"live auctions"

[AgentSteel53]

hello,

it seems gixen is not happy with the "live" auctions offered by eBay. Leaving aside the fact that they are already enough of a hassle... is there any way I can leave a snipe bid on, for example, this item?

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&viewitem=&item=190247263727

when I attempt to submit the snipe on home_1.php, using either the auction number or the full URL, I get an error message:

Could not add this item (190247263727).

if you could please make it possible for me to snipe this item, I'd greatly appreciate it!

thank you!

Jake

[juangrande]

AgentSteel53, you need to read up on live auctions at

http://pages.ebay.com/liveauctions/help/welcome/overview.html

The short answer is that you can't snipe a live auction because it's, well, a live auction, that is, an outcry auction. All eBay is doing is providing you a means to either enter an absentee bid or to participate when the auction is in progress. Sniping is not possible in such an auction format.
_________________
John

If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
--- Yogi Berra

[Cupid]

The most significant aspect, with regards to sniping, that I found was:

eBay collects absentee bids up to the moment of the auction. When the auction starts, eBay "clears" all the absentee bids and calculates the winning absentee bid. For this reason, Live Auctions is unable to announce the highest absentee bidder is before the auction starts.

... apart from the bad grammar, this indicates to me that bids are effectively sealed until the live auction begins, since no bidder is aware which is winning sniping has little significance. The only thing the bidding tells you is how much interest there is in the auction.
_________________
Mark

[juangrande]

[Gixen]