Monday, September 12, 2005 - 12:34 pm, by: Andrew Ferres(Peewee)
If you don't bid you maximum bid from the start, you are a chump, and deserved to be snipered. If you bid your maximum bid from the get go, its the sniper who sometimes gets chumped.
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 07:01 pm, by: Josif Nguyen(Silversoarer)
Brad, i m usually not bothered by people who make a bid, higher then mine, if they think the item is worth more to them, i just hate the fact that i somtimes loose out on the item just a few seconds before bidding finishes by a very small amount to someone who only put one bid in!
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 07:08 pm, by: Andrew Ferres(Peewee)
The annoying thing about ebay at the moment is lag.
ie, there were some volvo 4 spot calipers, I bid $75, bid was at $50. Up until 20mins before the auction finished, I was winning. I didn't really care whether I won or lost, so I didn't bother increasing my bid.
Anyway, 20mins to go (and I wasn't watching it), some guy bids more. So it goes to $76. 2 mins after the auction finishes, I get an email from ebay, "too bad, so sad, you lost"
40 mins LATER, I get the 'You have been outbid, quick, bid again" email.
I mean WTF?
Anyone know the address to email ebay with complaints?
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 07:50 pm, by: Adam Lonergan(Alchemistal)
Andrew,
It's all a matter of prioritising the emails that eBay sends. They place much more priority on the 'you win' and 'you lose' emails, than the 'you're outbid'. I think this is a good idea as it means you know where you actually stand financially... you know how much you owe if you win and you know how much you can spend on other things if you lose. Basic logic then prevails...
1. Buyers will learn and actually put in the highest amount they are willing to spend... if everybody does this then sniping will be useless (although some people search purely on the number of bids to gauge good deals... don't get me started on this!). 2. The losing bider(s) are known existing customers (Marketing 101... the best kind of customers) and eBay wants them to spend the money they were willing to spend on the first item on something else. Best to capture them when they still might be online (at work, dial up, awake, etc). 3. eBay wants both the seller and buyers to be happy (like all auctioneers). Buyers want low prices, sellers want high prices... kind of a hard situation for the auctioneer I think. At the conclusion of an auction the seller can not be disappointed with the final price (that's what reserves are for!) so eBay's auction termination methodology keep the buyers happy. 4. eBay makes money per listing and per paypal transaction... enough said.
Monday, September 12, 2005 - 08:52 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Josif.......I suspect that the main reason you have a problem with snipers is that you're not getting a chance to counter the bid because it's placed at the last second. If that's the case, you have nobody to blame but yourself because you didn't place your highest bid in the first place.
If I'm wrong and that's not the case, and you did in fact place a bid to the maximum you were willing to pay (as you said was your policy), you were still outbid by someone willing to pay more than you. What difference does it make whether you were outbid 7 days before the auction ended or 7 seconds before? If you weren't going to pay any more than your initial highest bid, you still miss out.
In case you don't think I know what I'm on about, I've now bought and sold 4900 items on Ebay (3000 in the last 12 months). I can categorically state that if you want to buy something at the best possible price, SNIPE. There's nothing worse than placing a bid early on in the auction to have some snotnose push your bid up in $1 increments to find where your maximum is, and often then leave it there. Sure you still get the item at a price you were willing to pay but it's still most likely a price higher than you HAD to pay. Lurk in the shadows and hammer 'em late. Give the opposition no chance to come back. Only way to go.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 10:26 am, by: Benny Gammelmark(Oldfield)
I think they should end the auctions at the specified time but not before 10 minutes after the last bid. In that way the seller will get the best price and sniping is out.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 07:06 pm, by: Jeff Hogan(Hoges)
sniping is actually against ebays fair trade policy, if you report a user for sniping ebay can ban them. doesnt really help you if you get sniped, but atleast you can stop it happening to others.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 07:14 pm, by: Andrew Ferres(Peewee)
From what I've seen about Ebay help replies, they don't give a •••• what goes on. It will take 2 or 3 emails before they actually read your first email.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 07:19 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Jeff.......Sorry mate but that's not true. If you look up "sniping" under Ebay's "Help" you'll see that it's perfectly legal. Here's what Ebay says about it.
"Is it permitted for another bidder to bid on an item I was bidding on at the very last second and win it?
Yes, it is.
Within the eBay Community, this practice is called "sniping" and it means to place a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing.
As frustrating as it can be to lose an item you really wanted, sniping is part of the eBay experience, and all bids placed before a listing ends are valid - even if they're placed only one second before the listing ends.
One way to help avoid disappointment is to ensure that the maximum bid you enter on the item page is the highest price that you're willing to pay. The eBay proxy bidding system automatically increases your bid up to the maximum price you specify, so entering a higher maximum may help prevent you from being outbid in the closing seconds of a listing."
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 07:49 pm, by: Greg Manson(Greg93tt)
HA HA HA Rob i was just having a winge. If someone out bids your highest bid then its your fault for not making it higher. Even if it was only 50cents.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 08:29 pm, by: Graham Dollisson(Alloyvee)
I simply bid the max I am prepared to pay. I do it once only and just before the end. I still don't always win. Sniping isn't guaranteed to win it for you!!
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