New eBay bidding change going on: last 60 seconds..

@jacrispies said:
I think we can determine who does more buying vs selling by the reactions on this thread. Reasonably so, sellers should be curiously excited for the change, and buyers think it is a loss of opportunity. I lean more toward the latter because much of my purchasing is cherrypicking. Adding a minute is a VERY long time for an auction.

I agree. I’ve stated my views that as a buyer, I prefer a hard close, and I’m PROUD to be known as a sniper. However, when the time comes that I have a lot of “high” priced coins to sell, a soft close is what I’d prefer!

Steve

So I would be super mad as an east coaster losing a coin while I am in bed because of a time zone difference. Sniping software took care of that problem. The analogy to major auction houses is also not apt. Major auction companies will allow extended bidding, but at some reasonable point, the auctioneer will close the lot. I can see someone bidding interval by interval for hours. Except for something virtually irreplaceable or a super rip, I would probably be discouraged from wasting my time to begin with. I wonder if others will take my view. If so, this may hurt rather than help as suggested by others.

@rec78 said:

@PerryHall said:

@winesteven said:
It allows you to place a bid, without others having time to place a higher bid.

It may be good for the buyer but how is this good for the seller and eBay? This is why eBay is making this change. The higher the sale price, the more money eBay makes.

It is good for the seller because he gets more for his item and ebays gets more because the item sells for more.

Of course, eBay will benefit by this change otherwise they would just keep the status quo.

Good for sellers … not so good for buyers. I don’t buy much anymore (due to the new WA State sale tax), but I do sell occasionally. I might squeeze a few more bucks out of the system now.

Dave

Snipping ended any chance that I would participate in eBay auctions.

@grote15 said:
Good for sellers, not so good for snipers. The competitive nature of bidding will definitely increase profits for both sellers and ebay.

It very well could; it will also have a hidden cost in some auctions of removing the adrenaline rush of sniping with a nuclear bid, only to discover another guy did the same thing.

More than once that has happened, and I realized how foolishly high my max bid truly was and was glad I didn’t win upon reflection. Will be interesting to see how the eBay bidding psychology pans out once “the thrill is gone.”

For the record, I’m fine with it going away as I have never felt great about sniping, but if the option is there, it’s hard to argue with keeping your cards close until the final second. I simply got sniped enough times to want to irrationally nuclear bid to beat the snipers out of competitiveness- the lack of the option removes that temptation altogether.

This won't eliminate sniping, it will just mean a change in tactics for the sniper and the sniping programs will be reprogrammed to account for that. Since the end of the auction will now have a possibility of being drawn out, this may have the effect of driving more people to automated bidding services.

@Batman23 So you will be a sniper, only now the target will have 60 seconds to run first.

Reminds me of the excellent 1965 film “Naked Prey” I enjoyed with my late grandfather.

But yes, I see what you mean and strategy/thrill still applies for sure, just differently.

Isn’t this one function of the Whatnot App, and part of its allure ? Seems to me the added few seconds is a benefit to the seller and the venue’s bottom line.

I’m confused here. I usually snipe with seven or eight seconds left.
Let’s say the current bid is $100 and I put in a max bid of $200 just to be sure. Typically, I would win it somewhere around $150 depending on the opponents, max bid right.

So now what happens if my opponents max bid is 150 the clock just restarts for 60 seconds then he throws in another bid then mine automatically raises it again and then we wait another 60 seconds?

@Coinscratch said:
I’m confused here. I usually snipe with seven or eight seconds left.
Let’s say the current bid is $100 and I put in a max bid of $200 just to be sure. Typically, I would win it somewhere around $150 depending on the opponents, max bid right.

So now what happens if my opponents max bid is 150 the clock just restarts for 60 seconds then he throws in another bid then mine automatically raises it again and then we wait another 60 seconds?

yes

@CoinPhysicist said:
I’m not really a fan of this. The auction closes at a set time and everyone knows when. Make your maximum bid and move on. Doesn’t matter whether you make that bid 1 second, minute, hour, day or week before the close. Everyone knows the rules.

And the new rules are how almost all live auctions are run. Hard closes are less common than soft closes.

@alaura22 said:

@Coinscratch said:
I’m confused here. I usually snipe with seven or eight seconds left.
Let’s say the current bid is $100 and I put in a max bid of $200 just to be sure. Typically, I would win it somewhere around $150 depending on the opponents, max bid right.

So now what happens if my opponents max bid is 150 the clock just restarts for 60 seconds then he throws in another bid then mine automatically raises it again and then we wait another 60 seconds?

NO NO NO
I don't believe that is the case
I think (but really don't care) ONLY if the TOP bid was outbid does the 1 minute clock start.
If the item is at $100 and you bid $200 and then someone comes in at $150 it only raises you bid to the next increment, it doesn't reset the clock, I believe...........and like I said I really don't care one way or the other.

@MsMorrisine said:

@Coinscratch said:
I’m confused here. I usually snipe with seven or eight seconds left.
Let’s say the current bid is $100 and I put in a max bid of $200 just to be sure. Typically, I would win it somewhere around $150 depending on the opponents, max bid right.

So now what happens if my opponents max bid is 150 the clock just restarts for 60 seconds then he throws in another bid then mine automatically raises it again and then we wait another 60 seconds?

yes

I believe you are wrong on this one

I’ll have to find something and put it to the test. Plus I was about to list a bunch of mint sets with a bin but now I may go back to my old way (auctions) for some and see how they do.

@Coinscratch said:

@alaura22 said:

@Coinscratch said:
I’m confused here. I usually snipe with seven or eight seconds left.
Let’s say the current bid is $100 and I put in a max bid of $200 just to be sure. Typically, I would win it somewhere around $150 depending on the opponents, max bid right.

So now what happens if my opponents max bid is 150 the clock just restarts for 60 seconds then he throws in another bid then mine automatically raises it again and then we wait another 60 seconds?

NO NO NO
I don't believe that is the case
I think (but really don't care) ONLY if the TOP bid was outbid does the 1 minute clock start.
If the item is at $100 and you bid $200 and then someone comes in at $150 it only raises you bid to the next increment, it doesn't reset the clock, I believe...........and like I said I really don't care one way or the other.

@MsMorrisine said:

@Coinscratch said:
I’m confused here. I usually snipe with seven or eight seconds left.
Let’s say the current bid is $100 and I put in a max bid of $200 just to be sure. Typically, I would win it somewhere around $150 depending on the opponents, max bid right.

So now what happens if my opponents max bid is 150 the clock just restarts for 60 seconds then he throws in another bid then mine automatically raises it again and then we wait another 60 seconds?

yes

I believe you are wrong on this one

I’ll have to find something and put it to the test. Plus I was about to list a bunch of mint sets with a bin but now I may go back to my old way (auctions) for some and see how they do.

Remember, it's not in effect yet on coins, and hopefully never will

@jmlanzaf said:
On what not, snipers often end up paying more on the hard close, in my experience. They all try to jump in at one second and I've seen ridiculous prices from 2 people colliding with large bids.

I could see that happening. With a last-second snipe bid, you pick your bid and take your chances. If people are bidding on an auction that keeps getting extended by a minute, there's no incentive to make a large last-second bid and it's always possible a bidder might have second thoughts and reconsider how high they're willing to go to win the lot.

@OKCC said:
Here is what the administrator of the sniping service gixen.com had to say in response to the changes:

"As some of you may be aware, eBay started testing and rolling out bid time extensions. These extend the auction end time 1 minute from the time of the last bid. So far this is rolled out on eBay Motors, and it looks like eBay has started testing it on eBay Australia. The other markets may follow, including the biggest, eBay UK and eBay US.

In responding to this, here are the changes I will be testing in the following days and weeks (this is not widely rolled out yet):

1. Gixen will test bidding incrementally, instead of submitting the maximum bid to eBay at once. It will also detect extensions as late as possible and delay bidding until as late as possible. Gixen will wait the maximum of 12 extensions, bidding incrementally during this time, before submitting user's maximum bid.

2. Gixen Mirror server will do the same, however instead of user-specified offset it will bid 1 second before auction end. This is in order to save the number of calls to eBay.

3. Unlike what used to be the case in the past (I always advocated for 8 second offset as optimal), auction time extensions may make 1-second offset as the best choice. I still leave this configurable (except for Gixen Mirror).

As I am unsure what the optimal strategy is, and it may differ depending on value, category or specific auction, I am considering giving users more choice and control in the future. I am open to all constructive suggestions and comments.

Why is this happening? It looks like eBay believes (but is not sure, hence this is still being tested) that this may raise the final price. This is likely true, if the buyer interest in auctions remains the same, so it pretty much depends on how majority of buyers feel about it over the long term. My guess is that not much will change, but let me know how you feel about it."

That's cool that Gixen is on this forum! I use your platform exclusively now, I love it.

@CoinPhysicist said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@CoinPhysicist said:
I’m not really a fan of this. The auction closes at a set time and everyone knows when. Make your maximum bid and move on. Doesn’t matter whether you make that bid 1 second, minute, hour, day or week before the close. Everyone knows the rules.

And the new rules are how almost all live auctions are run. Hard closes are less common than soft closes.

Doesn’t mean eBay needs to fix what isn’t broken.

Maybe they feel it is "broken", though I'm not sure that's the right word. Isn't it more about making it "better" than fixing anything that is "broken".

@ProofCollection said:

@OKCC said:
Here is what the administrator of the sniping service gixen.com had to say in response to the changes:

"As some of you may be aware, eBay started testing and rolling out bid time extensions. These extend the auction end time 1 minute from the time of the last bid. So far this is rolled out on eBay Motors, and it looks like eBay has started testing it on eBay Australia. The other markets may follow, including the biggest, eBay UK and eBay US.

In responding to this, here are the changes I will be testing in the following days and weeks (this is not widely rolled out yet):

1. Gixen will test bidding incrementally, instead of submitting the maximum bid to eBay at once. It will also detect extensions as late as possible and delay bidding until as late as possible. Gixen will wait the maximum of 12 extensions, bidding incrementally during this time, before submitting user's maximum bid.

2. Gixen Mirror server will do the same, however instead of user-specified offset it will bid 1 second before auction end. This is in order to save the number of calls to eBay.

3. Unlike what used to be the case in the past (I always advocated for 8 second offset as optimal), auction time extensions may make 1-second offset as the best choice. I still leave this configurable (except for Gixen Mirror).

As I am unsure what the optimal strategy is, and it may differ depending on value, category or specific auction, I am considering giving users more choice and control in the future. I am open to all constructive suggestions and comments.

Why is this happening? It looks like eBay believes (but is not sure, hence this is still being tested) that this may raise the final price. This is likely true, if the buyer interest in auctions remains the same, so it pretty much depends on how majority of buyers feel about it over the long term. My guess is that not much will change, but let me know how you feel about it."

That's cool that Gixen is on this forum! I use your platform exclusively now, I love it.

Is it? He posted a response from somewhere else

I don’t buy a huge amount on eBay, but I definitely don’t have time for any type of back and forth at the close of auctions. I am curious to see, if this is rolled out, what specific tools the sniper programs will come out with in response. The info from Gixen is helpful.

And eBay is not like HA or Stacks. Auctions can run concurrently, not successively. If you have several target items (likely from the same seller) ending around the same time, you will now potentially have overlapping auctions to deal with.

Bidding strategy for me will resolve around not only buying at the lowest possible price, but also saving my time.

@MedalCollector said:
I definitely don’t have time for any type of back and forth at the close of auctions

In that case, just bid the maximum that you're willing to pay and eBay will do the "back and forth" for you. Problem solved.