Every point you just mentioned (emotional bidding, shill bidding, and shadowing/vengeance bids) are valid reasons in favor of sniping auctions. I believe this is the correct, and most cost effective way to bid on ebay. No other evidence is necessary. I gladly fork over $5 every month for my snipe service and have never had any problems.
Here's another thought: If the majority of ebay bidders eventually catch on to sniping and the majority of auctions only receive bids in the last few seconds of the auction, don't you think ebay might consider implementing a similar service or totally restructuring their current setup to reflect this? I can see a day in the not too distant future where ebay disposes of the major sniping services by either offering the service themselves, or by changing their current configuration.
I'm not going to edit what I posted above, but I just thought about it, and it seems I've only been thinking of ebay as an outlet for graded cards. I know this will take much longer to catch on with the countless other categories out there. Seriously, how many of you have ever sniped an auction for a Vintage Mushroom Shaped Paperweight.
I now realize sniping has limited benefits. But I think I'll stick with it. Even if I'm looking for paperweights.
I agree with you that EBAY will probably offer their own sniping services sooner or later. However with the debacle with Billpoint they should just find the pAypal of snipping and buy that. I wonder if EBAY can track the number of bids coming in via ESnipe etc... and if they have even been able to notice the trend.... Does anybody do some buying on EBAy (other than Sports CArds) that snipping is prevalent in ? Just curious.....
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain.
Just want to put in a good word for eSnipe customer service. Had not migrated one of my old accounts to their new site and was having trouble merging it with my other account.
E-mailed their support, got an e-mail response within 15 minutes from a "real human being", who actually knew what he was doing, and had the problem solved within 20 minutes.
Ita a great tool to use. I wish I would of brought the subject up earlier but I thought I was imagining it. I didn't realize that so many people have had this happen to them.
Stump (Dave) I think this has append to all of us at one point or another to varying degrees. I also think that the emotional bidder has done their damage to.
Buckwheat, JEB … excellent, excellent explanations and points. You are make it tough to debate against.
With all said and done I think I would be more in favor of Ebay evolving into a true auction site as opposed to having them develop (buy) sniping technology.
I believe there is a possibility that sniping can actually drve up the auction price. The scenario is this. I collect the 1970 Topps set and when I see 8s or 9s up for a reasonable price I will place my bid and see what happens, unless that current high bidder is JEB, Chris Renaud, or ChrisKK. Those 3 along with a few others outbid me constantly as I am not in near the hurry to put this thing together. So if the 3 of them are all sniping and I put in my high bid only to drive up the eventual price of a 9 into the $50 range whereas if the high bid was $30 and held by one of these indivisuals I don't even bother. I have no desire to force these guys to pay more out of spite for them beating me out on several cards. Does that make sense or am I just babbling?
Looking for 77 cloth 9s and 10s. 54 Red Hearts and now 64 Stand ups
knowing someone snipes adds a different twist to bidding. Back a month or so there were two 1970 team cards up for auction in a 10 grade. knowing Renaud's sniping, I passed on bidding. when the auction ended both cards went for far lower than what I would have paid and neither one went to Chris. was I intimidated by the thought of being sniped or did I make an assumption that didn't happen or am I just crying sour grapes.
don't not bid because you thing someone else will. bid what you are willing to pay, snipe or no snipe.
<knowing someone snipes adds a different twist to bidding. Back a month or so there were two 1970 team cards up for auction in a 10 grade. knowing Renaud's sniping, I passed on bidding.>
As a sniper...that's great news! I hope people are intimidated!! I would prefer that you not bid ... it makes my final price that much lower.
I don't believe I was clear in what I was trying to say. I don't stay away from bidding because I assume one of the other collector's is going to snipe. I stay away when I see that they have already bid. Jeb states that he now snipes 100% of the time, but that is a fairly recent game plan. Several times in the recent past he has placed high (higher than I am willing to go) bids on several different 1970 cards. I tried to bid them up, but instead of winning any I simply drove the price up on him. I don't want to do that to a fellow registry member and I know that I will not bid high enough to win, so why do it. Therefore bidding early by Jeb keeps that price low, because just seeing his name there scared me off immediately.
Plus I know that if he is upgrading 8s to 9s he will sell me his 8s. (at a significant discount )
Looking for 77 cloth 9s and 10s. 54 Red Hearts and now 64 Stand ups
You are correct. Within the past month I have decided to snipe all of my auctions. I don't care if the final bid is higher or lower than if I had placed a "regular" bid. It just saves me so much time. My time is worth more than the effort to continue placing bids every day and trying to track all of them.
ChrisKK,
Your recent example of the PSA 10s reinforces the fact that sniping is the way to go. If you had sniped the auction, you would now be the proud owner of two 1970 Topps PSA 10s. Even if Chris R. had outsniped you, it would not have cost you anything. It's worth trying. I have sniped over 250 auctions in the past month or so, and I believe I've won over 90% (just a guess - but I think that might even be low).
Please, everyone snipe! It eliminates the clowns who run up bids. This is the ultimate answer to the question that Dave originally asked some 65 posts ago. I hope everyone is now on board.
By the way, esnipe is not the only choice out there. I do not use esnipe and have never had a problem. After looking at their site, it appears that esnipe would cost me more. I only pay $5/month for unlimited snipes, regardless of final bid.
Thanks for all the great posts everyone. I think this is one of the most informative threads that a PSA collector could ever read.
You know what I'd like to see? A cross between a Mastro type system and ebay.
1970 Topps Roberto Clemente PSA 9
Posted at 10PM EST on 1/12/03, 7 day auction
Set to close at 10PM EST on 1/19/03
HOWEVER, to bid in the final hour, you MUST have placed a bid in the preceding 7 days. That gives people from 10PM 1/12/03 to 9PM 1/19/03 to place a bid and show interest. Then, only the current bidders can place bids in the last hour.
On the flip side, I would NOT allow a seller to end an auction in the final hour - under ANY circumstances.
This would encourage a number of things:
1) Better gauge on interest in the auction 2) More bidding earlier (something ebay wants to encourage, for obvious reasons, and as a seller OK with me ) 3) Maybe ebay could also send an e-mail out (if the e-mail system works OK) informing bidders of the current status of the item at the beginning of the final hour...
Just a thought.
Why do I get the feeling, that some cards are worth money, while others are not?
I agree with LJB. I always avoid auctions in 70 Topps that Virtualizard had bid on. Same with Fread (who is that anyway?) on the 1969 Topps. Stump and I almost always bid about the same amount for cards and I get the card 50/50. I started using Auction Sentry (which has a one time shareware fee that is very reasonable and awesome support) and now I think I am only costing Jeb and Fread more money than I used to.
Comments
Every point you just mentioned (emotional bidding, shill bidding, and shadowing/vengeance bids) are valid reasons in favor of sniping auctions. I believe this is the correct, and most cost effective way to bid on ebay. No other evidence is necessary. I gladly fork over $5 every month for my snipe service and have never had any problems.
JEB.
I'm not going to edit what I posted above, but I just thought about it, and it seems I've only been thinking of ebay as an outlet for graded cards. I know this will take much longer to catch on with the countless other categories out there. Seriously, how many of you have ever sniped an auction for a Vintage Mushroom Shaped Paperweight.
I now realize sniping has limited benefits. But I think I'll stick with it. Even if I'm looking for paperweights.
JEB.
I agree with you that EBAY will probably offer their own sniping services sooner or later. However with the debacle with Billpoint they should just find the pAypal of snipping and buy that.
I wonder if EBAY can track the number of bids coming in via ESnipe etc... and if they have even been able to notice the trend.... Does anybody do some buying on EBAy (other than Sports CArds) that snipping is prevalent in ? Just curious.....
There's stuff on eBay besides sports cards ?????
Just want to put in a good word for eSnipe customer service.
Had not migrated one of my old accounts to their new site and was having trouble merging it with my other account.
E-mailed their support, got an e-mail response within 15 minutes from a "real human being",
who actually knew what he was doing, and had the problem solved within 20 minutes.
Outstanding !!!
"How about a little fire Scarecrow ?"
-Geoff
Click here to view my Knickstars collection and wantlist
Sorry about sniping the Kellogg's tens from you. They told me it wouldn't work on the King. I was just testing it. I think it works great.
Dave
Ita a great tool to use. I wish I would of brought the subject up earlier but I thought I was imagining it. I didn't realize that so many people have had this happen to them.
Dave
E
Used to working on HOF SS Baseballs--Now just '67 Sox Stickers and anything Boston related.
I think this has append to all of us at one point or another to varying degrees. I also think that the emotional bidder has done their damage to.
Buckwheat, JEB … excellent, excellent explanations and points. You are make it tough to debate against.
With all said and done I think I would be more in favor of Ebay evolving into a true auction site as opposed to having them develop (buy) sniping technology.
Just my .02
Chris
54 Red Hearts
and now 64 Stand ups
JEB.
knowing someone snipes adds a different twist to bidding. Back a month or so there were two 1970 team cards up for auction in a 10 grade. knowing Renaud's sniping, I passed on bidding. when the auction ended both cards went for far lower than what I would have paid and neither one went to Chris. was I intimidated by the thought of being sniped or did I make an assumption that didn't happen or am I just crying sour grapes.
don't not bid because you thing someone else will. bid what you are willing to pay, snipe or no snipe.
Chris
EJGuru whatever is cooked up I will email you soon
Dave
As a sniper...that's great news! I hope people are intimidated!!
Regards,
Alan
Plus I know that if he is upgrading 8s to 9s he will sell me his 8s. (at a significant discount
54 Red Hearts
and now 64 Stand ups
You are correct. Within the past month I have decided to snipe all of my auctions. I don't care if the final bid is higher or lower than if I had placed a "regular" bid. It just saves me so much time. My time is worth more than the effort to continue placing bids every day and trying to track all of them.
ChrisKK,
Your recent example of the PSA 10s reinforces the fact that sniping is the way to go. If you had sniped the auction, you would now be the proud owner of two 1970 Topps PSA 10s.
Please, everyone snipe! It eliminates the clowns who run up bids. This is the ultimate answer to the question that Dave originally asked some 65 posts ago. I hope everyone is now on board.
By the way, esnipe is not the only choice out there. I do not use esnipe and have never had a problem. After looking at their site, it appears that esnipe would cost me more. I only pay $5/month for unlimited snipes, regardless of final bid.
Thanks for all the great posts everyone. I think this is one of the most informative threads that a PSA collector could ever read.
JEB.
1970 Topps Roberto Clemente PSA 9
Posted at 10PM EST on 1/12/03, 7 day auction
Set to close at 10PM EST on 1/19/03
HOWEVER, to bid in the final hour, you MUST have placed a bid in the preceding 7 days. That gives people from 10PM 1/12/03 to 9PM 1/19/03 to place a bid and show interest. Then, only the current bidders can place bids in the last hour.
On the flip side, I would NOT allow a seller to end an auction in the final hour - under ANY circumstances.
This would encourage a number of things:
1) Better gauge on interest in the auction
2) More bidding earlier (something ebay wants to encourage, for obvious reasons, and as a seller OK with me
3) Maybe ebay could also send an e-mail out (if the e-mail system works OK) informing bidders of the current status of the item at the beginning of the final hour...
Just a thought.
Taz