The clock is ticking. Your sitting in front of your computer monitor. Your hands are sweating with anticipation. Time is running down and your wondering if your choice to wait till the last possible second to make your killer move will pay and allow you to claim victory. There are only seconds left and you know your opponent online is probably planning to wait till the last possible second as well. Time pressure is getting to you, and you feel a little bead of sweat roll down your brow. You mumble to yourself "I can't take this! Will I have enough time?". The clock is ticking down to those final seconds and you make your last move ... Click! ... Huh? ... No way!? ... Damn it! I got sniped!
Sniped? You have never heard of that move in chess, and your right. This person was bidding on a chess set on eBay and at the last possible second his online opponent placed a bid one dollar higher than his, one second before the auction closed. Seems unfair, but that is the reality of auctions online. The analogy between Blitz Chess, or at least the time pressure, and eBay are obvious. Not to mention equally frustrating.
I recall the day one of our customers called us, all excited and angry with us. The conversation went like this:
Customer: Hello ... I'm very angry with you guys!
ICD Rep: Yes sir, how can we help you.
Customer: I was bidding on one of your eBay auctions. I have been the high bidder all week. And I guess just before the auction closed someone beat me. Now you guys should have notified me quicker. I didn't get the email from you that I was outbid until after the auction was over. I'm pissed and what are you gonna do about it?
ICD Rep: Um...er....Well sir, were you watching the auction while it was going on?
Customer: No ... You send emails when someone outbids ... why should I?
ICD Rep: Um...Sir what auction was it? What is the eBay number?
Customer: (gives number)
ICD Rep: Let me look that up sir, hold on... well ... It appears someone named "chessdood" outbid you with 8 seconds to go before the auction closed.
Customer: Yeah I know ... and I got my outbid email from you guys 10 minutes after the auction was over. You guys stink, that's so unfair. I want you to do something about it. You should have let me know!
Actually, we get this kind of thing often. For this unhappy eBay'er we offered him an identical item for the bid amount he had and he went away happy. This particular customer was a little confused about the outbid notification thing. eBay's system sends an email notification to a bidder when he is outbid, automatically, but email takes a few minutes to get to your computer from eBay. (more time presure). Also he wasn't aware that if he just went to auction page and click "refresh/reload" on his browser, he could then see the auction clock time tick down. Basically, he got sniped and there really isn't much you can do as a bidder to prevent being sniped. With, of course, the exception of using "Proxy Bidding" (see eBay).
Time. This single cosmic phenomenon causes more human tension than any other single thing. None of us has enough of it, none of us can seem to make more of it, none of us can afford it, nobody can just find it. Grrrr ... Time Tension!!! In chess, especially Blitz or speed chess, time is precious. You watch the clock tick down, your brain is racing, your under time pressure. Your brain feels like it is going to explode! Furthermore, you can't stop your leg from bouncing up and down in that fast, rythmic, nervous, under the table toe dance. To top off your time tension, your opponent has got that stupid little "I've got you on time" poop-eating grin on his face. Grrr!!!!!! On ebay, you have the same pressure, without the grin sitting right in front of you. But you know he's out there, grinning snipishly at his computer screen.
If you have played chess on the internet, I'm sure you have heard the common complaint that some players use chess playing programs while playing online. Yes, it happens. There are are a select group of very sad people who pursue the win over the challenge. Tisk, tisk, tisk! Well guess what? You have the same thing on eBay. There actually is software available that once you type in the auction number the date and exact time the auction closes it will "snipe" the auction just as it is about to end. That means the software automatically sends in a high bid within seconds of the auction ending. And you know the guys who use this have the same grin on their faces. Aw c'mon... What's the fun in that?
Grrrr ..... Times up.
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