Snipe up a bargain

There I was, little ‘ol me, happily clicking away in an ebay auction. A few hours earlier I had been browsing for furniture and had immediately fallen in love with two wooden chairs. I had put in a bid right then and there. Now it is 15 minutes until the auction closes and I’m feeling confident in the lead as the highest bidder.

 6 minutes to go and I’m still the top bidder at $25. Inwardly I’m congratulating myself on scoring such a bargain. I’m mentally planning where I will put the chairs. “They’d look great by the window...” I muse, “Maybe with a cushion in a contrasting colour...”

3 minutes to go and still winning. Oh Joy! I’m so thrifty.

1 minute. All good, wait, no, hang on a sec - BAM! I’ve been outbid.

What?! How did that happen? Where did this other bidder come from? They must have been hiding ready to pounce at the last minute. I was winning a second ago. $27.65 only? I’d pay that. Please Ebay give me another go ITS NOT FAIR!

The condolences email from Ebay comes as a slap in the face. “You missed out this time, but don’t give up. Here are some other items you might like.” Ebay, you don’t get it, they were my chairs! They were going to go by the window. They were stolen from me!

After walking away from the computer and gaining a little perspective, my “first world problem” induced rage was slightly mollified. However I did still feel the need to whine about my plight on facebook in my status update. 

To my surprise, a minute after posting said moan, an angel commented in the form of my friend Nat. She recommends I check out Auction Stealer.com.  What is this auction stealer? It sounds illegal. Am I about to enter a life of crime?

Turns out it is a legitimate auction bidding service and it’s totally free. According to auction stealer:

By automatically placing your bids at the last possible moment, AuctionStealer allows you to rest easy knowing that your competitors will have literally no time to react to your bid. Schedule your bid at your convenience and AuctionStealer places it with seconds to go, leaving you free to go about your business without worrying about when to bid next.

Why should you snipe?
"By waiting till the last second you can save money and not deal with the headache of a bidding war. Why pay more...if you don't have to?", explains AuctionStealer. "By placing your bid through AuctionStealer you will end up on top."

Amazing! You never need to lose an Ebay auction again. Well, unless other people are also using a sniping service.So far I have used auctionstealer.com successfully 3 times (they cap you at 3 auctions a week if you use their free service). I am a total convert. But it does raise the question: does using automatic computer generated bidding make the whole experience less ‘human’ and fair?

In many ways it is very similar to computer based trading on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), now comprising 30% of the total volume of trades. 

Both Algorithmic trading and High Frequency Trading are managed by complex computer programs that have no interest in the company’s assets, people or prospects, only the ability to generate profit.  And all this is done at a speed far superior to a human.

Hmm, it sure does make you wonder...Maybe the Matrix’s view of the world wasn't too unrealistic after all.