Yes, I think this post is generating all the traffic on Ebay. On the other hand, there’s a certain karmic element to it, since someone else posted the link to the Japanese auction on this bulletin board that allowed me to find it in the first place!
quote:
Originally posted by bokmeow:
Luckily you posted the link here, with the members here bidding for it I think there is no problem for you to get a fairly decent bid on it.
Oh, he's got a decent bid on it. It just took me awhile to get registered for eBay. (Long story, I'm tired now.)
I have a rather strange question…
Why are people (Everyone in general, not just members of this board) even bothering to bid on this item so soon?
It has almost 5 days left on Erip… err… Ebay.
The sooner you fuel the fire, the larger the fire is going to get, and most likely go out of control. Getting into a bid war with an item so soon is only going to make it hurt your purse more.
Most people (in the sections I have watched) on Ebay who use the service to buy items usually only bid on an item in the last day, perferably last minutes of an auction.
These are my opinions of course, so they don’t mean anything really. But, shooting bids back and forth so early only ends up sky rocketing the price to where it costs 50 to 75% more than what it would of sold for.
I have also noticed and reported some odd sellers who always have the same bidder bidding on their items. Funny thing is, if that bidder happened to win (jacked the price to high for the people who really wanted it) the auction. The item appeared for sale again the next couple of days.
Oh well, I will get off my soap box for the night. Again, these are just my opinions, and I am not trying to insult anyone.
[This message has been edited by Allarian (edited 04-15-2003).]
It depends on what strategy you’re following. Sometimes I know exactly what maximum price I’m willing to pay and just go ahead and bid that. Sometimes I just put an early bid so I remember about that auction and keep tabs on it.
And yes some sellers are jacking prices through alternate accounts. Yet, sometimes they do legitimately have multiple items, it just looks like it’s the same darn thing over and over.
Everyone knows there’s various frauds going on at Ebay. Nowadays, with any type of transaction involving money, there’s someone who’s going to try to run a scam with it. You have to research and ask questions, and if you still feel suspicious, follow your instincts. shrug
Some people also don’t have internet accounts at home that allow them to snipe on the auction all the time. Like me 
I personally don’t like sniping. That is why I bid the maximum I would be willing to buy it for and leave it at that. It annoys me when I am outbid in the last 3 seconds of the auction.
I think I’ve only sniped once or twice, usually for something rare and hard to get ahold of. But usually I have a good idea of what I’m willing to pay and just put that in.
Although it’s amazing how some people don’t understand how the proxy biding system works. I actually had someone email me on one of my auctions telling me to “stop outbidding her.” I had to point out that a) I was the seller, I wasn’t bidding at all and b) that she kept entering the minimum bid increments which wasn’t higher than the other bidder’s maximum bid, he wasn’t submitting a new bid each time.
quote:
Originally posted by ekylo:
I think I've only sniped once or twice, usually for something rare and hard to get ahold of. But usually I have a good idea of what I'm willing to pay and just put that in.Although it's amazing how some people don't understand how the proxy biding system works. I actually had someone email me on one of my auctions telling me to "stop outbidding her." I had to point out that a) I was the seller, I wasn't bidding at all and b) that she kept entering the minimum bid increments which wasn't higher than the other bidder's maximum bid, he wasn't submitting a new bid each time.
Haha, that's fresh, she thought you were probably entering the bid at the same time with her, that's why she couldn't beat your bid.
quote:
Originally posted by ekylo:
I think I've only sniped once or twice, usually for something rare and hard to get ahold of. But usually I have a good idea of what I'm willing to pay and just put that in.Although it's amazing how some people don't understand how the proxy biding system works. I actually had someone email me on one of my auctions telling me to "stop outbidding her." I had to point out that a) I was the seller, I wasn't bidding at all and b) that she kept entering the minimum bid increments which wasn't higher than the other bidder's maximum bid, he wasn't submitting a new bid each time.
Even granting that, it was still a mindnumbingly stupid thing to do. Angrily telling people to stop outbidding you would be sort of like demanding to know why your boss thinks he can order you around like that.
quote:
Originally posted by Allarian:
I have a rather strange question....Why are people (Everyone in general, not just members of this board) even bothering to bid on this item so soon?
It has almost 5 days left on Erip.. err.. Ebay.
The sooner you fuel the fire, the larger the fire is going to get, and most likely go out of control. Getting into a bid war with an item so soon is only going to make it hurt your purse more.
Most people (in the sections I have watched) on Ebay who use the service to buy items usually only bid on an item in the last day, perferably last minutes of an auction.
These are my opinions of course, so they don't mean anything really. But, shooting bids back and forth so early only ends up sky rocketing the price to where it costs 50 to 75% more than what it would of sold for.
I have also noticed and reported some odd sellers who always have the same bidder bidding on their items. Funny thing is, if that bidder happened to win (jacked the price to high for the people who really wanted it) the auction. The item appeared for sale again the next couple of days.
Oh well, I will get off my soap box for the night. Again, these are just my opinions, and I am not trying to insult anyone.
[This message has been edited by Allarian (edited 04-15-2003).]
People are going to bid what they were willing to pay for it anyway. So what's the difference? It's not like I buy things on eBay all the time, and I want the item.
Plus I had to get eBay to accept my throwaway registration. So I placed my bid immediately.
Umm, im actually scared of how bad the english is… if anyone saw the early fansubs of Steel Angel Kurumi… this reflects that… if you havnt… think of it like this… i have a choice with a girl i just met… and heres the 2 choices…
“who is she”
"fair to middling…"
now which one seems nicer to ya…
As an economist, I’ve never understood the concept of sniping. If you put in the maximum amount you’re willing to pay, then sniping should be irrelevant. Either someone else is willing to pay more than you or they’re not.
Anyway, there’s a review of the game on Lady Phoenix’s site (not by me), for those who aren’t familiar with the title. I think it’s a good review, but I’ll summarize my own opinions here. The downside of the game is that the English translation is bad and you have to do some work to get it to run properly (i.e., set up your computer to display kanji). The upside is that it’s a high-quality title with a deep and involving plot, excellent graphics and full voice acting (the English voice acting is even done by the actual Japanese voice actresses). Personally I found it kind of cool to see a Japanese title in its original form and still be able to actually play it.
quote:
Originally posted by ashampine:
As an economist, I've never understood the concept of sniping. If you put in the maximum amount you're willing to pay, then sniping should be irrelevant. Either someone else is willing to pay more than you or they're not.Anyway, there's a review of the game on Lady Phoenix's site (not by me), for those who aren't familiar with the title. I think it's a good review, but I'll summarize my own opinions here. The downside of the game is that the English translation is bad and you have to do some work to get it to run properly (i.e., set up your computer to display kanji). The upside is that it's a high-quality title with a deep and involving plot, excellent graphics and full voice acting (the English voice acting is even done by the actual Japanese voice actresses). Personally I found it kind of cool to see a Japanese title in its original form and still be able to actually play it.
There's actual English voice acting? Really? So you mean I'll get to hear an honest-to-goodness Japanese seiyuu say "All your base are belong to us"? Woo-hoo!
As for the concept of sniping...here's the theory, at least as I understand it. For many people there is no such thing as "the maximum amount I will pay", for several reasons.
* How much people want the title can be nebulous; people may not realize it's worth X$ to them until someone makes them go that high.
* People's finances and/or level of desire are not strictly constant over any interval, no matter how long.
* Some people, somewhere, are going to want the item at almost any price, no matter the item. If any of them are bidding then sniping may be the only way to win.
* Then there's the frog-in-boiling-water effect: put a frog in boiling water--it jumps out. Gradually heat it up--frog will never notice.) Once people decide they want something, they have to abandon that desire when they drop out. This is similar, but not quite the same, as bait-and-switch.
* Large bids can make newcomers to the auction feel the item is inherently worth more.
Any number of these weaken the "each person has a solid maximum price" assumption, which renders shaky the line of reasoning that seems to rule out sniping.
I see your point. Auction theory breaks down if people have a hard time valuing the item. Fair enough.
I don’t want to oversell the English voic eacting. There is SOME English voice acting, but the majority of the spoken dialog is in Japanese. Mostly the set piece transitions are in English. The game structure interweaves a number of stories over several hundred years, cutting back and forth between them while the common threads (pun intended – you’ll understand after you finish the game) are woven together. Most of the stories end tragically, and I found myself rather choked up on a number of occasions. The final ending was quite beautiful, with a nice touch of bitter sweetness.
quote:
* Large bids can make newcomers to the auction feel the item is inherently worth more.
Auctions are as much a mind game as a puchase transaction. One must consider that as long as SOME people don't enter in their true "maximum" value, there will always be a chance that sniping will work.
Since the bidders only have the knowledge of previous bids and can only guess at the others' future actions, auctions tend to favor the one who acts last, as he is the most informed and does not worry about "fresh" reactions.
Or at least, that's what I can gather, since I am a frequent eBayer myself. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
A final thought, though: from what I've seen of bid patterns for items with lots of competition, a seller's dream scenario only needs two bidders who think the item is wonderful/valuable/without replacement. Two--that's all. All the other bidders (including the majority of users who search for "hentai") will drop like so much chaff. This item may fit closely to that model.
quote:
Originally posted by ashampine:
Anyway, there's a review of the game on Lady Phoenix's site (not by me), for those who aren't familiar with the title. I think it's a good review, but I'll summarize my own opinions here.
Thanks for the praise, anyway.
Which company made the game Gin-Iro? If I make it to Japan again this summer, maybe I’ll keep an eye out for it.
quote:
Originally posted by bokmeow:
Which company made the game Gin-Iro? If I make it to Japan again this summer, maybe I'll keep an eye out for it.
NekoNeko Soft. And you'd need nothing short out of a miracle to find one copy... The initial CD version (2000.8.31) went out of stock in a blink of the eyes and even the new DVD version (2001.8.31) went out of stock so quick you could only find it at very high price at YAJ. Got my copy for 15000yens (DVD version which release price was only 3600yens...).
[This message has been edited by olf_le_fol (edited 04-17-2003).]
15,000 Yen?!? Woah. Yup, definitely miracle time. A miracle that I’d have the funds even if I did find a copy…
Wow. Some serious last minute sniping going on there. I’m assuming all four of the bidders were from this message board, so congratulations to fookii (Nandemonai?). In any case, I look forward to hearing from you and shipping this off to you.