I seem to remember that they used to have that feature (or was it some other auction site)?
While I hate the issue, too, there might be disadvantages for the buyer, too. For example if the auction gets extended for 3 hours with each bid, it might mean that you have to sit around forever monitoring the auction if you really want the item.
A better fix might be to allow sniping (automatic bidding in the last second).
The reason for last second bidding is to avoid the pitfalls of human psychology, I think. If you start earlier and outbid other people, they might get into a bidding frenzy and prices will be driven higher than what makes sense.
I suppose ebay outlaws sniping because they actually want that effect: the higher the bid, the more money ebay gets. Personally I would prefer to decide on one price and stick to it, so sniping would be perfect for me.
All in all I suspect that ebay tested the "prolong the auction" feature and found that not prolonging it somehow works better - or at least it used to work better.
A true second-price auction is one where the bidders (secretly) inform the auctioneer of the maximum price they'd be willing to pay, and the bidder who nominates the highest price wins, but pays the price nominated by the second-highest bidder. This is done in an attempt to eliminate the "winner's curse" and encourage the bidders to nominate their true maximum price. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner%27s_curse
eBay's proxy bidding system approximates a second-price auction because if everyone enters their true maximum, the person who nominates the highest value will pay (2nd-price + minimum-bid-increment).
Comments
I seem to remember that they used to have that feature (or was it some other auction site)?
While I hate the issue, too, there might be disadvantages for the buyer, too. For example if the auction gets extended for 3 hours with each bid, it might mean that you have to sit around forever monitoring the auction if you really want the item.
A better fix might be to allow sniping (automatic bidding in the last second).
The reason for last second bidding is to avoid the pitfalls of human psychology, I think. If you start earlier and outbid other people, they might get into a bidding frenzy and prices will be driven higher than what makes sense.
I suppose ebay outlaws sniping because they actually want that effect: the higher the bid, the more money ebay gets. Personally I would prefer to decide on one price and stick to it, so sniping would be perfect for me.
All in all I suspect that ebay tested the "prolong the auction" feature and found that not prolonging it somehow works better - or at least it used to work better.
> A better fix might be to allow sniping (automatic bidding in the last second).
In a sense they have that already, since eBay is a (quasi) second-price auction.
What do you mean?
A true second-price auction is one where the bidders (secretly) inform the auctioneer of the maximum price they'd be willing to pay, and the bidder who nominates the highest price wins, but pays the price nominated by the second-highest bidder. This is done in an attempt to eliminate the "winner's curse" and encourage the bidders to nominate their true maximum price. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner%27s_curse
eBay's proxy bidding system approximates a second-price auction because if everyone enters their true maximum, the person who nominates the highest value will pay (2nd-price + minimum-bid-increment).