Snipers on the bay

[Drewboyaus]

Hi guys

Gee....Last 3 auctions I've been involved in, I've been sniped with 4 seconds to go by someone who has not declared their interest earlier. It is really ****ing me off. I know pretty much anything goes on ebay, but really... am I the only one who thinks that is a really **** thing to do? I can't believe people sit there in front of their computers with the stopwatch out waiting with 4 secs to go.

Really becoming a bit dis-illusioned with the bay after this.

Sorry to rant, but thats my 2 cents.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Mervyn]

Drew, believe it or not,some guys do just that. They wait until the last moment and bid,and more often than not-win. I had a new built lunchbox on ebay a few years ago.I thought being that it was new built/perfect the bidding would go through the roof.The bidding stalled out at around 125. I was blown away! There was only 7 or 8 minutes left and that was all I was going to get? I was bummed. All of sudden out of nowhere the "fantom" bidders went nuts. $277 was the final price. Has happened a number of times since. I have learned over 1800+ deals on ebay-its not over until the fat lady sings,or in this case,the auction is over. I have probably a dozen regular guys I sell to,that won't bid before the last few seconds.[8D]

[buc605]

A lot of the late bidders will be using an auction sniper, rather than sitting in front of the computor, especially if the auction ends at 3 am local time.

As long as you've bid the maximum you're prepared to pay for the item, shouldn't be too disappointed if someone else is prepared to pay more. Just my 2 cents worth from 'down under'.

[Twmaster]

This topic comes around every now and then. A search of the forums will yield you a wealth of opinion on the subject. The simple answer is you did not bid enough if you didn't win the item. There is absolutely nothing *unfair* involved either. It makes not a difference if you place your bid in the first 5 seconds or the last 5 seconds of an auction. As always the high bidder gets the goodies. If you didn't bid enough then you have *zero* to grump about.

One point to ponder. The reason people (myself included) snipe is to not engage in a bidders war and drive the prices up to silly levels.

[Drewboyaus]

Ok guys,

I've calmed down a bit, and both of you have a point. Its a little bit frustrating to have that last bid chucked in over the top right at the end though. Yes, you may not have bid the highest amount you can but you don't have an opportunity to review that position with only seconds to go.

I've just discovered that sniping software. Interesting, but I'm still not convinced its quite in the right spirit.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Incredible_Serious]

Drew matey...

Yep, it's annoying... but what can you do? You could use the sniper software.... but then, someone else could still have a higher snipe set, so you still lose.

It's all about how much you're prepared to pay I guess...

Just checked... wasn't me that sniped you... phew!

So mate, will we see you Saturday???

Alex

[Mervyn]

Well another option to "sniping"is contact the seller and try and cut a deal. I have done that many times,although I will admitt,its only about 35% effective. Once you have done a number of ebay deals,and the regular pool of guys that sell know you,the better the chances are of cutting a deal. I recently needed a part and just couldn't find it. Tried ebay and a number of friends. Finally out of frustration posted my request at tamiyaclub. Voila!!!I had secured the part the next day. Huge bonus... the tamiyaclub member sent it to me no charge. [8D]

[Twmaster]

The TC traderooms and for sale forums are a great place to swap/buy/sell. I prefer it to eVilBay most of the time.

[Neil_S2000]

quote:Originally posted by Drewboyaus

Ok guys,

I've calmed down a bit, and both of you have a point. Its a little bit frustrating to have that last bid chucked in over the top right at the end though. Yes, you may not have bid the highest amount you can but you don't have an opportunity to review that position with only seconds to go.

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Which is exactly the point, the later you leave it before putting the bid in, the less time anyone else has to counter it - you have more chance of winning and getting the item cheaper. That sealed Frog auction was a prime example of how this could have helped - if one of the 2 bidders had simply left the auction until the last few seconds they probably would have saved a few hundred dollars. It also means you don't have to sit there watching the auction, you just stick in the item number and amount you want to bid and it takes care of itself.

IMHO there is absolutely zero point to putting a bid in right at the start, all you're doing is indicating to other interested parties that they have some competition. If the auction has 5 days to run then why not wait until the end to see what happens rather than throwing all your cards on the table right at the start? Look at some completed auctions and count how many of the first bidders actually win, it's a very, very small amount.

[Drewboyaus]

Neil,

Indeed you are correct. But the difficulty is in not really knowing what the market value for a particular item is. And ultimately if you put in a high bid to start, what is the point in sniping anyway...? Shouldn't you have put that bid in at the start and discouraged other bidders?

Here in Melbourne, we've grown up on auctions for real estate among other things, and I guess, I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to the slightly different feel to the ebay Auctions (eg: in a real auction it 'aint over until the hammer drops!).

Anyway I'm over it now, just have to make sure I bid a bit higher next time.

Might have to come up with a program called SAS, to take out all the snipers!! :-)

Cheers,

Drew.

[Drewboyaus]

BTW guys, I was in such a heated mood when I started this thread, I didn't even notice the thread right below it....D-OH!

[ideal2k]

At the end of the day, what matters is how much you are prepared to pay.

If someone else has a higher bid, it doesn't matter when you bid. That's the end of that.

Drewboy: sorry for my snipe.... mate [}]

(I got your e-mail, but I'm not one to hold a grudge..)

[DJTheo]

Almost everyone is sniping nowadays, when I sell recently on eBay, I see that a dozen people are watching some items but no bids at all till the last seconds come.

Cheers

[netsmithUK]

ebay is simply about getting the item you want and hopefully winning it for as little as you possibly can. Sniping is the easiest way of increasing your chances of both[]

There is nothing unfair about it, infact in a lot of ways it helps in experienced ebayer out as it stops them getting drawn into last minute newbie bidding wars which normally end up with someone paying much more than they really wanted to, as they get caught up in the addrenaline fuelled frenzy of the 'I must have it, what difference will bidding another pound make' mist

Chris

[Twmaster]

quote:Originally posted by Drewboyaus

Neil,

Indeed you are correct. But the difficulty is in not really knowing what the market value for a particular item is.

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Just one point that struck me with this statement. An item is only worth what *you* are willing to pay. Not some arbitrary 'market' value. Each of us will have a different idea of an item's value. To illustrate this point as a Tamiya addict I often sell my excess and unneeded spares on eVilBay and it's amusing to watch an item then I may list several times not sell and then suddenly it has a swarm of bids and sells for more than I originally wanted.

I'll also agree with you Drew that eVilBay's idea of an 'auction' took me some getting used to in the beginning.

[8)]

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

quote:Might have to come up with a program called SAS, to take out all the snipers!!

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ive heard there is bid blocking software - buggar knows how that works thow lol []

[TWINSET]

quote:

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Originally posted by mymonsterbeetleisbroken

quote:

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Might have to come up with a program called SAS, to take out all the snipers!!

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ive heard there is bid blocking software - buggar knows how that works thow lol []

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Why would sellers want to block bids? [8)]

Ebay does allow you to block bidders though

[PTV70R]

I agree with most of the comments here, both for and against, one good point is that if you use sniping software, you can set you max bid in advance and STAY AWAY from the auction at its conclusion so if you are out-bid you are not tempted to raise your bid, which you may regret later.

SRB shocks are are good example - a few months ago I was loosing out as they were fetching over $100 a set. I than picked some up for half that a couple of months back and in the last couple of weeks for as little as $26. Had I been watching the auction I may have gone mad and paid $100 + which I would certainly be regretting now !

Following on from the earlier comments I have often watched an auction for an item which is also listed in e-bay shops and if the bidding stays below the shop price I will bid but quite often it sells for more so I go straight back to the shop and pick me up a bargain whilst laughing at the joker who won the bidding war but did not do his homework.

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

quote:Originally posted by TWINSET

quote:Originally posted by mymonsterbeetleisbroken

quote:Might have to come up with a program called SAS, to take out all the snipers!!

id="quote">id="quote">

ive heard there is bid blocking software - buggar knows how that works thow lol []

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Why would sellers want to block bids? [8)]

Ebay does allow you to block bidders though

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apparently you can use it as a bidder to stop other bids being placed on an item your after - in the closing seconds or something. i was offered it but it sounds a bit dodgey []

[Drewboyaus]

Wow,

I've opened a can of worms.....The thought of bid blocking software to block other bidders makes me sick. This is what I'm talking about, the spirit of the contest. If such things are available and effective, I think it is a disgrace. Not only does something like that hurt the other bidders, but also impacts on the sellers as well. Why do human beings find it so hard to enter a contest without cheating? It'll get to the point where Ebay becomes so corrupted that no-one will use it and we won't have that fantastic global marketplace any more.

Cheers,

Drew.

[TWINSET]

There is no 'spirit of the contest' dammit, we're talking toys here - get your priorities right man []

[Drewboyaus]

LOL. Indeed Twinset, indeed.....

[Woober Goober]

Yep, auctionsniper is the only way to go in my opinion. I just set it up when I find the auction, and let it do its magic. I gurantee that method has saved me tons of money. When I first started using ebay years ago, I would place my max bid, and a couple days later, watch some guy place 20 bids, $2.00 at a time, just until he outbid me, then I was not home to rebid when the auction ended, so I lost. Another thing, if you are a nasty character, you will place a thousand dollar bid on an item by "mistake" just to see what the high bidder has his high bid at, then you can determine whether or not you want to pay that much, and if you dont, just withdrawl your bid because "entered the wrong bid amount." Auctionsniper takes care of all these problems. Dude, tell me you didnt send a nasty email to a fellow tamiya club member because he outbid you? That would be the true sign of a newbie!!!

Scott

[ChrisB]

I used to think negatively about sniping, but I now use snipe software myself. The main advantage I get from it is it stops me spending stupid money on things "in the heat of the moment", which can happen if auction fever grips.

It has saved me money as I have won a few items with only a few seconds left to go.

The main disadvantage from a sellers perspective is its hard to reject bids from timewastres / scammers that use snipe software to bid on your auction in the last few seconds and win it with no intention of paying. You then have to pay the ebay fees and go through the long drawn out process of recouping your cash from ebay.

Easy example - say you are selling a large item and stipulate collection in person and only payment by cheque drawn on UK bank, and that people with zero feedback based in non - UK locations will have their bids removed. If some scammer from abroad wins your auction using snipe software in the last few seconds before you can weed out his bid, how hacked off are you going to be......

I think either ebay or one of the sniper software authors should come up with a piece of software that can monitor your auctions and automatically remove bids for you that don't meet criteria (min feedback rating, location etc). This could be setup to check your auction every hour or every day up until the last 10 mins of the auction. At this point it goes into constant monitoring mode checking for new bids every few seconds and rejecting any duffers.

This would be different to the bid blocking software mentioned elsewhere, which I doubt would be workable unless you were the seller? How could you prevent other people from bidding on an item if you were not the seller - I'm sure ebay wouldn't allow that.

Cheers,

Chris

[Drewboyaus]

Scott,

I'm very embarrased to say I did[:I]. Should never have lost my cool like that and I have apologized to the member concerned (I had no idea he was a TC member). As I said earlier, it was the third time in three days it had happened to me and I'd never experienced that before, no problem with being outbid, but hadn't ever encountered it with only 4 seconds to go. No excuse really, but you can only learn from your mistakes.

Cheers,

Drew.