BetterThanTheBay is my attempt to create the ideal auction site for selling collectible games. I designed it specifically to get around the most annoying aspects of other online auction sites. It's minimalist, like the Shoppe itself. You don't have to click and scroll through six pages of extraneous features to create a listing, and you can relist an unsold auction with a single click or sell another of the same item with a quick confirmation. It's hands-off when it needs to be, letting the buyer and seller work things out with minimal hand-holding; but it's also transparent, so everyone involved in the auction knows exactly what is going on. Most importantly, it's run by someone who understands vintage game collecting and has been doing it since 1994.

Once registered, you need to be signed in.

Then you need to request to join BetterThanTheBay.

That's it.

I'll try my best to be available all day if an auction is ending that day, but if there is an item you absolutely must have, please don't wait until the last minute to request a membership. No one else will know you're there unless you bid, and even then only after the auction ends.

From the auction page, simply click "Bid On This Auction" and enter the absolute maximum amount you would ever be willing to pay for the item. You will likely end up paying less. When someone else enters a bid, BetterThanTheBay increments the bidding just enough to leave one person the high bidder. If two people enter the same maximum amount, the high bidder is the person who placed their bid first.

Other auction sites use a similar proxy system, but you can end up being outbid by pennies, which is frustrating. BetterThanTheBay uses only whole dollar amounts, so that won't happen here.

Also remember that your bid amount does not include shipping costs. The seller's location and the item's packaged weight will be mentioned clearly in the auction description, so you can determine your postage costs in advance. Be sure to factor them in when determining your maximum amount. The same goes for any import tarriffs your country of residence may charge you.

Hiding the bid amounts also prevents someone from having their maximum amount influenced by another bidder's activity ("Oh no, this other person is willing to pay $300! I'd better up my maximum to $400 to be safe!") And because bidder IDs are hidden until the auction ends, there are no revenge bids ("That jerk outbid me on the Personal Software Zork! So I'm going to make him pay more for the Mount Drash!")

Whoever bids the highest will automatically win the auction, so it really doesn't matter when you place your bid versus when they place theirs. Unless two people bid the same amount, in which case the earliest bid wins, so it may actually be to your advantage to bid sooner.

If you're still planning to snipe, be aware that YOIS is on a server using Central European Time, so be sure to account for any time zone difference.

I have always felt that people who email a seller mid-auction and ask them to add a "Buy It Now" do so because they know the maximum they are willing to pay is not high enough to win the auction legitimately. So they offer what they hope sounds like a good price to the seller, when in actuality the item would have gone for so much higher if the auction were simply left alone. It's another form of the backdoor bidding I despise so much, albeit somewhat less insidious, since everyone still has a short chance to grab the item at its "Buy It Now" price, not just the person who made the suggestion. The seller still ends up getting shorted, though.

Public disclosure of all activity is the best way to keep everybody honest. Any attempts to circumvent the auction process may get you blocked from future use of BetterThanTheBay, and possibly Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe itself.

Please do not pester winners with offers to buy the items they have won. You had your chance. Complaints about this may result in your being blocked from using BetterThanTheBay.

Please note that, as with the Shoppe (and unlike eBay scalpers), I am not making any money from shipping. I charge only what the U.S. Postal Service charges, and if it turns out I have overcharged you, I will refund the difference.

Note that if you leave negative feedback, you will not be able to bid or leave feedback on any more of that user's auctions. This is designed to prevent feedback bombing and continued harassment. If two people have a bad experience with each other, they each get to leave one negative comment, and that's it.

One other thing. You need to leave feedback within 10 days, or you will not be able to bid or sell again until you do. This ensures that everybody gets their feedback.

The original intent with BetterThanTheBay was to get these rare items into the hands of fellow collectors who would appreciate them, without having to use a site that I personally despise. It was not to make myself a cheap source for rare items that people could turn around and sell at a huge personal profit. When I bought this lot of promotional Infocom items, I made a promise to my source (who is someone who used to work at Infocom) that, should any of them end up going for an insanely high price, I would share some of that windfall with her. Flipping items on eBay at a huge markup will rob her of that. It is not just about me or you. Out of respect for my source, I'm asking everyone not to do this.

If I do catch anyone flipping these items on eBay, I will switch the remainder of them over to a new system that will permanently replace BetterThanTheBay. The BTTB page will then feature the full contact information of whoever is responsible, which will remain up indefinitely. (This is the warning. There will not be another.)