Well, if you want to snipe an auction that ends at midnight, or you want to have other plans for when the auction ends, why don't you just put your maximum bid in there earlier?
I collect the elements on the periodic table, and some coins. I have a complete Roosevelt set, and am putting together a set of coins from 1880.
<< <i>Well, if you want to snipe an auction that ends at midnight, or you want to have other plans for when the auction ends, why don't you just put your maximum bid in there earlier? >>
Maybe because I actually want to win the item? It's a given that sniping is an optimal eBay bidding strategy. This should be obvious on the face of it -- if it wasn't, there wouldn't exist all these programs to do it.
The bottom line reason why sniping is optimal is that people, on eBay, do not bid their max. They bid some minimal increment above the previous bid. Then, if you outbid them, they come back and rebid over and over until they've either outbid you, or they've pushed your bid up better than any shill could. Anyone who bids by the standard proxy rules has seen this over and over.
Well, homey don't play that game. I bid my max, once and only once, at the last possible moment in the auction. This precludes the lamers from coming back and outbidding me. I'm in this to win auctions, not to get into bidding wars. It's not a game, and it doesn't have to be fair.
<< <i>I have no problems with a manual snipe because that takes talent and skill to pull off successfully. I have problems with this third party software that allows people to snipe two dozen auctions at the same time. It's cheap, it's underhanded, and frankly it's rude. Many people here seem VERY offended and worried that their ability to snipe via software could be taken away. Sounds like people are scared that they suddenly will have to pay attention to the auctions they want and can't just bid on fifty items at once. 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? 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. It's hard to run a business where there are only sellers and few buyers. Sorry I'm sounding so harsh about this, but I'm just replying based on the responses I've gotten.
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 really don't see the problem with using sniping software. Just bid your maximum and don't worry about it. If you respond to other peoples' bids because you hate loosing an auction, you will often end up paying too much.
<< <i> 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. >>
Their own Ebay auctions? You would have to cancel and re-list the auction. I don't see any other way to "extend" an Ebay auction unless Ebay itself implements it. If I'm wrong, I'd like to see it in action but I doubt it is possible.
<< <i>I really don't see the problem with using sniping software. Just bid your maximum and don't worry about it. >>
This is an important point, and I'd like to expand upon it. Many of the people complaining about sniping are saying that we should just proxy bid our max instead. But they're being inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocrites. If the anti-sniping faction would just bid their max, then they should have no complaints about being "sniped" -- after all, the winner is the highest bidder, not the last. If you bid $100 on Day 1 of the auction, and I show up with three seconds to go and bid $75, you will still win. If you only bid $10, and sat around hoping to score a deal, don't be too upset when I take it for $11.
Maybe people would be less upset if eBay showed the winner's true bid, rather than just their winning bid. There's a perception that snipers win auctions by pennies, because that's the way it looks when you look at the bid history. Nothing is further from the truth. No one but the bidder knows what their bid was -- it could be $1 more than yours, or $1000. Don't be thinking that you lost by a buck, and had you had another few minutes, you'd bid a couple more bucks and take it. You might never even get to my bid, and end up just costing me more money.
<< <i>Their own Ebay auctions? You would have to cancel and re-list the auction. I don't see any other way to "extend" an Ebay auction unless Ebay itself implements it. If I'm wrong, I'd like to see it in action but I doubt it is possible. >>
The situation I was commenting on is a hypothetical if eBay implemented auction extensions, such as those used at Overstock and Yahoo -- not extending one's own auctions under the current eBay system.
<< <i>I really don't see the problem with using sniping software. Just bid your maximum and don't worry about it. >>
This is an important point, and I'd like to expand upon it. Many of the people complaining about sniping are saying that we should just proxy bid our max instead. But they're being inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocrites. If the anti-sniping faction would just bid their max, then they should have no complaints about being "sniped" -- after all, the winner is the highest bidder, not the last. If you bid $100 on Day 1 of the auction, and I show up with three seconds to go and bid $75, you will still win. If you only bid $10, and sat around hoping to score a deal, don't be too upset when I take it for $11.
Maybe people would be less upset if eBay showed the winner's true bid, rather than just their winning bid. There's a perception that snipers win auctions by pennies, because that's the way it looks when you look at the bid history. Nothing is further from the truth. No one but the bidder knows what their bid was -- it could be $1 more than yours, or $1000. Don't be thinking that you lost by a buck, and had you had another few minutes, you'd bid a couple more bucks and take it. You might never even get to my bid, and end up just costing me more money. >>
I can definitely agree with you on this one. (Also, don't think I'm trying to take a personal shot at you. I just like to argue. ) Anyway, if they would show the maximum bid placed there, I think it would really help calm people's nerves. If I got sniped at the end of an auction, but the sniper's maximum bid was $300 more than mine, it wouldn't feel as bad since I know I wouldn't be foolish enough to bid that high. My problems with sniping have always been in the past where a seller would have a whole slew of the same item being offered, and I only wanted to get one of them. However, at the very end of an auction the same buyer would snipe every single auction and wind up winning the majority of them without me having a chance to place a higher bid.
This happened when I was trying to get some gold maple leafs for my element collection. A seller had five or six 1/10 oz. Maple Leafs of the same year up for auction with a low starting price. I placed my bid on one of them at a little bit over the spot price. It was generally around the going rate for the coins, but perhaps a little bit low. I just honestly did not know what the actual price was. I wanted one coin to have a sample of pure gold, and at first didn't want to spend too much. Throughout the history of the one auction I was winning, I was up front. Looking at what the other auctions were going for, my max bid was about right. So I went to bid and figured that I had the auction won. When I woke up the next morning, I was saddened to see that I was outbid with 2 seconds left. I looked at the other auctions, and the same guy had won them with 2 seconds left. So he just bought up all 5 of the maple leafs. Looking at his past auctions, he was constantly involved in purchasing vast quantities of maple leafs and other gold bullion, then selling them again at MUCH higher prices. I just wanted one of the coins, but this guy had to go in and take all five of them. Afterwards I contacted the seller to see if he had any others he'd be willing to sell either outside of E-Bay, or for a BIN price that I was willing to pay. He saw what had happened and agreed to sell me one outside of E-Bay, so in the end it all worked out. Still, that's always frustrating when you just want one sample of something, but you get sniped by a 'professional dealer' who wanted to buy in bulk so he could resell it.
I collect the elements on the periodic table, and some coins. I have a complete Roosevelt set, and am putting together a set of coins from 1880.
Unless there is some advantage I am unaware of....everyone has to operate under the same rules. Whether one bids 10 days or 10 seconds before an auction ends it boils down to who bids the most. I still don't get why some people think bidding a few seconds before an auction ends is "unfair".
Comments
<< <i>Eschewing robosnipers is nothing less than pure ludditism >>
Uh...ok...whatever you said. I agree! lol
jom
<< <i>Well, if you want to snipe an auction that ends at midnight, or you want to have other plans for when the auction ends, why don't you just put your maximum bid in there earlier?
Maybe because I actually want to win the item? It's a given that sniping is an optimal eBay bidding strategy. This should be obvious on the face of it -- if it wasn't, there wouldn't exist all these programs to do it.
The bottom line reason why sniping is optimal is that people, on eBay, do not bid their max. They bid some minimal increment above the previous bid. Then, if you outbid them, they come back and rebid over and over until they've either outbid you, or they've pushed your bid up better than any shill could. Anyone who bids by the standard proxy rules has seen this over and over.
Well, homey don't play that game. I bid my max, once and only once, at the last possible moment in the auction. This precludes the lamers from coming back and outbidding me. I'm in this to win auctions, not to get into bidding wars. It's not a game, and it doesn't have to be fair.
<< <i>I have no problems with a manual snipe because that takes talent and skill to pull off successfully. I have problems with this third party software that allows people to snipe two dozen auctions at the same time. It's cheap, it's underhanded, and frankly it's rude. Many people here seem VERY offended and worried that their ability to snipe via software could be taken away. Sounds like people are scared that they suddenly will have to pay attention to the auctions they want and can't just bid on fifty items at once. 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? 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. It's hard to run a business where there are only sellers and few buyers. Sorry I'm sounding so harsh about this, but I'm just replying based on the responses I've gotten.
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 really don't see the problem with using sniping software. Just bid your maximum and don't worry about it. If you respond to other peoples' bids because you hate loosing an auction, you will often end up paying too much.
<< <i>
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. >>
Their own Ebay auctions? You would have to cancel and re-list the auction. I don't see any other way to "extend" an Ebay auction unless Ebay itself implements it. If I'm wrong, I'd like to see it in action but I doubt it is possible.
<< <i>I really don't see the problem with using sniping software. Just bid your maximum and don't worry about it. >>
This is an important point, and I'd like to expand upon it. Many of the people complaining about sniping are saying that we should just proxy bid our max instead. But they're being inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocrites. If the anti-sniping faction would just bid their max, then they should have no complaints about being "sniped" -- after all, the winner is the highest bidder, not the last. If you bid $100 on Day 1 of the auction, and I show up with three seconds to go and bid $75, you will still win. If you only bid $10, and sat around hoping to score a deal, don't be too upset when I take it for $11.
Maybe people would be less upset if eBay showed the winner's true bid, rather than just their winning bid. There's a perception that snipers win auctions by pennies, because that's the way it looks when you look at the bid history. Nothing is further from the truth. No one but the bidder knows what their bid was -- it could be $1 more than yours, or $1000. Don't be thinking that you lost by a buck, and had you had another few minutes, you'd bid a couple more bucks and take it. You might never even get to my bid, and end up just costing me more money.
<< <i>Their own Ebay auctions? You would have to cancel and re-list the auction. I don't see any other way to "extend" an Ebay auction unless Ebay itself implements it. If I'm wrong, I'd like to see it in action but I doubt it is possible. >>
The situation I was commenting on is a hypothetical if eBay implemented auction extensions, such as those used at Overstock and Yahoo -- not extending one's own auctions under the current eBay system.
<< <i>
<< <i>I really don't see the problem with using sniping software. Just bid your maximum and don't worry about it. >>
This is an important point, and I'd like to expand upon it. Many of the people complaining about sniping are saying that we should just proxy bid our max instead. But they're being inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocrites. If the anti-sniping faction would just bid their max, then they should have no complaints about being "sniped" -- after all, the winner is the highest bidder, not the last. If you bid $100 on Day 1 of the auction, and I show up with three seconds to go and bid $75, you will still win. If you only bid $10, and sat around hoping to score a deal, don't be too upset when I take it for $11.
Maybe people would be less upset if eBay showed the winner's true bid, rather than just their winning bid. There's a perception that snipers win auctions by pennies, because that's the way it looks when you look at the bid history. Nothing is further from the truth. No one but the bidder knows what their bid was -- it could be $1 more than yours, or $1000. Don't be thinking that you lost by a buck, and had you had another few minutes, you'd bid a couple more bucks and take it. You might never even get to my bid, and end up just costing me more money. >>
I can definitely agree with you on this one. (Also, don't think I'm trying to take a personal shot at you. I just like to argue.
This happened when I was trying to get some gold maple leafs for my element collection. A seller had five or six 1/10 oz. Maple Leafs of the same year up for auction with a low starting price. I placed my bid on one of them at a little bit over the spot price. It was generally around the going rate for the coins, but perhaps a little bit low. I just honestly did not know what the actual price was. I wanted one coin to have a sample of pure gold, and at first didn't want to spend too much. Throughout the history of the one auction I was winning, I was up front. Looking at what the other auctions were going for, my max bid was about right. So I went to bid and figured that I had the auction won. When I woke up the next morning, I was saddened to see that I was outbid with 2 seconds left. I looked at the other auctions, and the same guy had won them with 2 seconds left. So he just bought up all 5 of the maple leafs. Looking at his past auctions, he was constantly involved in purchasing vast quantities of maple leafs and other gold bullion, then selling them again at MUCH higher prices. I just wanted one of the coins, but this guy had to go in and take all five of them. Afterwards I contacted the seller to see if he had any others he'd be willing to sell either outside of E-Bay, or for a BIN price that I was willing to pay. He saw what had happened and agreed to sell me one outside of E-Bay, so in the end it all worked out. Still, that's always frustrating when you just want one sample of something, but you get sniped by a 'professional dealer' who wanted to buy in bulk so he could resell it.