New ebay sniping tool??? link added

smokincoin

Sorry if this has already been discused. It's called ebay countdown and I see it below "My Summary" on my "My ebay" page. Looks like a sniping aide. Anyone try it yet?

Edited to add the link (I think)

ebay countdown

smokincoin

ttt

Am I the only one who's seen it? Heard of it?

ccmorgan

I'm not familiar to sniping at all. Since ebay increases your bid for you can't you just bid "your max price" and let the bay take care of it for you?

That is unless your max bid is out bid.

smokincoin

<< <i>I'm not familiar to sniping at all. Since ebay increases your bid for you can't you just bid "your max price" and let the bay take care of it for you?

That is unless your max bid is out bid. >>



Yes, but there are ALOT of members here who live or die sniping at the last minute. Many of them manually. This new "tool" or program or whatever it is, is supposed to stop the need for page refreshing it sometimes takes.

notwilight

I waited a while for it to load and gave up. I use jbidwatcher.com which is free. I'm sure ebay's isn't free or won't be for long. --Jerry

smokincoin

Thanks Jerry! I was beginning to think no one else sees it! I'm a house builder not a computer guru (there seems to be alot of those guys/gals here). Just wondering if anyone's used it yet?

ccmorgan

<< <i>

<< <i>I'm not familiar to sniping at all. Since ebay increases your bid for you can't you just bid "your max price" and let the bay take care of it for you?

That is unless your max bid is out bid. >>



Yes, but there are ALOT of members here who live or die sniping at the last minute. Many of them manually. This new "tool" or program or whatever it is, is supposed to stop the need for page refreshing it sometimes takes. >>


OK that's what I thought. I usually don't bid till the last day/few hours. Many times the item goes beyond what I'm willing to pay so why bother.

I usually open a 2nd page to bid and refresh the first one. It's no problem at all. But I don't buy much online. About 90-100 items from the bay since '01.

LindeDad

If you want to just put in your max bid and let ebay bid for you. Welcome to shill ville. They will eat you alive. Espectially since they now hide the identies of whoever is bidding against you.

Figure out what the max you are willing to pay and set it with a snipe. If the shills want to make it more let them eat there auction fees.

seateddime

there are many good sniping services

19Lyds

The page says it lives "in your browser".

I'm not inclined to add anything or modify my "browser" in any way. It just causes problems down the road when my "browser" gets upgraded or updated!

As a seller, I hate those frigging sniper programs!

As a buyer, I just love em to death!

I'm actually rather shocked that EBay would promote such a tool since it definitely has an impact on their Final Value Fees. Sniping always brings lower prices. Only occasionally does it maximize the final value and I would think that EBay would promote BIDDING and not SNIPING!

hiijacker

I sitll don't understand the strategy of sniping. If your max bid is say $100 what is the difference if you put it in with ebay at the beggining of the auction or moments before it closes? Either way, you will be outbid our win depending on the next highest bidder. Even if that bidder is a shill, the same reult would occur.

Cameonut

<< <i>what is the difference if you put it in with ebay at the beggining of the auction or moments before it closes? >>



1) Much less exposure to shill bidders - especially if they know you pay good money for nice coins and are not a bottom feeder
2) I have had people bid on coins I placed early bids on only because they believed the coin must be nice to garner a bid from me. I don't need the competition.
3) Less exposure to a bidding frenzy by a buyer that ratchets up the price until they outbid me by one increment
4) It keeps me from a personal bidding frenzy - I put in the max I am willing to pay and forget about it. No emotion - no extra bids from me. (Especially after a few adult beverages)
5) Ebay doesn't like snipers

I snipe nearly everything these days.

tmcsr69

As one sells and buys-the biggest plus I see in the sniping software is that it doesn't matter as much when the auction begins or ends-only that it is seen.

rbalderman1

Yeah I just used it and still got sniped on a washington dollar. It said 00:00 355.00 and it sold for 787.77 my bid was 777.77. I hate those snipers

Silverstate

Sniping is the only way to buy.

I only win IF I am willing to pay more than the other guy.

Emotion is removed from the equation.

Less attention is drawn to what I am interested in.


And the best thing is that I can be gone for the weekend and not even think about, well maybe think about If I won something.

I get a surprise after its all over...

Win or lose, Its how the game is played.

SNIPING RULES !!

seatedcollector

sniping should be banned from ebay, and all auctions should last until the last bid is placed, that way no one has anything to complain about.

Frankcoins

Sniping cheats the sellers, since it does not allow the other bidders time to respond to email or text message notices and give them a chance to counterbid. It's not permitted on ebay sites in some European countries. The auction should be extended, as a real auction is, until "ALL DONE"

19Lyds

<< <i>I sitll don't understand the strategy of sniping. If your max bid is say $100 what is the difference if you put it in with ebay at the beggining of the auction or moments before it closes? Either way, you will be outbid our win depending on the next highest bidder. Even if that bidder is a shill, the same reult would occur. >>



Bidding creates an "I gotta win" frenzy! Its just that simple.

Sure, your $100 might be your maximum but what if your $100 bid just got beat by $1.00 and there was an hour or maybe a day left to go? Wouldn't you justify adding say $5.00 to your maximum to try and win your coin? And the operative word here is "WIN". This is a competitive society and winning means everything to a lot of people. Its just this winning attitude which gets bids so outreagously high on some of the simplest of stuff!

A snipe, on the other hand, does not let the other guy see what your holding or how much you are willing to pay for "his" item until its too late! People don't bid on stuff because they don't want it! They bid on it because they do want it and it then bacomes a simple game of "how MUCH do you WANT IT?" A buck here and a buck there quickly adds up when there is a bifdding war going on.

Sniping prevents bidding wars and discourages active bidding! Its just that simple. Sellers hate snipers and buyers love to be snipers!

TwoSides2aCoin

I think of the snipe bidder like I think of the walmart shopper. (someone wants the cheapest goods at the cheapest price).
I'll pay for quality and not wait. That's me. However, when it's a common item on the shelf at the worst shopping center in the world and I don't wanna wait, a snipe bid is okay.

USAROK

<< <i>I sitll don't understand the strategy of sniping. If your max bid is say $100 what is the difference if you put it in with ebay at the beggining of the auction or moments before it closes? Either way, you will be outbid our win depending on the next highest bidder. Even if that bidder is a shill, the same reult would occur. >>



hiijacker, The problem with your logic is it only works if everyone bids their absolute maximum but many bidders don't do this. Here's an example of how sniping can save you money. You and I are the only two bidders interested in this particular lot:

Scenario 1 shows a common eBay bidding pattern (Auction opens at $0.99):

USAROK max bids: $45.00 Current bid: $0.99 (USAROK)
hiijacker max bids: $100.00 Current bid: $46.00 (hiijacker)
USAROK bids: $50.00 Current Bid: $51.00 (hiijacker)
USAROK bids: $60.00 Current bid: $61.00 (hiijacker)
USAROK bids: $75.00 Current bid: $76.00 (hiijacker)
USAROK bids: $95.00 Current bid: $96.00 (hiijacker)
Auction ends with hiijacker winning at $96.00


Scenario 2 (Auction opens at $0.99):

USAROK max bids: $45.00 Current bid: $0.99 (USAROK)
hiijacker snipe max bids: $100.00 with 3 seconds left and wins the auction for $46.00. I have no time to raise my bid.

hiijacker saves $50.00 by sniping

Griv

The reality to sniping is human nature. We've all been there so it should be fairly reasonable to see why sniping helps to win auctions for less. Most bidders, in most cases, are watching the auctions as the week progresses and over time they sometimes get a little too carried away. So if they only planned to spend $25 on an auction and they really want it and then the price goes up to $30 and sure it's a little more and then time starts to run down and after 7-10 days of watching this it shoots up to $38. Okay now it's $13 over what you wanted but you really NEED this coin. Somehow you cannot LIVE without this coin. So you decide that maybe you can cost average other "good" buys and get this coin but to be sure you bid $45. Someone else with the same mindset bids $46 and now you are really pissed with 30 seconds left so you think that no one would pay $60 for this coin you know is worth $40 on a good day so that's want you bid. Congrats! You beat the other idiot who bid $55 at the last minute. The next week you notice the same coin selling and when you check the close price you see that it sold for $35. Sniping is good for your blood pressure too!

direwolf1972

As a sniper I am always glad to hear people say "why snipe?"

I've picked up well over 100 coins in PCGS plastic for next to nothing this year. Well over a dozen or more at less than $2-3 (including shipping).

Alamar

There's an auction site for somewhat more... lethal collectibles where the auction time is extended to 15 minutes when you bid and the time is less than that. It prevents easy steals but it would be a great feature for sellers. It's much more like a real auction that way.