Someone who has software set up to automatically bid in the final seconds of an auction, so the actual human beings have no chance.
I once stayed up until 2 a.m. to watch the price on an item shoot up by over a grand in the final twenty seconds. One look at the bid record made it clear that the culprits were TWO machines battling it out, no doubt while the people who set them were nestled all snug in their beds.
The term is also applied to humans who come in at the very end and suddenly bid much higher by hand, but I don't mind them nearly as much.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 10:25 am (UTC)I once stayed up until 2 a.m. to watch the price on an item shoot up by over a grand in the final twenty seconds. One look at the bid record made it clear that the culprits were TWO machines battling it out, no doubt while the people who set them were nestled all snug in their beds.
The term is also applied to humans who come in at the very end and suddenly bid much higher by hand, but I don't mind them nearly as much.