Ebay Sniping
au58
Posts: 1,288 ✭✭✭
Has ebay ever explained why sniping is allowed? Why doesn't ebay extend an auction until no bids have been received for 5 minutes, or by some other increment? Seems that as long as people are bidding, sell prices would be maximized. Good for ebay, good for seller, bad for snipers.
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How many auctions have you sniped?
<< <i>Why doesn't ebay extend an auction until no bids have been received for 5 minutes >>
Because it's a silly idea.
Russ, NCNE
Cameron Kiefer
Glenn
<< <i>Sounds like sour grapes to me. As others have said many times, it is not the last bid that wins it is the highest bid. One other thought comes to mind - if others can snipe so can you. >>
You could not be more incorrect. Every auction I have won has been a snipe. But in may cases, I would have paid more. And, I have been selling much more, and the preponderance of action is in the last two hours and the greatest preponderance of action is in the last 20 minutes.
I have also spent over $2M at live coin auctions. After deciding what to bid, the market, the potential for gain or loss, or what a knowing competitor may be willing to pay become non-factors. The most significant unknown are the bidders who get caught up in the action.
<< <i>How many auctions have you sniped? >>
About 50.
<< <i>
<< <i>Why doesn't ebay extend an auction until no bids have been received for 5 minutes >>
Because it's a silly idea.
Russ, NCNE >>
And to some people, that probably explains everything.
Not a major life crisis !!
You didn't win because you sniped it. You won because you were the highest bidder. Other people didn't want to pay as much as you, so you won.
But in may cases, I would have paid more.
If you want to pay more, just add a little extra to your check or PayPal payment. I'm sure the seller won't mind.
Glenn
After all, having it go to the team with the highest score after a firm 60 minutes of play is kind of unfair if one team sneaks up and scores near the end of the time leaving insufficient time for the other team to score again.
<< <i>Why doesn't ebay extend an auction until no bids have been received for 5 minutes, or by some other increment? >>
It may be that ebay understands that many will not bid at all if they were to set up this policy.
I feel most bidders have no wish to get into a bidding war.
I like to see the coin in hand at a live auction.
50% or better of their sales or income where else can you play
sniping and win
<< <i>Perhaps the NFL will consider extending the Super Bowl a few extra minutes if one team scores in the final minute or two of the game.
After all, having it go to the team with the highest score after a firm 60 minutes of play is kind of unfair if one team sneaks up and scores near the end of the time leaving insufficient time for the other team to score again. >>
What a perfect analogy, and dead on.
Zach
PS, wouldn't that be a crazy super bowl Wayne?
Check my ebay BIN or Make Offers!!
and some aren't
kind of like the super bowl
This model is not wrong or right its different and somewhat turns the tables of a sniping approach. It is however one thing...
Not a football game.
First Place Winner of the 2005 Rampage design contest!
a game up front
i'm not saying it's right it's the way it is little guys giving their all to win LIKE
the super bowl
You lose and your upset but that's why ebay is what it is and has what it has my thoughts
a market share
<< <i>Has ebay ever explained why sniping is allowed? Why doesn't ebay extend an auction until no bids have been received for 5 minutes, or by some other increment? Seems that as long as people are bidding, sell prices would be maximized. Good for ebay, good for seller, bad for snipers. >>
This is exactly why I very seldom bid an auction at yahoo. They will extend an auction as long as bids are being received (if the seller chooses this selling formant). I haven't bid anything there in a long time. I tried to snipe a roll of eagles once and lost because of the added time. I have won more items sniping then I ever have by putting in an early bid and playing the waiting game. I think its more exciting waiting till the last few seconds of an auction, putting in the highest amount I'm willing to pay, and seeing if its good enough to win. Its also highly satisfying to take something from another bidder at the last second and realize I saved a few $ at the same time
my point market share
<< <i>Using all these other programs and whatnot is like only having to go 5 yards for your first down at the Superbowl while everyone else has to go 10 yards.
If it was some sort of sooper sekrit program I'd agree with you -- but sniping programs are out there for everyone to partake in. Just because some n00b doesn't use one shouldn't spoil the party for the rest of us.
<< <i>I just think that E-Bay should figure out how to stop all this third-party software sniping. If someone wants to snipe, let them snipe. But don't allow them to use software to do it for them. Force them to be online right as the auction is closing and manually put in their bid. That requires some skill and prevents them from sniping a whole slew of auctions at the same time. Using all these other programs and whatnot is like only having to go 5 yards for your first down at the Superbowl while everyone else has to go 10 yards.
>>
<< <i>
<< <i>Using all these other programs and whatnot is like only having to go 5 yards for your first down at the Superbowl while everyone else has to go 10 yards.
If it was some sort of sooper sekrit program I'd agree with you -- but sniping programs are out there for everyone to partake in. Just because some n00b doesn't use one shouldn't spoil the party for the rest of us. >>
I've been on E-Bay for a good long while now and I never even heard of 'sniping software' until I came upon these boards a few months ago. So they aren't exactly common knowledge for the occasional E-Bayer. It's those people who only go on E-Bay every once and a while that get hurt the most.
this sounds like a personal issue not ebay bidding
<< <i>I've been on E-Bay for a good long while now and I never even heard of 'sniping software' until I came upon these boards a few months ago. >>
So why is it MY fault that YOU didn't do your homework? I've been sniping for five years now, and using software to do it for over three years.
This really boils down to an argument of socialism versus libertarianism. Do you want to make life equal and balanced for everyone concerned, from the lowest dreg to the highest performer? Or do you believe that hard work should be rewarded; in this case, the work involved in educatiing oneself about optimal eBay bidding techniques?
OK, maybe that's too deep. How about this -- imagine if everyone sniped? If everyone sniped, eBay auctions would turn into de facto Vickery auctions. A Vickery auction is where all bids are submitted in secret, opened simultaneously, with the high bidder winning but paying the second place bidder's price. This style of auction has been mathematically proven to be optimal for both buyers and sellers in terms of prices and value received. Here's the math, if you're interested. So you see -- sniping is ultimately best for both buyers and sellers.
Russ, NCNE
Wut if I was to propose that eBay have certain minimum standards for photos that fairly represent the item being offered. Its pretty obvious that there is a large disparity in photo quality skills and equipment among eBay sellers.
How bout shipping? Should eBay limit shipping charges to what is fair and reasonable based on known examples? eBay folks could mail a bunch of coins all over and then say based on our experience you can only charge this much for S&H.
In the end eBay will do wuts best for eBay.
Using third party sniping software to win E-Bay auctions is like using a machine gun to hunt deer. Is it legal? Yes. But it's cheap, requires no skill whatsoever, and can cause many honest and legitimate people to not even get involved because they don't want to sink to that level.
<< <i>It's cheap, it's underhanded, and frankly it's rude. >>
Same thing buggy manufactuers said about the automobile. Suck up and adjust, bunky.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>Using third party sniping software to win E-Bay auctions is like using a machine gun to hunt deer. Is it legal? Yes. >>
Actually, it's illegal in all 50 states.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>In the end eBay will do wuts best for eBay. >>
And that was the premise behind my original question. Note that I did not say I was for or against sniping. All this crap about "sour grapes" and "learn how to snipe" is just that, a bunch of crap.
As a bidder, I snipe. As a seller, I would like to see the items that I sell go to the highest bidder.
I am guessing that by extending auctions until there are no more bids would yield higher sale prices, and thus more revenue to ebay. Does ebay have a reason to think otherwise? Would it make the process too complex? Would managing the process require too many resources?
Also, there is no relevance between a football game and an auction, other than both are contests and a winner will be declared. In a football game, the defense uses its resources to actively prevent the offense from applying its resources. In an auction, the competitive scenario is entirely different.
If you don't like getting outbid at the last second then try BIDDING HIGHER. Seems simple enough to me.
jom
<< <i>Saying 'Oh, you should have done your research' is like saying that you should never do anything until you know every possible thing about it. What is someone new to E-Bay supposed to do? Get a doctorate in online auction techniques before they place a bid? >>
Not at all. But I am saying that experience and learning should be rewarded. We all started out on eBay as 0FB n00bs. It's reasonable that as one gains experience on eBay, one should get better at bidding. A concert pianist is arguably better than a first year piano student -- should we hold a performance and grant them equal billing? As a youth, I used to play cello. I haven't played in 30 years. Is it fair that Yo Yo Ma gets paid more for playing a cello than I? We're both cello players, after all. Just like you and I are both eBay bidders. Is there any valid reason why I should limit my bidding strategies just because you can't grep them?
<< <i>I see absolutely zero benefit to third party sniping software except allowing people to be lazy and not have to pay any attention whatsoever to the auctions. >>
You say that like it's a Bad Thing. Take today, for example: it's Saturday, and I intend to go out with my daughters today. Yet I would also like to place a couple bids this afternoon. Staying on the computer to manaully snipe would mean I don't get to play with my girls. But why should I not be able to do both? Technology is supposed to be freeing, and robosnipers are no different.
What about the auction that ends in the middle of the night? Do I really want to wake up at 3am to place a bid, when a robot can do it much more effectively than my sleepy being?
What about bid groups? For commodity items, there is no more efficient way to get the best price. (Don't know what bid groups are? Educate yourself.)
<< <i>It's hard to run a business where there are only sellers and few buyers. >>
What evidence do you have that there's a shortage of buyers on eBay? Even the most pissed off sellers concede that there's no greater venue for buyer visibility than eBay.
<< <i>Using third party sniping software to win E-Bay auctions is like using a machine gun to hunt deer. >>
It's more like choosing to hunt deer with your bare hands, versus hunting with a rifle. Back in the Pleistocene we used to hunt with bare hands. Then someone invented the spear. Did the bare-handed hunters complain because the spear-users were getting all the game? Maybe -- but I'm sure a couple nights of empty stomachs converted them. Eschewing robosnipers is nothing less than pure ludditism.
That was a slam-dunk. Any further contrary argument is will have no merit in the face of that complete annihilation.
Russ, NCNE
Now, there's a REAL challenge--to be able to outsmart yourself. I LOVE it.
<< <i>I am guessing that by extending auctions until there are no more bids would yield higher sale prices, and thus more revenue to ebay. Does ebay have a reason to think otherwise? Would it make the process too complex? Would managing the process require too many resources? >>
It's not a complex task programmatically. Overstock and Yahoo auctions have auction extensions. I agree that eBay will do what's best for eBay. Clearly, having a hard end is best for eBay; otherwise, they would have changed it.
Besides, auction extensions do not really solve the robo-sniping issue. I know of at least one programmer who already has a solution to extended auctions, and I guarantee that it will upset "normal" bidders even more than sniping does now. Be careful what you wish for -- you might just get it.
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Now listen boy, I'm tryin' to teach you sumthin' . . . . that ain't an optical illusion, it only looks like an optical illusion.
My mind reader refuses to charge me....
Sniping prices lower than you would pay? That's an odd way to bid. I assume you aren't shill bidding? Some sellers just close the auction early, but I guess if it is closed early (before the last 2 seconds), one wouldn't know what the real snipers were planning?
And to the anti-software people...
Guess what - I also pay someone to mow my lawn in the summer, and someone else to Roto-Root the sewer line when it clogs. It's called my money and you can forget telling me what to do with it.
edited 'cause I can't spel write. . .
What's there to explain? An auction starts at a certain time and ends at a certain time and you place bids during that time.
But to answer your ??, yes eBay has explained why. Do your own research. On any eBay page click on the "help" tab & type in "why is sniping allowed."