No transparency and losing bid bitcoins NOT returned. F-
The auction has been over for a little over an hour. I'm sure they will return your BTC and I'll bet they publish the auction results eventually...
And Furthermore ...
Some of you may remember that I held an auction on the blockchain. It was a multi winner auction, and it ended at a certain block number. All bids included in or before that block were valid. I have had an interest in auctions for a very long time. It was trivial to increase a bid. It was less trivial to see standings during the auction, but that is an opportunity for someone to develop software to interpret a known auction address on the blockchain.
What is missing from my auction, and from this auction, is a mechanism similar to eBay where a maximum bid can be entered and the little bump bids are made automatically. That is also a feature that an auction companion could implement on the individual bitcoiner's machine.
In contrast to this auction, my auction results are still visible, as the bids and refunds are in the blockchain. The entirety of "approvals" to move payments within the TradeHill system seems to be a pointless labor cost to me. I need help to see the motivation or utility of it.
That really would be an amazing auction system IMO.
There is supposed to be some additional benefit for bidders following the auction. I don't really understand the announcement, but if I am locked out of that because I had to cancel then re-bid, I will view it as a source of frustration.
I feel a growing enthusiasm about working on auction software...
(I was using Chrome. I should have made some screenshots)
It sounds like you tried to change your bid in the final minutes which I personally consider "sniping" since you are withholding your true "max bid" until the very end. I do agree that a properly done auction should support sniping but I personally didn't feel safe attempting that on Tradehill. Your idea of using the blockchain would solve that problem perfectly...