Courteous bidding

[Tester]

Sometimes sellers list several of the same item and you want to claim one or two that no-one else has bid on or perhaps you already have one of these items at home or in the office and you don't want to take away someone else's chance to have one (but don't want the item to escape entirely in case no one bids).
It would be great to have a feature for non-obstructive sniping where you can throw in a bid in the last few seconds on the condition that no one else has bid on the item. "Courteous bidding" is what I would call it. Of course you could always just leave your bid at the minimum bid but I think this feature would encourage friendly bidding behavior in some cases and supposing the minimum bid is changed by the seller for some reason (if it is indeed possible to do that) this would leave the desired behavior intact.

[Cupid]

I understand this post, but I feel it is most likely that it would encourage shill bidding by sellers wanting to get their listing fees back but not miss potential sales... for that reason I would not think it wise for this to be implemented on Gixen.

I know it would not be a successful strategy for sellers in the medium to long term, but I would not want Gixen caught up in such shady practices.
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Mark

[Tester]

I'm sure this could be implemented in such a way that it would do no harm.

[Cupid]

Do you have a suggestion as to how, because I still think the original one could?

Further, I think the concept of sniping and that of being 'Courteous' to other bidders are probably mutually exclusive concepts.
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Mark

[Gixen]

[Tester]

This would not be sniping, it would be waiting to the last second to be positively sure you are not in anyone else's way, giving them the greatest possible amount of time to place a bid in case they want the item.

I think in the wrong hands, any tool can surely be used for harm, but nevertheless one can be crafted in such a way that specific uses come more naturally. It is all about how the feature would be implemented into gixen, even use of the right wording to describe it would change how users consider it.

Suppressing ideas for such trivial reasons is madness. You will never never get off the ground with that kind of thinking.

[Cupid]

Perhaps it is not sniping... but that is what this site is designed for and why the vast majority of its' users are here.

Let's see what Mario thinks, it could well differ from my own view.

Regardless of the issues what really makes a difference is how much it would be used, I have to say I suspect not a great deal for legitimate reasons, perhaps more for the use I suggested.

I have no intention of suppressing your idea, I am just explaining why I do not think it is a good one. I am happy to promote ideas that I think add to the benefits provided by this site to the community that uses it.
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Mark

[meh]

In what way would entering the minimum bid amount on gixen not accomplish exactly what you're asking?

[Sumflow]