My highest praise - for Audiogon

Excellent post Jawiseman! Well thought out and a balanced approach in the analysis. I agree with all of your comments 100%.

BTW, I didn't mean to give the impression that I disapprove of the OT system that Audiogon has implemented (although I must admit that I didn't even know about it prior to reading this thread - thanks, Trelja!) - just that I don't agree with vilifying someone for taking advantage of the rules as they exist on eBay. eBay itself, and how they constuct their site, is another question entirely, and a perfectly legitimate one. I also have to admit that I do sometimes find myself bahaving in a strangely altruistic manner on eBay with regard to ends of auctions. If I place something on my "Watch" list that has one bid on it for the minimum, and no further activity takes place on it before the end of the auction, I could, if I'm looking at the auction just before it closes, decide to test the waters with the first bidder's proxy. But I don't believe I have ever done this. I usually start thinking to myself that I'd probably just wind up driving up their bid before dropping out anyway, so I leave it alone. Or even if I could win it by only bidding a small increment above the first bidder's price (unbeknown to me without trying, of course), I still feel some inhibition for probably ruining their day, and don't do it. So I suppose that, as it regards my own actions, this fact of my conduct does mean that I personally (if not universally in theory) side with Trelja on the morality (but not the ethics - they are different) of "sniping". Thinking about this brings to my attention the potentially significant fact that Audiogon does not incorporate a "Watch" feature one could use to tag auctions without actually bidding on them, and follow through "My Page". This is could be just as meaningful a gesture on Audiogon's part to discourage the practice Trelja abhors as the overtime feature itself. However, the presence of the somewhat similar-acting "Ending Auctions" button on this site, in conjunction with the OT, will probably tend to work in the seller's favor - as it undoubtedly should.

How silly of me to suggest a sports game wasn't over at the buzzer. It might really be true that the outcome is decided by armchair quarterbacks. Yep, state of the art timers & photo finishes are just for show.

Take ebay for what it is & leave it at that.

Great points, Jawiseman and Zaikesman.

You are a sports guru, Driver.

But, I would like to clue you in on OT in sports which you may not yet be familiar with. There is a buzzer at the end of the games in these sports, but believe it or not, it is possible to play on after the "official end" of the game. A short list would be baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer. You might want check them out sometime, I personally find them quite enjoyable(soccer excepted).

And, many would argue that boxing was more pure, or barbaric - take your pick, when there was no preset number of rounds. The match ended when one person no longer answered the bell at the start of a round.

Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer are not sports, they are games.