{"items": [{"author": "Danner", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627909392422", "anchor": "fb-627909392422", "service": "fb", "text": "People don't understand what their true maximum is, they lie to themselves.", "timestamp": "1379008451"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627909452302", "anchor": "fb-627909452302", "service": "fb", "text": "@Danner: I had thought that if you really understood how much you valued something you should just bid that amount, but you still shouldn't.", "timestamp": "1379008530"}, {"author": "Danner", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627910804592", "anchor": "fb-627910804592", "service": "fb", "text": "Oh, i see what you mean. yeah, I already knew that - I don't often bid on ebay anymore, but when I did, I'd put an honest maximum in the last half hour. My game-design mind realized that I didn't want to allow someone too much extra time to think about their own honest maximum bid. I did sometimes get people sniping 20 times after me, but I accept my fate in that case, that the person is actually above my need for the thing.", "timestamp": "1379009433"}, {"author": "Bing", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627912995202", "anchor": "fb-627912995202", "service": "fb", "text": "Bid sniping at the last minute is in my experience the dominant strategy with online auctions. You would be no worse off than if you bid your maximum at the beginning, plus you benefit from the misinformation of other people who underbid or don't bid because they have no indication of the item's true value. Bidding early not only signals that you want the item, but it attracts unwanted attention and opens the auction to manipulation by the seller (if they're so inclined). A lot of the time it's moot since someone else outbids me, but sometimes the strategy works beautifully, hence it's a dominant strategy", "timestamp": "1379011162"}, {"author": "David Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627923234682", "anchor": "fb-627923234682", "service": "fb", "text": "(But yeah, not knowing your true maximum is another reason for bidding later. Determining your true maximum could be a lot more effort than it's worth.)", "timestamp": "1379019173"}, {"author": "Michael", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627929352422", "anchor": "fb-627929352422", "service": "fb", "text": "Interesting, I hadn't thought about it before, but bidding your maximum ensures you don't \"lose out\" but it doesn't maximize your gain.", "timestamp": "1379023077"}, {"author": "Mark", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627931218682", "anchor": "fb-627931218682", "service": "fb", "text": "that doesn't make sense... if you're playing the hypothetical mind experiment that you know your max bid, then you have to model that with other people that *also* know their max bid. thus your max bid should not actually signal that they should change their max bid... the described rationale assumes that you know your max bid, but the rest of the community is determining a fair price based on bidding activity.", "timestamp": "1379024169"}, {"author": "Chris", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/627909347512?comment_id=627937770552", "anchor": "fb-627937770552", "service": "fb", "text": "Mark: I disagree.  Assuming I know my max bid doesn't imply that other people know their max bid.  Just like assuming I'm a rational actor doesn't need to imply that other people are rational actors.  You can do rational evaluation of irrational actors (it is harder.)", "timestamp": "1379027873"}, {"author": "S\u00f6ren", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/109591345147236415728", "anchor": "gp-1379104111624", "service": "gp", "text": "Related: When selling stuff on ebay etc. one could mention that the money goes to an effective charity. Or let the buyer donate to the charity and provide proof. Could this increase revenue?", "timestamp": 1379104111}]}