To Prevent Sniping, eBay Should Have an Option for Traditional Auction Rules

Staten Island, NY Posted: 11/26/2014 1:00:00 AM

Your Winning auction ends in 12... 7... 3... You have been outbid.

You were the top bidder for 7 days straight, then somebody outbid you with 3 seconds to go. How did that happen?

Welcome to eBay.

Many people forget that eBay's rules for ending an auction are nothing like the way a traditional auction is supposed to end. When somebody lists something for sale on eBay, they set a time limit on when it ends. Whoever is the top bidder the moment that time runs out... wins. Because of this, many people set reminders of when an auction ends so that they can bid at the last second, leaving no time for anyone to bid higher. That's called "Sniping".

Sniping has become so common on eBay that some people use software that automatically bids at the last possible second, insuring they get the last bid, no matter what time it ends.

Ending an auction at a pre-set time is NOT how traditional auctions end. It's not even close.

Think about how a traditional auction ends, with the auctioneer shouting something like "$125, do I hear $135?... Going once... going twice... Sold to the gentleman in the third row for $125." Why does he do this? He's re-stating the most recent (highest) bid, then giving the other participants a chance to top it. If somebody decides to bid higher, he repeats that offer and waits for anyone to top it. Only after the last offer is not challenged does the bidding stop.

The main reason eBay's rules are based upon a pre-set time limit is because when eBay launched, it was too difficult to design an online auction site with traditional rules, so the time limit was much easier to implement.

Now that the today's technology is more advanced, it's pretty easy for eBay to design a system with traditional rules, but thus far, they haven't done it. To implement it, all they would have to do is set a rule that the timer moves ahead a pre-set amount after the last bid. That's it.

So, if the last bid was 5 seconds before the scheduled ending, the end time would move forward another (X) minutes. I think the amount should vary depending on the last price. So, the end time for a $50 item could move forward 5 minutes after the last bid. If nobody counter bids, that's it. But if they do, it moves ahead another 5 minutes. Larger priced auctions should advance at a slower rate. For example on a $100,000 car, if somebody outbids you, it wouldn't be unreasonable to move the end time ahead an hour, giving the other parties more time to be notified and counter, if they wish.

Because so many people have gotten used to their current model, I don't think eBay would make traditional rules the default, but I think they should offer it as an option. It's a complete win-win-win for everyone involved.

Buyers would benefit by giving them an a chance to increase their bid, to win something they want.

Sellers would benefit by potentially getting a higher prices, because snipers waiting for the last second were preventing the natural flow of bids.

eBay would benefit by increased fees. In addition to higher end prices, they could charge an additional listing fee for "Traditional" auctions, just as they currently charge additional fees for things like a Reserve price.

Joe Crescenzi, Founder

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To Prevent Sniping, eBay Should Have an Option for Traditional Auction Rules

Your Winning auction ends in 12... 7... 3... You have been outbid.

Ending an auction at a pre-set time is NOT how traditional auctions end. It's not even close.

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