Perhaps this is something you lightning modem boys can fill me in on. I have
a paltry 56K modem. At the end of a hotly contested auction, e-Bay's normally
stodgy response time almost freezes, making judgement of that last bid timing
a real iffy thing. Does DSL or cable eliminate that lag so that it becomes
more of a gunslinger's mainstreet shootout or is it really a democracy in that
last minute?
Chris Hill
----- Original Message -----
From: Theo Smit
To: SLaifman@SoCal.RR.com
Cc: tigers@autox.team.net
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Question for seller -- Item #597203138]
Steve,
Unless I'm very much wrong, (and I don't think so), that's not the way the
Ebay
auctions work. On the second that the auction ends, whoever has entered the
highest bid wins. I've missed putting in a bid by seconds, and I've
successfully
won auctions by entering a bid eight seconds before the end. I've also been
outbid by entering my bid 15 seconds before, giving enough time for someone
else
to notice and blow my bid out of the water. If you want to play this game
you
need a fast internet connection, and you need to have a chronometer you can
synchronize to Ebay time. It's not necessary, but it helps to avoid dumb
math
errors. And yes, it's the arrival time at Ebay that counts, but rarely have
I
seen more than a few seconds transit time, and that's part of the game. It
helps
not to take these things too seriously - there are far worse things than
missing
out on that $500 air cleaner.
Theo
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