many well under $15 with shipping), good kits, which you can't even go to the LHS and get them for that kind of money. Most of them were OOP and or discontinued to boot.

So I do not see a huge benefit for this.

I would also have to say, I feel I was only screwed once on Ebay. The item wasn't described well and it ended up being a collection of JUNK with an outrageous ship and handling fee attached for what was supposed to be 6 complete but 4 of them started kits, but ended up with 1 new untouched kit and the remnants of 5 other piles of junk. It took me two weeks just to go through all the parts that were all crammed into one box. 3 of those were missing parts and 1 damaged beyond repair. 1 was, I supposed rebuildable, but wasn’t worth the trouble – as it wasn’t any good new.

Edited June 23, 2008 by CAL

[george 53]

I gotta agree with Cal, I set a limit and I don't go over it.The 300 was my only exeception I ever made, And I was mad at myself after I did it.(i couldn't retract my bid!) If you stay in your right mind and not let the bidding fever get to you, you can get reasonable deals on stuff.Maybe even a bargan occasionally.But I,ve been "sniped" too and oh well, there's always next time.

[Kenny]

The reason it's never been done is it's a stupid idea. If it's your "dream model" and it's worth $50, why in the he11 are you only bidding $10.99 and then crying that you lost it to an "evil sniper?" There is nothing preventing the early bidder from bidding $50 himself to keep from losing his "dream model" to that "evil sniper." Successful buyers bid once and bid their max.

[Draggon]

I've been unfortunately losing a lot recently, and have seen some stupid wining prices on what I bid on. Perhaps this site will attract a different sort of person, builders/collectors, not profit makers. Just a thought. And I hate the snipers too! Last week I lost one with 22 seconds to go..and I had the Only bid till then.

[Zoom Zoom]

Successful buyers bid once and bid their max.

How true.

[Gregg]

Hey GreggH, do you want to have the most popular Auction site in the Whole Wide World? It's a simple Fix, and I don't understand why it hasn't been done, as it would be a He11 of an income generator for both the Sellers and the On-Line Auction provider.

Let me explain, in the Real World, the Final Bid Price is determined by the Bidders when they decide that the Item has been Bid up to as Far as they are willing to Pay,Going Once, Twice....Sold! But this doesn't happen on an On-Line Auction because of the Dreaded Time Limit. This brings in the Infamous Auction Sniper (He11, you can even buy Sniper Programs to do just this, while he/you is/are sleeping in his/your bed), who bids tha Moon thereby stealing someone's Dream Model - that he/she has been waiting 5 days to win it - and everybody loses...except for the Sniper.

Here's tha suggestion GreggH, to eliminate Snipers and Provide a more Realistic Auction. GreggH, have your friendly neighborhood programmer write a few lines of Code for your Auction Program, here's how it works. A Sniper tries to Steal the Auction in the last minute - he Bids $50.00, knowing it will only cost him a few bucks more - the Sniper's Bid becomes his Actual Bid, the model at $10.99 is now worth $60.99 AND the Auction Clock Resets - 5 Minutes more - to give other Bidders a chance to offer a Counter-Bid.

GreggH, I predict that if you do this on eModelcars, you will be swamped with Sellers once the Word gets out that Gregg Hutchings is running an Honest Man's Auction. He11 you might get so busy that you'll have to hire Ghostwriters to write your Columns...just kidding.

So, what does the Modeling Community think of my idea?

My site has had no sniping since day one!

Sorry Zeb, but I appreciate the input.

[abedooley]

SNIPING???? I NEVER SEEN A SNIPER AT THE HOBBY SHOP!!! Never really could understand the whole bidding and waiting thing for something that is sitting on a shelf less than 5 miles from where you are sitting unless its something you cant find at all... I dunno, just my opinion.

[Custom Hearse]

Sniper....

[Guest zebm1]

Last night, I had 2 - 1964 AMT Olds F85 Cutlass models ( 1 Conv., 1 Hardtop) up for bid. Two Bidders having a rocking good time in a Bidding Match, k111946 (86 Blue Star) and 125 musclecar(29 yellow star). 10 Bids from $78.64 up to $108.64.....then in the last 7 seconds in comes this guy - 22drover(1578 Red Star) mE/Store door - with his 1st and only Bid of $111.14.

Yep Sniping is alive and well...but hey, can't be anything more Fun than clipping a Rookie's wings 'eh? And I expect that those who are not in Favor of a real world on-line auction are mostly Buyers who also Snipe models every time.

[abedooley]

Not to bash anyone, but I feel if this site was turned into another one of those sites thats for pure profit, it would ruin the class of people we find here now. We'd have people coming here that have no interest in the hobby except to make money and that can't be good for the people who are here to learn and admire other peoples work... There are plenty of sites to buy from, why do we need it here??? I'm very open-minded on this subject so if anyone has a VERY good reason as to why this site should be for profit, I'm all ears.

[Aaronw]

Last night, I had 2 - 1964 AMT Olds F85 Cutlass models ( 1 Conv., 1 Hardtop) up for bid. Two Bidders having a rocking good time in a Bidding Match, k111946 (86 Blue Star) and 125 musclecar(29 yellow star). 10 Bids from $78.64 up to $108.64.....then in the last 7 seconds in comes this guy - 22drover(1578 Red Star) mE/Store door - with his 1st and only Bid of $111.14.

Yep Sniping is alive and well...but hey, can't be anything more Fun than clipping a Rookie's wings 'eh? And I expect that those who are not in Favor of a real world on-line auction are mostly Buyers who also Snipe models every time.

Never used a sniper program and never intentionally sniped anything (I have found at item at the end of the auction a few times and won but thats not really the same, just luck).

I agree with those who just bid what they will pay. What difference does it make if I bid $100 with 6 days left and win at $95 or keep upping my bid to win by paying $95 at the last minute. I pay $95 either way and if someone pays more than $100 they win either way as well.

[Guest zebm1]

Well ebay is currently trying to get the Sellers to go with "Buy it Now" instead of promoting what made them the largest On-Line Auction site on the WWW. Reason? eBay generates more Profit from "Buy-it-Now" than it does from auctions. Something to think about.

[Aaronw]

Well ebay is currently trying to get the Sellers to go with "Buy it Now" instead of promoting what made them the largest On-Line Auction site on the WWW. Reason? eBay generates more Profit from "Buy-it-Now" than it does from auctions. Something to think about.

Well ebay is trying to get away from what made the site a success. They want to get away from the garage sale atmosphere and become just another online shop, not a wise choice in my opinion.