teckkev
New member
I love last second snipers!!! You know how much money they saved me last year? ALOT 
Kevin
Kevin
eBay: a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
- Thread starter vintagegamer
- Start date
VectorJunkie
Well-known member
You don't think ebay should allow people to bid more than you before the auction ends???
Don't call it snipping... Call it bidding since that is what it actually is.
OP
OP
I don't think a 3rd party app should be allowed to bid on your behalf. It wasn't like that in the beginning. [/endgripestream]
I'm a sniper, too. I got tired of having to bid ridiculously high to win anything.
Here's a hypothetical situation to illustrate - If you bid a realistic amount -say 50 dollars on a 50 dollar item on the first day of the auction with a starting price of 10 dollars. By the end of the auction, someone else will have come along and bid it up until they get the high bid of 51.00. Someone else comes along and bids it up past bidder B's limit, so now its at 55 or 60 bucks (for an item thats really only worth 50 bucks). But, being that there's not another one ending soon, and you really need that item, you go ahead and bid 65 or 70 for it near the end, and lets assume win the item. You've just paid 70 bucks for a 50 dollar item.
Now, ok, fine, you really only wanted to pay 50 bucks for the same item above. Set up a snipe for 50 bucks 3 seconds before the auction ends. Bidder B comes along, sees the item, and then thinks, ok, well, i'll bid 20 bucks on it, and hope i get it. The auction sits at 10.00 with one bid (due to no one bidding against bidder B). Bidder C comes in and then bids it up to 21.00, so he's now the leader. Chances are, he may set 30 or 35 up as his max bid.
The auction nears the end, still sitting at 21 and holding, with bidder B with a max bid of 35.00.
Ok, so i go snipe the auction, and set my bid at 50.00. I end up winning the auction for 36 dollars (or not, who knows someone else might bid 45, or even 55, doesn't matter). I either won the auction for what i thought it was worth or didn't. And, in doing so, i didn't drive the price up to that 70 buck mark that it could've gone to would i've bid my 50 on the first day of an auction. Best case scenario, i get the item for 36.00 bucks versus 70. Middle case scenario, i get the item for less than 50 bucks. Worse case scenario i don't get the item, but i didn't spend 70 bucks on it either.
Sniping keeps me from getting tangled up in a bidding war, and keeps me from helping to inflate the price any more than necessary. I bid what i'm willing to pay, if someone's proxy is higher than mine, they still win the auction. But, by bidding last second, it helps keep the price down by not giving someone who's auction happy the chance to keep upping it by a dollar to knock me out of the lead.
The only time i ever bid on an auction first day is to keep the seller from pulling the auction. Then, i only bid the opening bid with no proxy. That way, if someone else comes along and outbids me by 1.00, that's fine. I've kept the auction there, and kept the seller from pulling the auction due to lack of interest (at least if they're an honest seller). Then, i snipe it at the end of the auction for what i'm willing to pay. If i win, great, if i don't, that's ok, too.
Fwiw, there are a ton of sniping programs out there. There's no way for ebay to tell that your using a sniping program - or at least the one i use there isn't. It signs in and places a bid just like i would if i did it through my browser, so outlawing the programs isn't the answer. Adding a bit of time after the last bid would solve the problem. As a seller, i like that idea, as a buyer, i don't. Fema/GSA auctions are set up like that, and its a huge pita to deal with them. I hope ebay never goes that route.
Anyway, to me it just makes sense to use a sniping program. I think i paid 40 bucks or so for the one i use, and its paid for itself many many times over in the last 2 or 3 years, plus freed me up from sniping manually.
Ebay is what it is. I'm not crazy about it, but thats the way it goes. Its a great resource for parts, and i just decided that i was going to do what it took to be able to use it effectively.
Here's a hypothetical situation to illustrate - If you bid a realistic amount -say 50 dollars on a 50 dollar item on the first day of the auction with a starting price of 10 dollars. By the end of the auction, someone else will have come along and bid it up until they get the high bid of 51.00. Someone else comes along and bids it up past bidder B's limit, so now its at 55 or 60 bucks (for an item thats really only worth 50 bucks). But, being that there's not another one ending soon, and you really need that item, you go ahead and bid 65 or 70 for it near the end, and lets assume win the item. You've just paid 70 bucks for a 50 dollar item.
Now, ok, fine, you really only wanted to pay 50 bucks for the same item above. Set up a snipe for 50 bucks 3 seconds before the auction ends. Bidder B comes along, sees the item, and then thinks, ok, well, i'll bid 20 bucks on it, and hope i get it. The auction sits at 10.00 with one bid (due to no one bidding against bidder B). Bidder C comes in and then bids it up to 21.00, so he's now the leader. Chances are, he may set 30 or 35 up as his max bid.
The auction nears the end, still sitting at 21 and holding, with bidder B with a max bid of 35.00.
Ok, so i go snipe the auction, and set my bid at 50.00. I end up winning the auction for 36 dollars (or not, who knows someone else might bid 45, or even 55, doesn't matter). I either won the auction for what i thought it was worth or didn't. And, in doing so, i didn't drive the price up to that 70 buck mark that it could've gone to would i've bid my 50 on the first day of an auction. Best case scenario, i get the item for 36.00 bucks versus 70. Middle case scenario, i get the item for less than 50 bucks. Worse case scenario i don't get the item, but i didn't spend 70 bucks on it either.
Sniping keeps me from getting tangled up in a bidding war, and keeps me from helping to inflate the price any more than necessary. I bid what i'm willing to pay, if someone's proxy is higher than mine, they still win the auction. But, by bidding last second, it helps keep the price down by not giving someone who's auction happy the chance to keep upping it by a dollar to knock me out of the lead.
The only time i ever bid on an auction first day is to keep the seller from pulling the auction. Then, i only bid the opening bid with no proxy. That way, if someone else comes along and outbids me by 1.00, that's fine. I've kept the auction there, and kept the seller from pulling the auction due to lack of interest (at least if they're an honest seller). Then, i snipe it at the end of the auction for what i'm willing to pay. If i win, great, if i don't, that's ok, too.
Fwiw, there are a ton of sniping programs out there. There's no way for ebay to tell that your using a sniping program - or at least the one i use there isn't. It signs in and places a bid just like i would if i did it through my browser, so outlawing the programs isn't the answer. Adding a bit of time after the last bid would solve the problem. As a seller, i like that idea, as a buyer, i don't. Fema/GSA auctions are set up like that, and its a huge pita to deal with them. I hope ebay never goes that route.
Anyway, to me it just makes sense to use a sniping program. I think i paid 40 bucks or so for the one i use, and its paid for itself many many times over in the last 2 or 3 years, plus freed me up from sniping manually.
Ebay is what it is. I'm not crazy about it, but thats the way it goes. Its a great resource for parts, and i just decided that i was going to do what it took to be able to use it effectively.
cadillacman
Well-known member
werent the klov folks also making a snipe program? like ace.com or something like that?
You probably didn't get outbid by $1. You may very well have been outbid by $10, but the winner only has to pay $1 more than the next highest bidder. So don't assume you were so close to winning. And yes, if you were willing to pay more then why didn't you bid more????
Technically a web browser is a 3rd party app. There really is no difference. It's simply a web request, whether initiated by a browser or some other app. And other apps could claim to be firefox or ie anyway.
It sucks when you get outbid late, but auctions are not over until the auctions are over, so I don't know why you'd get so ticked about it. You should go away from an auction saying "I wish I won the auction but I definitely didn't want to pay that much so I'm satisfied".
OP
OP
TK_Monkey
New member
It's a tough situation. For me it's the cross between bidding my actual max early and risking getting shill bid way up above what it would have ended at without the shill (something that seems a hell of a lot more common in arcade stuff than other stuff I've bought on ebay) vs setting a low bid and forgetting about the auction. The method that came to mind after getting sniped for a NOS Bloodstorm CPO decal set the other day is to start with something low to keep the auction up and avoid too much of a shill situation and then with about 30 seconds left increase my maximum. Only works with auctions I'm at a computer for, but it's a medium ground. It works up to the point that sellers start shilling with sniping services, which I'm sure some of them already are.
beerbarrel
Active member
And, if you want a common item at a good price try setting up a bid group
I'm an auction sniper. I have to be. I'm pushing 7000 feedbacks, so if I bid, buyers know I'm serious and will outbid me or make me overpay, and sellers will know I'm serious, escalating the possibility of shill bidding.
You won't know I'm even there until its too late. And I generally don't bid on things unless I know for sure I'm going to win it.
Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
- M1A
You won't know I'm even there until its too late. And I generally don't bid on things unless I know for sure I'm going to win it.
Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
- M1A
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SuperBee4406
New member
I miss the days of dialup modem and ebay, when you couldn't do last second bidding, because it may take your dialup a minute to send the data and refresh the page.
Also I miss the days when you paid with money orders, and people didn't give negative feedback because of shipping time.
Also I miss the days when you paid with money orders, and people didn't give negative feedback because of shipping time.
Auctionsniper.com for me... I've only used it 3 times... won twice and the 3rd time my max bid was surpassed a day before the end so I just canceled the snipe.
Bottom line is that "people do it"... so to compete you better "do it" also or deal with the consequences. It's not that hard... and not that expensive (hell, it's free the first few snipes)... and since you know it's being done by others, there's no reason for you not to do it yourself.
Bottom line is that "people do it"... so to compete you better "do it" also or deal with the consequences. It's not that hard... and not that expensive (hell, it's free the first few snipes)... and since you know it's being done by others, there's no reason for you not to do it yourself.
OP
OP
So let me get this straight: you get drunk before going to the arcade, you throw up on people AT the arcade, and you shank people on eBay.. What a role model you are for your kid. LOL.
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever bid before the last second. It's just stupid. It brings attention to an item, and artificially raises the price by giving people a chance to "win". That's half of what auctioning is...it's a competition. Just don't even compete in such a stupid "competition". If you can't figure out why you're shooting yourself in the foot by bidding early, then you need to think about the auctioning process...and deserve to lose every auction that you do.
Peale
Active member
It's not about that extra buck - its likely about several. Say an item starts @ .99. You put in your "max bid" of $25. Then someone comes along and puts a bid of $28.72. Sure you'd pony up the extra few bucks - IF you could! But because the "auction" ends at a certain time, you don't get that opportunity. If - as said many times before - you bid and another minute got added to the time, this wouldn't happen.
Think of it this way...
Someone calls for a mechanic... you show up with your pink Walmart bought "Auto Kit" guys buy for their wives... I show up with my Snap-On roll-around.
It's simply a tool... just because you choose not to use it, doesn't make people who do bad people... just smarter.
pookdolie
Permanently Banned for excessive trolling.
Another minute after a higher bid would mean more cool heads would prevail, though, and items wouldn't be bid way up in a matter of seconds at the end of the auction when people try to snipe. That'd mean lower sell prices overall for a lot of auctions, and both the sellers & eBay would lose out.
I doubt implementing something like this is high on eBay's "to do" list.
beerbarrel
Active member
DING! Fries are done!
Deadly
New member
When I first started using eBay (9 years ago) items would start getting bids and a seller would have a good idea of what they'd make. Nowadays these items sit with little or no bids and of course the last ~5 minutes it goes ape shit.
Sniping is here to stay. I hate to agree with everyone but if you don;t want to use it then your max bid was all you were willing to pay anyway. It's your fault you lost the auction not bidsnipers. Look man I don;t use any sniping program ... there's no point of it for me. I always put my max bid in under the 20 second mark. If I win great - if I don;t who cares.
Sniping is here to stay. I hate to agree with everyone but if you don;t want to use it then your max bid was all you were willing to pay anyway. It's your fault you lost the auction not bidsnipers. Look man I don;t use any sniping program ... there's no point of it for me. I always put my max bid in under the 20 second mark. If I win great - if I don;t who cares.
