Rather than babysit eBay, I'd like to plunk down a fair bid on an item and walk away. Obviously, if someone wants that item more than I, they'll win and I'll have to find another auction and begin the process again.

I'd like to queue up multiple auctions and apply the same maximum bid to all of them. The bid would only initially apply to the auction ending soonest. If I win that auction, my bid is not applied to any auctions still in queue. If I'm out bid on the initial auction, my maximum bid rolls over to the next auction in queue until either I win an auction or run out of items in queue.

It's possible both queue length and the number of active cascading bids would need to be limited.
-- phoenix, Dec 21 2008

ebay patent http://www.sumobrai...g/WO2008060477.html
ebay patent [rling, Jun 10 2011]

Brilliant. I just googled the exact same thought and even thought of the same name for it ("cascading" bids) and google sent me straight here. What a shame ebay haven't implemented this. But I guess they prefer that you have to visit their site a lot more so they can hit you with more advertising each time.
-- rling, Jun 10 2011


After a bit more digging, it turns out ebay already patented this idea! [see link] Fortunately (or unfortunately?) the patent was published a few months before this post on halfbakery, so they can't be accused of stealing the idea.
-- rling, Jun 10 2011



random, halfbakery