suggestion-- setting different bid amts - combined shipping

[skee]

Here's a feature that I would use all the time:

My proposal-- I would love to set 2 different bid amounts, one if I have already won something from a seller, one if I haven't.

When I am bidding on multiple items from a seller who combines shipping-- as soon as I win the first item, I know I can bid more on the following items, since I'm already paying the shipping cost (or most of it). The 'contingent bidding' option does not always work for this, since I still want to bid on the later items, even if I don't win the first one; I don't want the following bids cancelled, just adjusted.

Don't know how complicated that would be, or if other people would also find this useful. I find that combined shipping comes into play all the time on eBay; sometimes the only reason I buy from a seller is because I can bundle a few things together. Thanks!

[Cupid]

Thank you for your suggestion skee,

I do not know how complicated it would be to implement.

I am sure it would confuse a few, but that is just a support/documentation issue not a reason to disregard this workable suggestion.

I can confirm that I would also use such a feature, if it were available, perhaps once or twice a week on average. I am reasonably heavy user at about 10 to 20 snipes per day.

If others also like your suggestion then here is the place to show support. It is unlikely that Mario would be able to justify any change or extension without at least a few people supporting the idea.

Another thought, when making, or supporting, suggestions an indication as to how much you would realistically use the feature might be helpful to Mario in prioritising the many requests that he gets.
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Mark

[skee]

Thanks for the feedback Mark. I would use it probably like you, once or twice a week.

I don't think it would confuse people if it is kind of 'hidden'... ie the 2 bid option only appears (sort of like with contingent / group bidding) when you check the option, then 2 boxes would appear. Or something like that.

I might mention an example where it really comes into play for me-- when a comic book seller has a shipping amount of $4 for a single comic OR for any number of comics (some do that) and a comic starts at 99 cents-- well I might still want one for $5 (minimum bid + shipping) even if it's the only thing I get. But if I have already won a comic from the seller, now I can take my bid up to $5 instead of 99 cents. (I figured it might be good to mention an example in case people didn't get my first explanation).

[mario]

skee, this would be useful to some, no doubt, but how many? I need to see a little more demand for this than just you and Mark.

One other thing that I am afraid of is that this feature would make it really important to extract the seller name properly. So far, I have always treated this as 'nice-to-have'/convenience thing, but this feature would make it a must, and a must to fix it immediately if things break.

[Gixen]

[Cupid]

I absolutely agree that much more support for the idea is required before it could be even considered further.

I see your point regarding the seller name, I don't think it is necessary to make the algorithm dependant on the seller name being the same within the Group though... I regard that aspect as being the primary example of how it would be used, but not necessarily exclusively... I would leave it to the user to ensure that all items in the Group were with the same seller if that was necessary to make the figures work...

The primary element of this algorithm, for me, and please, anyone, correct me if I am wrong, should be that for everything other than the first item in the Group there are two bid amounts, the first to be used if nothing previous in the Group had been won, and the second to be used if anything in that Group has already been won (or vice versa the function being effectively the same, of course).
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Mark

[skee]

Maybe the idea could be useful if it was combined with some of the other suggestions I have seen on this forum; in general, it'd be great if there was some kind of 'conditional bidding'. I don't if this sounds like a coding nightmare Mario! Thanks for your attention to this forum by the way, it is much appreciated. Maybe there is a flexible system for conditional bidding that could be used in many different ways.

I thought of another example that I would use a lot, related to my first suggestion, and related to the fact that combined shipping is such a big influence on my purchases-- there are some items where I would love to say, ONLY bid on this item if I have won something from this seller (or as Mark suggested, within a certain group). The contingent bidding that is there now unfortunately relies on making later bids contingent on just one particular item. Often there are a few items I particularly want, and I will only add more to the order if I get one of those items. This is kind of the same as my first suggestion, but instead of setting a different bid amount, it will sometimes not bid at all. I know there have been other times where I've thought of 'conditional bids' that I'd like to make, can't think of them at the moment! But maybe there could be one system for conditional bids that could be used in many ways?....

[Cupid]

If your first suggestion were implemented then your second would also be effectively available since for the items you don't want to bid on you could just have a value of 0.0 for the bid if you have not already won something.

Having a programmable/configurable interface to create your own algorithms has been suggested in the past, it was considered much too complicated to produce such an method of controlling the actions of the sniping engine.
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Mark