A perfect case for why you should always snipe!

Petescorner

Opportunity Lost

OK, I know these are not coins, but this topic comes up here a lot, so just pretend this is an auction for 10 Morgans!

Searching through eBay my wife comes across this lot of short pants that would fit our 3 year old son. Not having an eBay account of her own, she asks me to bid on the lot for her. There are 2 days left in the auction, and the high bidder "mommyirwin" is in at $9. My first instinct is to wait until the last second and snipe this auction. But then I start thinking about it. For crying out loud, am I really going to snipe a bunch of kids clothes away from someone named "mommy(anything)"? Naw, so I go and place my proxy bid at $15. So, I come home from work today and the auction has ended. Mommyirwin came back and placed 2 bids today. One at $13.50 (which wasn't high enough.) And the second, winning bid, at (least) $15.50.

This is a perfect example of why you should always snipe! If I had waited til the last second, mommyirwin wouldn't have had time to change her mind twice and bid 3 times! Her second bid would have put her just ahead of another bidder (at $12.50) and that is where she would have stopped bidding until it was too late. And I would have won the shorts (er, I mean, "Morgans") at $14.00 with my last second bid. True, if her intial proxy bid had been $15.50 I would have lost anyway, but that's not what happened in this case, and is why you should always snipe!

-Dan

bigtonydallas

I agree unless you cant get online at the last minute.!

nwcs

So you will be sniping from someone named mommy[something]?

Actually, I think sniping is good in every case where you can. I sniped many things out from under people. Also got sniped when my connection stalled for a few seconds and lost my chance to bid at 5 seconds. It's amazing the adrenaline rush you get when you win!

Petescorner

So you will be sniping from someone named mommy[something]?

You got it Neil! I thought I would feel bad if I topped her bid in the last second, but I also didn't think she would come back and bid 2 more times!

-Dan

nwcs

So she's a mommysniper! Soccer mom with deadly aim!

baccaruda

well i wouldn't say "deadly aim". deadly aim would be outbidding someone at the last second by 1 cent when the bid increment was $10.

it appears she used the "machine gun" approach.

BAJJERFAN

NAAAHHHHHHHH!!! I bet she wears one of those T shirts that says "I have PMS AND a gun".

baccaruda

it's probably a 300 pound gun-toting ivory dealer who named himself "mommy" so people wouln't snipe him.

clackamas

Hows this for deadly aim? Deadly aim!

MosesBlack

You cannot snipe me unless you are willing to pay more than the item is worth.

keets

i think the only bidders who don't snipe are ones who haven't figured it out or ones who have a misplaced sense of moral fairness!!! i learned early on that if i really want to win an auction, coins or whatever, my best bet is to be at the keyboard at the close. and even that's no guarantee since i've been counter-sniped at the wire! ya gotta be ruthless when it comes to coins, er, i mean baby shorts.

al h.

Simple

that "deadly aim" on the lincoln link above is something else. a few cents difference made in a few seconds difference. That person is skilled.

clackamas

<Elvis voice> "Well thank you very much". It was luck on the 3 cent difference and the 7 seconds left was an off day, usually its 1 or 2 seconds. But I bet Mr. Janisch would have paid the extra 4 cents to beat me. It is a nice coin and totally original. At PCGS right now. I expect it to be a borderline 65/66 so I do not know just yet if I slightly over paid or got a bargain, at least accroding to PCGS. I like the coin and am very happy with the purchase regardless of the 66 or 65 grade.

1jester

Another disadvantage of not sniping is someone can test you for your maximum, and NOT buy the coin, leaving you to pay your maximum. I don't know a term for that, but it seems awfully unfair to do that, and it has happened to me a few times. Remedy: ALWAYS SNIPE!!! --one shot, one kill.



P.S. Welcome to the boards, Simple (even though you've been here longer than me!)

Catch22

Most all the coins i've won on ebay resulted from sniping. I have no problem with it. However, I really love it when a seller clearly states in his description that the auction will end early at his discretion. I picked up a very difficult coin at a fair price two days before the auction was to end.

To take sniping a bit further, I rarely place a low bid if I intend to snipe. Some will bid early at a low price just to save their 20 watch limit. You're better off simply waiting and appearing out of nowhere so as not to encourage others to bid up the amount thinking they might get outsniped. I've also disabled the feature on my computer to allow me to be page hit counted. If a coin during the last few minutes of the auction is seeing a number of hit counts, you can pretty well bet it's gonna be sniped hard. My hat is off to those of you sellers who end your acutions early. I encourage more of this and although I snipe, I had rather not bother with the practice and would prefer to participate in "end early" auctions. I should note that I usually bid only on coins that are very difficult to locate and i'm not available to participate during certain times so the sniping tactic isn't always available to me.

Incremental bidding can also be useful in determing when you have reached just under the max bid placed. I would also suggest to sellers to take into account both the time their auciton will end and make sure you glance at your calendar so as not to have your auction end during holidays or major sporting events and the like. I can sometimes tell that auction bidding is way down during certain functions and have seen coins go for far less than they otherwise would have had the auction ended at a more favorable time. Just some ramblings..........

BBN

My key to sniping is the double-barrel method. Bid w/ about 35 seconds remaining and then go back and go up a few more $$$ asap!!! This totally scrambles the brain of your fellow sniper trying to beat you

BBN

In fact I can proudly say that I've sniped w/ 1 second left in the auction twice!!!

Petescorner

In fact I can proudly say that I've sniped w/ 1 second left in the auction twice!!!

You sniped twice in one second??? Man! You are good!

-Dan

ammie

my best ebay snipe<p>
what happens when you proxy bid
Sniping is the only way to go ...

BBN

I think it was more luck though. The computer was dragging in both cases and I was sweating bullets watching the dumb thing drag.

baccaruda

You're better off simply waiting and appearing out of nowhere so as not to encourage others to bid up the amount thinking they might get outsniped.

would that be a camoflauged snipe?

BAJJERFAN

This usually works for me. I see something I want I jump in inside the last 30 secs. Its a little tougher with the more desirable stuff tho like a real nice 94-P morgan in PCGS45 or 50. Got a nice 89-CC in PCGS45 by one cent and 5 secs that way.

1jester

Welcome, ammie.

I also like the double-barrel sniping method (to test the waters), and I generally go with a camouflaged snipe; I think that is the best way because I've been burned by other shooters when I really wanted a coin, but showed my interest early. Besides, you usually get a lower price if you wait to the last second (I guess it has something to do with crowd mentality; if other people see you're interested, then maybe the item is good, so they have to have it too).

I don't like it when a seller removes the auction early. Besides, I think the seller loses since many people snipe at the last second, thereby raising the price.

Happy sniping!

lathmach

So you lost your shorts. Happens to Ebay buyers all the time, and you don't have to be bidding on childrens clothes to do it.

Ray

RLinn

Don't you just love it when one sniper "beats the pants off" of another sniper?

Petescorner

So you lost your shorts. Happens to Ebay buyers all the time, and you don't have to be bidding on childrens clothes to do it.

Don't you just love it when one sniper "beats the pants off" of another sniper?


LMAO! Good ones!

-Dan