In a live auction, there's no time limit, and the guy who wins is the guy who's willing to pay the most for the item. (And he usually has to pay less than the highest amount he is willing to pay, because he only has to pay enough to top the next guy.) The way to re-create that online would be to scrap the time limit, and declare that the bidding stops when there have been no new bids for, say, 24 hours. I think Sean hit the problem on the head: It's the time limit that creates the sniping. OT mitigates it somewhat.
Ethics of last minute auction "poaching"
I was just involved in an auction that left a bad taste in my mouth. I had the high bid on an item for over 2 days and
literally in the last 60 seconds of auction a "poacher" came
out trying to sneak in a last minute bid in to win the auction. This caused the price to rise from $160 to $280 which I still won, but this seems underhanded to me. Attempting to win by last minute sneak attack! If you are interested in bidding on an item it seems common fairness to other members to come out in the open and not make your first bid with 60 seconds of auction ending! I know this is not outlawed, but ticks me off.....anyone else experience this?
literally in the last 60 seconds of auction a "poacher" came
out trying to sneak in a last minute bid in to win the auction. This caused the price to rise from $160 to $280 which I still won, but this seems underhanded to me. Attempting to win by last minute sneak attack! If you are interested in bidding on an item it seems common fairness to other members to come out in the open and not make your first bid with 60 seconds of auction ending! I know this is not outlawed, but ticks me off.....anyone else experience this?