Anyone think ebay should prevent sniping?

detroitfan2

One thing I've been wondering lately: What if ebay ran auction end times in the same manner as major auction houses. Specifically, what if an auction ran to its specified end time, but then did not officially end until some time period (5 minutes) passed without a bid? Other possible alternatives would be to only allow bidding after the original "end" time to those people who have already bid at least once.

This seems easy enough to do, and it seems like it would be a win-win situation (ebay and sellers would make more money). Of course, this wouldn't help cheapskates like me who are always looking for a good deal.

On a related topic, what's everyone's opinion on sniping "tools"? Personally, I don't like the whole concept. Not saying it's "wrong" or "bad" or anything, it just takes a little of the "adventure" out of everything for me.

A761506

Sniping is an absolute must... who has the time to sit around waiting for every auction to end. Plus, sniping can help reduce the chances of being shilled, because if you were to enter your maximum bid way in advance, someone shady could easily shill and run it up.

easttexascardsandgames

I have had this argument many times, some think sniping prevents sellers from getting top price for their items. It don't. Those who are against have said Ebay should give an auction a one time 10 minute extension if there is someone bid in the last minute. While this sounds good lets look at this scenerio:

Two buyers who buy the same items know each one is going to bid on this item at the last minute, so they wait for the other to flinch. All the sudden while they are waiting for the other to bid and they are so confident that the other or someone else will extend the auction they sit back and wait and nobody pulls the trigger. That seller just lost out of potentional sales.

I personally snipe when I buy, due to the simple fact I make money on 99% of the items I buy withing a week selling them back on Ebay. A few other buyers have figured this out and will bid on items I bid on in hopes of copying my sucess, by me bidding in the last minute I avoid this problem.

Shill bidding can also be prevented this way.

Knuckles

<< <i>Sniping is an absolute must... >>



I'm so happy I decided to start useing it. I use to watch things like a hawk but then miss out on bidding by just 30seconds or some BS.. Or I would bid but would have to bid with 7 or 8 seconds left which just doesn't cut it now adays.

jrdolan

Without sniping, we would all be sitting in front of our computers with bloodshot eyes and spittle running down our chins even more than we do now.

I used to do all my bidding manually, until I realized that declaring my lust for a card at the outset -- by setting a max proxy and getting bid up by shills and genuine collectors -- was not good strategy. So I would "snipe" manually, watching the seconds tick away and hitting "Confirm Bid" with 10 seconds to go, and praying it got through in time. Sometimes it didn't, and man is that bad for your blood pressure, to see the object of your desire go for $25 when your snipe was $50. That's the downside.

The upside outweighs that, though. With a snipe service, I can set my bids, turn off the computer, go do something constructive or fun. The service "queues up" my bids and fires them just in time to lock horns with the other sneaky snipers and manual bidders. I still lose more than I win, but not because my bid didn't get there in time.

Life's too short not to take advantage of sniping, since it's permitted and available.

Griffins

Anyone that doesn't snipe on cards on ebay is simply throwing money away. Fine with me, less money they'll have to bid on auctions I'm sniping on.

Vargha

I even snipe for my son's bids.

Cubfan

No

WinPitcher

personally snipe when I buy, due to the simple fact I make money on 99% of the items I buy withing a week selling them back on Ebay. A few other buyers have figured this out and will bid on items I bid on in hopes of copying my sucess, by me bidding in the last minute I avoid this problem.

what exactly are these items that you make money on 99% of the time?

ctsoxfan

I would like to know this as well - not sure how "99% of everything" you buy on Ebay is all of a sudden "worth more" a mere week later...but, I'd like to hear about it.

Vargha

I would like to know this as well - not sure how "99% of everything" you buy on Ebay is all of a sudden "worth more" a mere week later...but, I'd like to hear about it.

Could it have anything to do with pallets?

BugOnTheRug

<< <i>Not saying it's "wrong" or "bad" or anything, it just takes a little of the "adventure" out of everything for me. >>


Adventure? A winning snipe is like hitting a walkoff homer with 2 outs on a 3-2 count.

BOTR

NickM

I don't use a sniping service. I bid manually, and sometimes will enter a manual snipe on an item, but most of the time I put in a bid and let it run its course. Few of my bids win if another bidder enters the fray, but most of my pickups are very cheap (and this week 4SC must be cursing my name for the number of cards I've nabbed at opening bids below the grading fee). If you're comfortable bargain hunting, this is the way to go IMO.

Nick

Jmnesq

Which is (are) the best FREE sniping services?

Knuckles

esnipe is good. You just set it to bid the maximum amount you wish to bid in the last 2 seconds of the auction. Hasn't failed me yet.

Try it for free for a bit.. www.esnipe.com

ydsotter

Sniping is a must. I guess I'll never be sure if it saves me money... but I like to think it does.
As a seller, I love seeing those last second surprises.
The only time that sniping freaks me out is when there is a glitch. I have lost out on items where my snipe wasn't placed and I saw the card I wanted slip away for nothing... but that is rare...

As to the guy who says he makes a profit on 99% etc...
I had success a few years ago on a small scale... a couple hundred plus each month...
I had to:
buy cards from low and poor feedback people and resell them with better descriptions, more payment options, a gaurantee to refund if unhappy etc... better pictures etc...
but you have to buy smart and work hard for a little turnover. $10 - $20+ here and there...
It's not the kind of thing I could have supported myself doing... but I made enough to avoid flipping burgers while I was in school...
also... I found selling rare cds that I found in used cd stores somewhat profitable.
In any case, the whole thing wasn't profitable enough to justify me doing it now that I am working... but it was fun and freed me up for more study / fun time.

WarHoundR69

But beating a snipe is even sweeter. I bid $37.83 for a PSA1 HOW #277. A last second snipe of $37.77 came in. I beat it by 6 cents.
I don't bother sniping. I put in a early bid on the low side. Watch the action for a while, see who my competion is. If I'm still interested I put in my maximum bid a few hours before the auction ends. If I get it great, if not there is always something I can bid on tomorrow. I've picked up many cards very inexpensively this way. But I believe that sniping has a place in Ebay.

ranger63

i love to snipe. the other day there were three seperat lot of 59 fleer ending minutes apart being bid on by two others. they were going back and forth for the last hour and then in the last 6sec my snipe won. i would have loved to seen how pissed they were.

easttexascardsandgames

I would like to know this as well - not sure how "99% of everything" you buy on Ebay is all of a sudden "worth more" a mere week later...but, I'd like to hear about it.


I can tell you its defintly not sportscards it is in the video games categories, not gonna say excatly what though, but I generally by these in lots for pennies on the dollar and break them down and get as much each individually as I paid for the lot. I bought a lot recently of 8 of these for 7.50 each. One brought 29.00 another in the lot brought 18.00. The rest should bring 2 to 10 dollars each.

CDs are another good source for quick money on Ebay, you can go to most any local auction or even on Ebay and get quality CDs for less than 1.00 each. I am not talking about the lots of new CDs that are cheap because they just suck, but used CDs from great artists. I use CDs when I am either needing money in the near future or am short on cash.

jrdolan

<< <i>I would like to know this as well - not sure how "99% of everything" you buy on Ebay is all of a sudden "worth more" a mere week later...but, I'd like to hear about it.

I can tell you its defintly not sportscards it is in the video games categories, not gonna say excatly what though, but I generally by these in lots for pennies on the dollar and break them down and get as much each individually as I paid for the lot. I bought a lot recently of 8 of these for 7.50 each. One brought 29.00 another in the lot brought 18.00. The rest should bring 2 to 10 dollars each. >>



Buying a group and splitting it up is a time-honored practice here and everywhere, the oldest trick in the book. I bought a lot of three 1969 MLPBA pins for a total of $10.00. I kept the Johnny Bench (the one I wanted) and sold the Al Kaline for $5.00 and the Billy Williams for $8.50 (go figure). I have also wasted money and time on such speculations, but at least they all had something I wanted out of the deal.

Congrats on the $7.50 / $29.00 flip, I hope you do better than $7.50 / $2.00 on the rest. I hope you at least got a game you wanted. It would only take a few of the latter to discourage me from spending time and effort in hopes of the former. But since your success rate was, uh, 99% ....

easttexascardsandgames

I hope they do more than 2.00 each, but looking at the whole thing I have already come out on top with the first 2 items so the rest is just gravy. No way I could make a living doing this unless I started buying all the lots, but it does pay the bills and helps me build a cash reserve so when a new product I want comes out I will have it. Saving enough from it right now to buy a case of Heritage.

detroitfan2

WOW!

I don't disagree that sniping isn't necessary today, given that others are doing it. I was just curious if everyone would prefer if they didn't have to snipe.

Not sure I understand how it prevents shill bidding. Seems to me the shill bidders can snipe too if they want.

<<Anyone that doesn't snipe on cards on ebay is simply throwing money away. Fine with me, less money they'll have to bid on auctions I'm sniping on.>>

This one REALLY baffles me. I don't snipe, and I don't see how I'm throwing away my money. If anything, I have more money because I keep losing auctions to snipers.

Also, at this point, I don't see how not adding additional time to auctions will cost the seller money. Maybe in rare circumstances, but most of the time the seller willl be ahead.

easttexascardsandgames

Bottom line is if you put in the highest bid it don't matter if there are snipers or not.

Lets say though by not sniping you bid on a 100.00 dollar card that has an opening bid of 9.99. You bid your max of say 30.00. That seller decides he is going to shill you. He bids you up to your max which he figures out by entering several small bids. If he happens to outbid you he simply cancels his bids and enters the total of just less than your max. You now are the only other bidder on that auction and it sells for 30.00. Sure you paid no more than you had intended to, but your bid was falsely driven up therefore causing you to pay more than you should have paid.

detroitfan2

<<Lets say though by not sniping you bid on a 100.00 dollar card that has an opening bid of 9.99. You bid your max of say 30.00. That seller decides he is going to shill you. He bids you up to your max which he figures out by entering several small bids. If he happens to outbid you he simply cancels his bids and enters the total of just less than your max. You now are the only other bidder on that auction and it sells for 30.00. Sure you paid no more than you had intended to, but your bid was falsely driven up therefore causing you to pay more than you should have paid. >>

This is a very good point. Do you guys think this happens a lot?

easttexascardsandgames

It happens more than you think. One day I was just looking through 5 different sellers and found about 15 different IDs that could be shill accounts. Hard to prove, but I am sure it could be a big problem.

mercurynut

Snipping is not a must for success for the buyer or sell. Its cheating in my book!