AS ad's in seller's email!

Now, THAT'S an example of the good old American pioneer spirit.

There's no competition among snipers. The one with the highest max bid will win. I could place my bid 10 minutes before the end of an auction and withstand all subsequent bidders if my max bid was high enough. Sniping just narrows the window of time during which bids that would drive my cost up can be entered. In other words, sniping avoids "bidding wars." Just because a sniper gets a bid in with one second left doesn't automatically guarantee that the sniper will win.

Ah... but there is an advantage to having as many "unwashed masses" out there bidding, thinking they are going to get an auction at a deal because no one else is bidding on it, only to have us swoop down and snatch it.

As more people do this, the final prices will go back up, but while sniping is in the sub 1% of the community, we ARE saving money by doing it.

So, while we aren't really competing against each other, we kind of are...

my 0.02
-eric


-eric

I had the same problem that kicked off this thread and opened a separate topic in Comments and Suggestions under the title "Slippery Auctionsniper..."

Here's what I wrote, as I think the initial concern over competition among fellow snipers is only a smaller peripheral issue.



Slippery Auctionsniper adds sales text under your name with InstaMail "service"


This feature has some undocumented qualities. Mainly, that sales copy text appears without your permission. Niether does it show up in the "example" of the Instamail message. This sales copy text appears to portray Auctionsniper users in the role of agent of Auctionsniper, as our signatures and home contact details are bookending the sales copy.

I never gave Auctionsniper my permission to use me as a sales agent. Nor am I being compensated for it. However, by vendors are believing this from the emails sent in my name.

I do think Auctionsniper is a valuable service, but not at the expense of my reputation. Sliding in unannounced text into emails signed by myself is an abuse of trust, pure and simple, and should be ceased immediately by Auctionsniper's managment. This is an administrative issue, as Instamail is a clever service that I expect in my royalty payments I pay with each snipe.

Is Auctionsniper so desparate that it needs these revenues generated from slippery practices? I should hope not. And I would suggest that anyone who would take the time to examine how effective these emails are with vendors would either:

1) find that the sales are so miniscule they dwarf any risk of defection of the core registered membership base, or

2) see an opportunity to offer members a cut through a reseller program where a cut is passed on as well as incentivising registered members to promote the more positive aspects of Auctionsniper.

I have passed my comments on to the President/CEO of AUctionsniper as well as the Officer in Charge of Data Protection, but the only reply was from a support agent Michael W. who simpathetically replied:

"I don't like it either."

Well put Michael.

Any other registered members have any thoughts on this?

shamangroup

shamangroup