271–280 of 363 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I am willing to pay $0.01 more but not infinity more, there's a difference
"I made my max bid $500.00, but I'd have paid $500.01!" "I made my max bid $500.01, but I'd have paid $500.02!" "I made my max bid $500.02, but I'd have paid $500.03!" …where does this process end?
This ban isn't about 'fairness' or bot protection; it's about protecting the Impression Funnel. Marketplaces like eBay are designed to monetize 'Wandering Attention'—sponsored listings, 'customers also bought', and sidebar ads. An AI Agent represents 'Laser Focused Attention'. It executes a transaction with zero wandering. It effectively turns the marketplace into a commoditized backend database / dumb pipe. From a G…
—It's not X, it's Y?
This ban isn't about 'fairness' or bot protection; it's about protecting the Impression Funnel. Marketplaces like eBay are designed to monetize 'Wandering Attention'—sponsored listings, 'customers also bought', and sidebar ads. An AI Agent represents 'Laser Focused Attention'. It executes a transaction with zero wandering. It effectively turns the marketplace into a commoditized backend database / dumb pipe. From a G…
Or probably even wrose, it actually shifts the attention and the wandering. That phase will happen inside the LLM, where the LLM decides which link to suggest, i.e. whoever pays the LLM the most. And worse yet, that will apply not just for products, but for platforms, so if amazon pays chatgpt more than ebay does, there goes your sale.
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The purchasing itself can important for it to jump on a great price. Maybe it finds what you're looking for at 1a while you're sleeping for example. Also if this were a business and you were going to resell it the AI could also create the listing as soon as the item is purchased.
I can't think of a scenario in which me buying some used stuff on ebay is that serious to be honest, having the AI buy would be a huge risk as well. > Also if this were a business and you were going to resell it the AI could also create the listing as soon as the item is purchased. That sounds like an awful grift, but good point, people might use such a system for that.
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it's because this argument of "what is $0.01 more?" can be extended forever, implying you are willing to pay an infinite amount of money for anything. since we know this is silly, we try to understand what our "real" maximum is. this is difficult to do for exactly the reasons you mention in your comment! surely $0.01 is negligible! there is a tension here. and so, absolute max price is not a fantasy - the world would…
It can be extended forever in theory, and sure, that is an interesting philosophical discussion, but it isn't in practice. We're discussing sniping. That means you make the choice once : do I send in a last-second bid that's $.01 more than my "max price", or do I not?
This ban isn't about 'fairness' or bot protection; it's about protecting the Impression Funnel. Marketplaces like eBay are designed to monetize 'Wandering Attention'—sponsored listings, 'customers also bought', and sidebar ads. An AI Agent represents 'Laser Focused Attention'. It executes a transaction with zero wandering. It effectively turns the marketplace into a commoditized backend database / dumb pipe. From a G…
Ebay is a pretty eclectic marketplace and I can think of a number of possible reasons that have little to do with ads. For example, they may be worried about high error rates, and thus buyer and seller dissatisfaction. If I instruct an agent to buy X, eBay is almost never interchangeable with Amazon or Target.
They have no problem surfacing their listings on Google Shopping.
ex: "...parts only", "foo for bar", ...
How likely am I to get the wrong product entirely or something that I can't actually use.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't think of a scenario in which me buying some used stuff on ebay is that serious to be honest, having the AI buy would be a huge risk as well. > Also if this were a business and you were going to resell it the AI could also create the listing as soon as the item is purchased. That sounds like an awful grift, but good point, people might use such a system for that.
This is just "buy low, sell high" but automated. It is no different than what many humans do every single day, just at a much faster clip and with better processing power. Used car dealerships are a great example. If you think its dumb that humans try to find price mismatches in order to make money...well you may hate the idea of capitalism, which is probably a fair take.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I am willing to pay $0.01 more but not infinity more, there's a difference
"I made my max bid $500.00, but I'd have paid $500.01!" "I made my max bid $500.01, but I'd have paid $500.02!" "I made my max bid $500.02, but I'd have paid $500.03!" …where does this process end?