eBay Sniping, is it a problem?

seemyauction

I've often wondered how much sniping affects my ebay auctions.

I was amazed to find out that the percentage of my trafic that comes from auctionsniper.com is less than 1%.

1. ebay.com 93.4%
2. collectors.com 5.4%
3. yahoo.com 0.3%
4. google.com 0.2%
5. morethanjustmoney.net 0.2%
6. aol.com 0.1%
7. verizon.net 0.1%
8. auctiva.com <0.1%
9. live.com <0.1%
10. ebay.co.uk <0.1%
11. mediaplex.com <0.1%
12. comcast.net <0.1%
13. ebay.de <0.1%
14. megacoins.com <0.1%
15. auctionsniper.com <0.1%

commoncents05

How can you find that out?

-Paul

BigDaddyz

1 % of all auctions is a HUGE number.

Its not a problem...its just the way it is

MrHalfDime

"eBay Sniping, is it a problem?"

Works for me.

seemyauction

<< <i>How can you find that out?

-Paul >>



If you have an ebay store.

1. go to "Manage My Store"
2. Feature List
3. next to the last link in the featured list is "Traffic Reports"

notwilight

Sniping encourages buyers to pick their top price and enter it. It prevents just budding "a few dollars more" many times. As a result I think I have happy customers when they snipe. If a sniper gets it cheap then there wasn't a strong underbidder. If two snippers really want it and enter nuclear snipes, then life gets good for the seller. that doesn't happen very often. I nuclear sniped a book the other night and was very happy to get it for 60% of my snipe. --Jerry

notwilight

<< <i>

<< <i>How can you find that out? -Paul >>

If you have an ebay store. 1. go to "Manage My Store" 2. Feature List 3. next to the last link in the featured list is "Traffic Reports" >>



Aren't stores BIN? Sniping is less efective there.

seemyauction

"Aren't stores BIN? Sniping is less efective there. "


Yes and no.

I look for under valued coins or mistake listings with BIN's which is also something a sniper tries to take advantage of.

and if the BIN has Best Offer.... you do not have to compete with another bidder ???

Zoins

No. I can't imagine bidding any other way.

smokincoin

Sniping, from a buyer's standpoint, is GREAT! It is, however, "unfair", for lack of a better word, for the seller. I sell quite a bit on ebay and I underatand that if it wasn't for the sniper the realized price would be lower. Sellers can end auctions at any time as long as there are more than 12 hrs left in the auction. Having said that; how about a requirement that if a sniped bid is to be allowed, the sniping bidder MUST have made at least one bid prior to the 12 hr remaining time.

ozzyfan269

No way man. I get my best deals through sniping!

Zoins

<< <i>Sniping, from a buyer's standpoint, is GREAT! It is, however, "unfair", for lack of a better word, for the seller. I sell quite a bit on ebay and I underatand that if it wasn't for the sniper the realized price would be lower. Sellers can end auctions at any time as long as there are more than 12 hrs left in the auction. Having said that; how about a requirement that if a sniped bid is to be allowed, the sniping bidder MUST have made at least one bid prior to the 12 hr remaining time. >>

Why is it "unfair" to the seller? Isn't the watcher count supposed to give the seller an indication of popularity?

I don't think the sniper should be required to telegraph his/her interest by making a prior bid. The watcher count should be enough.

RBinTex

No.

smokincoin

You guys obviously didn't read my very first sentence and you are speaking solely from the buyer's point of view. I think if the sellers were to speak up they would probably agree.

seemyauction

"Sniping, from a buyer's standpoint, is GREAT! It is, however, "unfair", for lack of a better word, for the seller."


I don't view it as unfair, I view it as just another bid.


AL

Zoins

If sniping is "unfair" to the seller it's even more "unfair" to the bidder. The seller can see how much interest there is by the number of people watching the auction. The bidder has no idea how many potential competitors there are.

So if bidders think it's good, it should be even better for the seller because the seller has more information.

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>Sniping, from a buyer's standpoint, is GREAT! It is, however, "unfair", for lack of a better word, for the seller. >>

As a seller, I'd prefer bidders to bid as early as possible, but I don't think sniping is unfair. The fact is- eBay's rules allow for bidding anytime during the period that an auction is running. Everybody listing stuff for sale there knows that- how is that unfair? If you don't like the policy, you don't have to use the site to sell your stuff.


<< <i>Having said that; how about a requirement that if a sniped bid is to be allowed, the sniping bidder MUST have made at least one bid prior to the 12 hr remaining time. >>

Suppose your auction is sitting with a current high bid of $50- high bidder with a hidden $100 proxy, the underbidder's high bid is $45 (or whatever the bid increment is), and a new bidder comes along who hasn't seen your auction until just now- 1 hour until it closes. He wants to bid $125, but can't, so your auction closes at $50. Did preventing a sniper from bidding help you?

ricko

It is an auction people.... there is no 'fairness'... what a weenie term... and strictly a western concept. Sniping is legal... period. I use it all the time. If you do not want to sell an item (for less than a certain price), either set a reserve or sell in a different venue - not an auction. If it were not for whining, I think this forum traffic would reduce by 50%. Cheers, RickO

lonelyp

I use Auction Sentry, And don't need to sign up on any .com to use it. It's good for auctions that end when I'm at work, or asleep, or otherwise not around. Granted you don't get the bidding war, between the top two bidders in the last minute. But if I couldn't use it, you wouldn't get my bid at all. If your auction ended when I wasn't home. And why should I get outbid 6 times? If I put in my max., and don't win, thats fine. Why should I put it in an hour, or even a minute before the auction ends. Thats asking to be out bid.

Zoins

<< <i>Why should I put it in an hour, or even a minute before the auction ends. Thats asking to be out bid. >>

coinpictures

As both a buyer and a seller, I love sniping. Period.

MisterBungle

I was amazed to find out that the percentage of my trafic that comes from auctionsniper.com is less than 1%.
----------

Two things...

First, I always snipe if I am at home and awake.
I don't use auctionsniper.com or any other such
site, but I still will never bid with more than 20
seconds left in the auction. There is a lot of
manual sniping going on.

Secondly, even though I don't use any of the
automatic bidder sites, I believe there are more
than just that one.

If I am not at home, and awake, I generally
don't bid on an eBay auction unless I want
it REALLY bad. All you're doing is jacking the
price up for someone else to win it anyway.

~

Swampboy

My PhantonBidder tells me what percentage of auctions I win.

I seem to hover around 40%.

Anybody else know what percentage of auctions they win?

seemyauction

My eBay tells me:

Bidding (32)
Won (4)
Didn't Win (42)


4 out of 42 is 10.5%

roadrunner

I believe that sniping causes regular bidders to bid less, and consequently the seller realizes less money. Actually I think the whole ebay process tends to promote putting in weaker bids.
This is not a public auction, far from it.

Sniping encourages buyers to pick their top price and enter it. It prevents just budding "a few dollars more" many times. As a result I think I have happy customers when they snipe. If a sniper gets it cheap then there wasn't a strong underbidder

I don't use auto snipers, and I also rarely enter top bids when I do bid. Maybe only 10% of my bids are strong ones. But the other 90% I am willing to pay pretty good money for lots so I find that I toss in fair bids and let them fly. Just last night I lost another gold lot by $10.00 on a MS64 ANACS $20 Lib. The seller probably realized 10-30% less than he should have. And even when I do put in a substantial bid I find that I still get picked off by $10. I could pick up a sniping program but for now I'll just let the other bidder get a good price. And putting in stupid bids to "ensure" I win, is not in the plan.

In the past year I've probably been outsniped 30 or 40 times to the tune of $10. A lot of those were excellent deals for the buyers.
My hat is off to them. I won't lose any sleep over the seller getting less than they should have. They could get more by walking their coins to a show.

roadrunner

bluespaceant

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>As an occasional seller on Ebay, I think the end time of an auction should be automatically extended if there is a last second bid. The extended time should be enough to allow someone to manually enter a bid. >>

So the solution to sniping is to encourage more sniping?


<< <i>In a live auction you would never see the auction end 1 second after the last bid. >>

Live auctions don't run for a week, either.

dizzyfoxx

<eBay Sniping, is it a problem?>

Only when I get sniped!

BlindedByEgo

<< <i>It is an auction people.... there is no 'fairness'... what a weenie term... and strictly a western concept. Sniping is legal... period. I use it all the time. If you do not want to sell an item (for less than a certain price), either set a reserve or sell in a different venue - not an auction. If it were not for whining, I think this forum traffic would reduce by 50%. Cheers, RickO >>

au58

As a buyer, I like sniping because I pay less than I otherwise might for much of what I bid on.
As a seller, I would prefer to see the bid period extended by a minute or two each time a last second bid is placed.
Overall, I believe that sniping results in lower prices, which is an advantage to buyers and a disadvantage to sellers.
Why do I believe this?
Because as a winning bidder, I have gotten emails from losing bidders cussing me out and saying that they were willing to pay more.
And as a seller, I have gotten emails from losing bidders saying that another bidder ripped them off with a last second bid and that I should cancel the transaction and sell to the underbidder.

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>I have gotten emails from losing bidders cussing me out and saying that they were willing to pay more. >>

Then why didn't they bid more? They had a week...

<< <i>I have gotten emails from losing bidders saying that another bidder ripped them off with a last second bid and that I should cancel the transaction and sell to the underbidder. >>

The second highest bidder should be declared the winner? Yeah, that makes sense...

IMO, if people don't understand the rules, the correct solution is for them to educate themselves, not insist that the rules be changed.

Konahead

<< <i>"eBay Sniping, is it a problem?"

Works for me. >>

Konahead

<< <i>It is an auction people.... there is no 'fairness'... what a weenie term... and strictly a western concept. Sniping is legal... period. I use it all the time. If you do not want to sell an item (for less than a certain price), either set a reserve or sell in a different venue - not an auction. If it were not for whining, I think this forum traffic would reduce by 50%. Cheers, RickO >>



Amen

Konahead

<< <i>My eBay tells me:

Bidding (32)
Won (4)
Didn't Win (42)


4 out of 42 is 10.5% >>



Dude, you need to change your tactics

Konahead

<< <i>

<< <i>As an occasional seller on Ebay, I think the end time of an auction should be automatically extended if there is a last second bid. The extended time should be enough to allow someone to manually enter a bid. >>

So the solution to sniping is to encourage more sniping?


<< <i>In a live auction you would never see the auction end 1 second after the last bid. >>

Live auctions don't run for a week, either. >>



If you know what you want for a coin, put it up as a buy in now! Many times if the price is fair and I really need or want the coin I will not wait around and just hit the buy it now button.

DJCoinz

Sniping is inevitable...don't know what more there is to say about it.

jobiwan115

Sniping seems to work for me - when there's anything good enough out there.

Coxe

Sniping is about as honest as it gets on eBay and similar auctions. You choose the maximum you will pay and set your bid. That is the only way I will bid unless I won't be around at the end. (I always snipe/bid manually, even though I could certainly write an https emulator to execute bids for me in a couple hours max.) Sellers really only get burned when there is only one sniper. Been there more than a few times.

conqueror65

If it wasn't for snipers, I would be winning way too much on ebay!

John

jmski52

I fail to see how sniping is bad for sellers. Or buyers.

Connecticoin

Sniping allows bidders to bid without sitting at their computer. Overall I think this results in more bids and higher prices. I would be bidding way less (or not at all) without robo-snipers.

direwolf1972

Personally I use a snipe program 95% of the time when bidding on an auction. On buy it now store items, what's the use (0% use of snipe)... so I think your numbers are a little off base.

But that said I bid on ten times the amount of auctions that I would normally bid on in hopes of finding a good deal. So I run the sellers auctions up at the last second on items that I would not have normally bid on (whether I win or not the seller has won in the fact that I gave him a last second bump in price).

I see it as a win/win for the buyer and the seller, but I am sure plenty will disagree.

walkerman

<< <i>Personally I use a snipe program 95% of the time when bidding on an auction. On buy it now store items, what's the use (0% use of snipe)... so I think your numbers are a little off base.

But that said I bid on ten times the amount of auctions that I would normally bid on in hopes of finding a good deal. So I run the sellers auctions up at the last second on items that I would not have normally bid on (whether I win or not the seller has won in the fact that I gave him a last second bump in price).

I see it as a win/win for the buyer and the seller, but I am sure plenty will disagree. >>




Whether any of us are pro or anti sniper is irrelevent. It is a system that is here to stay unless ebay chooses to amend or eliminate it.
Most sellers of real quality coins have all but abandoned the ebay no reserve auction as a viable venue in which to sell their coins.
Like many other dealers I used to sell my coins this way with very successful results.
In the last year or two since sniping has become the preferred way of bidding I have given up the no reserve auction because of drastically diminished returns.
It is my opinion that sniping is at least one of the contributing factors in the disappearance of the major dealers of quality coins available on ebay no reserve auctions.
Nearly all of these dealers have had a similar opinion in my conversations with them.
Bidders who declare that they will not bid on auctions with a reserve or minimum bid seem to have no problem doing so in the major auctions where sniping doesn't exist.
Consequently most dealers consign their best coins to a major auction house or to ebay fixed price listings.
The consignment fees cost little more than ebay fees and their is no paypal factor with it's 3% additional fee.
The exception seems to be generic gold and moderns.
In the case of moderns that are slabbed ms or proof 70 how much variance in price can there be? They are all supposedly perfect.
The way generic gold is bid is something difficult to explain.
I have bid on hundreds of Saints slabbed by PCGS and NGC with early bids of around grey sheet bid and have rarely been successful.
What is unique is that I am outbid long before the ending date and sniping doesn't seem to be a big factor.
When I check the final price the winner is either the one who out bid me or a snipe of $10 more.

Either way the seller always realizes a decent price of grey sheet bid or better.
It would seem difficult for day traders to buy generic gold and flip it for a profit due to ebay and paypal fees.
This post is not meant to offend anyone and is just my opinion based on research into the factors that have caused a lack of desirable high end coins available in ebay no reserve auctions. Dave W

TwoSides2aCoin

There are no problems, only solutions.
Have you dipped your coins, lately ?

ttown

Only if you get sniped, now if your the sniper that's ok. You should always follow the golden rule "Do unto others before they do unto you"

alpha480v

I've been sniped several times. Oh well. My fault that I didn't bid enough to begin with. I rarely bid in auctions anyway. I usually use buy it now. More expensive that way, but no competiion either.