Ebay question

[Saito2]

I haven't actually bid on Ebay items for some time, usually settling for the "buy it now" option when available. Recently I tried to bid on two separate auctions for old Kyosho monster trucks since "Buy it now" was not an option. I admit, I come to the auction in the final minutes before proceeding. In both cases I was easily the highest bidder within the final 10 seconds of the auction and suddenly got outbid in, literally, the final second of the auction. Does this sound like the work of a "bot" that I've been hearing about? I admit I'm not up on this stuff. Are bots very commonplace now? Is there a way to beat a bot or should I basically give up on bidding type auctions from now on?

[Wetman]

1 minute ago, Saito2 said:

I haven't actually bid on Ebay items for some time, usually settling for the "buy it now" option when available. Recently I tried to bid on two separate auctions for old Kyosho monster trucks since "Buy it now" was not an option. I admit, I come to the auction in the final minutes before proceeding. In both cases I was easily the highest bidder within the final 10 seconds of the auction and suddenly got outbid in, literally, the final second of the auction. Does this sound like the work of a "bot" that I've been hearing about? I admit I'm not up on this stuff. Are bots very commonplace now? Is there a way to beat a bot or should I basically give up on bidding type auctions from now on?

Sounds like a sniper programme such as Gixen.

[Ferruz]

The same happened to me, multiple times for items such as the Marui Shogun. Been trying to get one for a while, and every time I'm the best bidder until I'm not, last instant, just as you said.

Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my impression that the "bot" thingy is just an automated system that managed the highest offers in order for the price not to skyrocket too much. It's more easily explained with an example: if, as the highest bidder, you bid 100 coins and me, as second highest, only bid 70, the system will show you as highest bidder with only 71 or 72 of the coins that you are willing to spend. If I raise my bid to 80, that same system will up your offer to 81, and so on until it reaches the cap set by you with your highest offer.

Now, I understand you were actually the highest bidder, but probably some other guy or even more than one person set a higher bid just within seconds of the auction's end, and the object just went to whoever offered more. Maybe if you look at the bidding history you'll be able to see a lot of activity in the last minutes/seconds of the auction, I was able to see that a few times hence my explanation (but I repeat, I might be wrong, mine is little more than speculation ).

[Biz73]

Bid sniper. It bids in the last few seconds so no one has a chance to bid more. I don't like the idea of it personally, but I guess it's perfectly ok with Ebay.

[Dakratfink]

I had this happen to me a few times as well, once or twice it was a “mixed blessing” since the item in question was actually beyond what I was actually more than I really wanted to spend and I secretly hoped I would get outbid lol. 

[Saito2]

In one case specifically the events unfolded like this: the item opened at $25.00 and with 30 seconds left I put in the first and only bid so far of $35.00 max. As the seconds clicked down someone began punching it, trying to snipe me. I grew nervous as the his/her bids began to top $30 in the last 10 seconds. With exactly 1 second left I upped it to $40. It was so close, I wasn't sure if I got it in in time. I did, but got beat at $40.05 in under the final second I got my bid in. Looking at the bidding history showed my bids and the other individual punching at it several times, trying to overtake me. The winning bid was a third person or bot, who was not in the previous bidding history, coming in at less than half a second and beating me by a mere $0.05.

[ploots]

I don't bid very often I prefer buy it now but when I have bid I usually put an odd price in like £40.53 as people tend to bid to the £40 or £40.50 the odd pence has often won

[yogi-bear]

yeah, definitely a snipe, an automated bid in the last few seconds. I do this all the time. I do it for 3 reasons:

Firstly is means no else knows I am bidding, so it tends to stop the price going up quickly.

Secondly it means I don't forget about an auction if it ends at an odd time, or I am busy.

Lastly, I used it as a means to control my spending. So I think about the item and can preset what I am prepared to pay, without anyone knowing I am interested in it.

 

So is it fair? It's allowed within Ebay's rules and the highest bidder will always win. So that 0.05 cent win, you don't know what they were prepared to pay, they were just prepared to pay more and its gone up to the next increment.

If eBay wanted to stop this, they'd do something like extend the auction another say 5 mins to give other bidders a chance to counter, as per many other auctions, but they don't. At the end of the day though, the person who is prepared to pay the most still wins.  Sniping means you just don't show your intention until the last few seconds, but if your bid is lower then someone's bid, you don't win.

[MadInventor]

The only way to beat a bot is to beat it into submission with your wallet, by putting in your highest bid you're prepared to pay up front. That way you don't walk away thinking 'I wish I'd put another tenner on it', and if someone else wins it, well that's just because they were prepared to pay more than you think it's worth.

[Moonraker1]

If you bid to your maximum (ie the most you are willing to pay) and you get outbid you wouldn't have won the auction anyway. It's too easy to get drawn in on auctions and pay too much for an item! We've all done it!

[MadInventor]

11 minutes ago, yogi-bear said:

yeah, definitely a snipe, an automated bid in the last few seconds. I do this all the time. I do it for 3 reasons:

Firstly is means no else knows I am bidding, so it tends to stop the price going up quickly.

Secondly it means I don't forget about an auction if it ends at an odd time, or I am busy.

Lastly, I used it as a means to control my spending. So I think about the item and can preset what I am prepared to pay, without anyone knowing I am interested in it.

 

So is it fair? It's allowed within Ebay's rules and the highest bidder will always win. So that 0.05 cent win, you don't know what they were prepared to pay, they were just prepared to pay more and its gone up to the next increment.

If eBay wanted to stop this, they'd do something like extend the auction another say 5 mins to give other bidders a chance to counter, as per many other auctions, but they don't. At the end of the day though, the person who is prepared to pay the most still wins.  Sniping means you just don't show your intention until the last few seconds, but if your bid is lower then someone's bid, you don't win.

I don't use the tool but I do use the tactic, and I think it's entirely fair. At the end of the day the person prepared to pay the most wins. I often put bids in at the last 5 to 10 seconds. Conversely when I bought my lathe on Ebay I put a bid in half an hour before the bidding ended that was more than the market value because I really wanted it. 10 minutes before the end it was at about £150, then went up to about £240, and at the last second someone banged in a bid of £550. I still got it because other person that tried to snipe at the last second was trying to grab a bargain, and had no time to up their bid. They just assumed no-one would put in a full price market value bid half an hour before an auction was ending.

[Bash]

I do this all the time, it's pretty much the only way to play the auction game IMHO. The Ebay app will auto bid for you up to an amount that you set, so people could be using that. It also helps to be young and have quick reflexes from hours of gaming and r/c practice

[Saito2]

Ok. It sounds like the old days are over and its just up to putting in your max bid via a bot or auto bid and keeping your fingers crossed is the new way of doing business on Ebay. Its certainly a different dynamic than the old days but times change. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[Snappy1]

18 minutes ago, Bash said:

I do this all the time, it's pretty much the only way to play the auction game IMHO. The Ebay app will auto bid for you up to an amount that you set, so people could be using that. It also helps to be young and have quick reflexes from hours of gaming and r/c practice

I must admit this is how I bid ,

[Wooders28]

Didn't realise there where programmes to do it for you! 🤦‍♂️

I'm the old way, have the highest I'll goto in the , confirm bid, and hit the button once the auction reaches 4 ish seconds to go.

Most of the time, I'll stick a marker down ,with a couple of days to go though, just incase the seller accepts a low offer, as they think no one is interested! 

[markbt73]

Remember the movie War Games?

"The only winning move is not to play."

I hate auctions.

[Lee76]

I ebay in three ways.. 1, buy it now... 2, if something looks low price and i don’t absolutely need it I might try a manual ‘bid snipe’ last minute bid of a low price, 1 out of 100 might actually grab a real bargain. 3, I’ll put down a fair price bid and then not look at it  till I get a notification. I don’ t think you can really be mad at people for using software to do this, the only thing I’m upset with is it’s too easy to find out what something sells for.. so there are fewer genuine bargains, this extends to charity, antique and junk shops.. 

 

[Grumpy pants]

18 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

yeah, definitely a snipe, an automated bid in the last few seconds. I do this all the time. I do it for 3 reasons:

Firstly is means no else knows I am bidding, so it tends to stop the price going up quickly.

Secondly it means I don't forget about an auction if it ends at an odd time, or I am busy.

Lastly, I used it as a means to control my spending. So I think about the item and can preset what I am prepared to pay, without anyone knowing I am interested in it.

 

So is it fair? It's allowed within Ebay's rules and the highest bidder will always win. So that 0.05 cent win, you don't know what they were prepared to pay, they were just prepared to pay more and its gone up to the next increment.

If eBay wanted to stop this, they'd do something like extend the auction another say 5 mins to give other bidders a chance to counter, as per many other auctions, but they don't. At the end of the day though, the person who is prepared to pay the most still wins.  Sniping means you just don't show your intention until the last few seconds, but if your bid is lower then someone's bid, you don't win.

I was anti the sniping software TBH- but having read this I realise it is my old skool mentality that is not keeping up with progress but also not accepting the benefits of using the software as well.

Two things for sure, one it is frustrating to miss out to a snipe, two the reality is it did me a favour in the long run not having another model sitting around to sell on 6 months later 

[moffman]

12 hours ago, Biz73 said:

Bid sniper. It bids in the last few seconds so no one has a chance to bid more. I don't like the idea of it personally, but I guess it's perfectly ok with Ebay.

I must admit I think Ebay doesn't work like it used to when I first started using it with these programs/app's etc that basically can outbid the once a week punter! And its doing Ebay more harm than good because I don't use Ebay no were near what I use to when you had an even chance! Just look how many time I get free listing or list for a £1 it used to be once every 3 month(ish) now I'm getting offers every other week........in saying this I bid on something on Thursday and didn't think I would have a chance because of the above mentioned but I won it by 3p 

[Saito2]

I suppose there is a good thing about these bidding programs. It puts an end to a practice done by my former employer: 

They would post and item, far more expensive than an RC car. If bidding began, a friend of the shop would then artificially try to create a bidding war by inserting higher bids into the mix trying to coax more more out of the bidders. If the auction ended and the friend's bid was the winning bid, they, of course, weren't expected to pay out. 

[87lc2]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

I suppose there is a good thing about these bidding programs. It puts an end to a practice done by my former employer: 

They would post and item, far more expensive than an RC car. If bidding began, a friend of the shop would then artificially try to create a bidding war by inserting higher bids into the mix trying to coax more more out of the bidders. If the auction ended and the friend's bid was the winning bid, they, of course, weren't expected to pay out. 

This used to be very common and I hated it.  I used to buy/sell a lot of cars and this would happen all the time.  Then the item would get relisted because the guy's friend would "win" the auction and it would go on and on.  

I noticed this sniping thing starting to happen a little while back.  I mostly just use Buy It Now or Make Offer, but on the off chance I want to bid on something unless there is nobody else interested I usually lose...I sell a lot on Ebay and I just list items with Buy It Now and always have a best offer option, just seems easier.  

[Gazzalene]

I only use ebay if I really have to and if I do I use credit card payment. Have no paypal account for ages now. I find it to "powerful" ebay and paypal linked,too many fees on both, then the auto bidding that is allowed,to knock prices up etc,etc,etc.

[Wooders28]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

If the auction ended and the friend's bid was the winning bid, they, of course, weren't expected to pay out. 

That used to be common place, and was a red flag, when you got a " 2nd chance offer" within minutes of the auction ending! 

I was like, come on mate, at least leave it a while and come up with the old, my kid bid by accedent or something 😂😂

[moffman]

2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I suppose there is a good thing about these bidding programs. It puts an end to a practice done by my former employer: 

They would post and item, far more expensive than an RC car. If bidding began, a friend of the shop would then artificially try to create a bidding war by inserting higher bids into the mix trying to coax more more out of the bidders. If the auction ended and the friend's bid was the winning bid, they, of course, weren't expected to pay out. 

I think a ebayer I've bought off does something like that I've put him in my Ebay list to watch because I've bought items from him after bidding and lost at the last second then an hour later I get a second chance offer? At first you don't cotton on but after 3 times lost bidding then all followed with second chance offers and all his items when you bid instantly get outbid and all the bidders apart from me are private? I've bid on stuff from him knowing that I don't want the item with the confidence that I won't win just to see if he sends me a second chance offer........and guess what I get outbid then I get a second chance offer🤔🤔??

[Saito2]

1 hour ago, 87lc2 said:

  I used to buy/sell a lot of cars and this would happen all the time.  Then the item would get relisted because the guy's friend would "win" the auction and it would go on and on.  

lol, Classic cars were exactly what was being sold in the scenario I was referring to.