Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 08:43 pm, by: Jason Kingsmill(Jason_k)
I agree with Jeff.
I don't see the point...why not just ask yourself how much you're prepared to pay and bid that amount.
If someone outbids you, then you were always going to lose anyway. If someone else bids lower than your maximum, then you are only going to pay the next higher level than their bid, not necessarily your maximum.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 08:55 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Sniping DOES pay. In my experience I've found it far better NOT to declare my interest in an item until the death. Firstly it avoids competitors pushing your bid up in small increments to see where your maximum is, and most importantly (and this is particularly valid for items that haven't yet received much interest or many bids) it lulls the opposition into a false sense of security and often has them placing bids of less than their maximum, only to be nailed in the dying seconds. I tend to bid on items in one or two categories and find I'm regularly competing with the same people for given items. If they know I'm after something (by bidding early) I've found they will bid higher than usual to make sure they get the item.
I understand your concept of "bid what you're willing to pay" but in practice many people don't do that until they find they're up against a serious bidder. If that serious bidder comes in late, often it's too late for them to counter. This is often the case with people new to Ebay.
I also understand that you're saying by bidding your maximum, if you win, you win at a price you were willing to pay, but using that strategy it might be a price you didn't necessarily HAVE to pay.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 08:58 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Dave Hart wrote on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 08:53 pm:
You can tell if someone is auto bidding by checking the bid history.
How does that tell you it's an "auto" bid? I've manually placed bids up to 1 second before the end of the auction. Can't see how the bid history tells you whether it's a manual bid or otherwise given all it tells you is who placed the bid and when. It doesn't doesn't tell you a bid was placed by "USER X via Auctionsniper". At least I've never seen that.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 09:03 pm, by: Dave Hart(Davyboy)
Also, if there's two serious bidders and one will go up to $100 and the other $101 and the sellers reserve is $50, then only the seller is a winner. The one with the lower maximum was always going to miss out and the higher could have saved himself $51. A case of market forces prevailing I suppose.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 12:38 pm, by: Damien Smith(Damien)
I often snipe auctions for IT gear at work and there are usually 3 or 4 bids placed in the last 10 seconds. I put my max on early I would end up paying more for it as gives more time for others to place higher bids.
Jonathan Hong Tinkerer California JZZ31 (N/A 5 speed)
Sunday, August 26, 2007 - 08:48 pm, by: Ben Kelly(Ace)
auctions are always best for the buyer anyway. consider this, the seller will only ever get the second best price - never the best price. This is because the second best price is all the seller has to beat by even say $1. Think about that if selling your home by auction.
Sunday, August 26, 2007 - 10:09 pm, by: Jeff Harper(Jeffh)
Auctions are always best for the seller, because it forces buyers to either bid, or shut up. Without a buyer, nothing ever sells.
Further, you tell the auctioneer to increase bids by $1000 till reserve is met.
Set your reserve at what you want to sell it for and if it gets there, the rest is cream.
If it does not meet reserve then you know who the serious buyers are, you can afford to totally ignore the rest and you then negotiate with them at your convenience.
Monday, August 27, 2007 - 12:05 pm, by: David Vaughan(Davidv)
If your view were correct, Ben, then all auction prices would be infinite because it would always be worthwhile to bid one dollar more. One could equally well say that the buyer is always losing by getting the goods at the second lowest price because the seller would always be willing to settle for one dollar less. If that were true then the correct price would be zero (or minus infinity if you like).
An auction with a group of willing buyers gives a good approximation of the best price for both parties. The important part of the price is the part that satisfies you. The rest has a lower payoff.
Monday, August 27, 2007 - 02:21 pm, by: Peter Beer(Pmb☺57)
My wife is the Ebay queen. At the last possible moment she bids the highest price she is prepared to pay. If the auction has already gone past that price she'll wait for the next one.
This is her rationale: - Unless the seller has put a reserve price on the item then they must be prepared to sell it at the starting bid price - anything higher is gravy for them so they are already happy; - if another buyer is prepared to pay as much or more than my maximum they know what time the auction ends just like I do; - if they're not prepared to pay as much as my maximum then they were never going to win the auction anyway, so why encourage the bidding to force my price up.
I see nothing wrong with this.
I think in Ebay lingo this is 'swooping' rather than 'sniping', but I don't know it well enough to be sure.
Jonathan Hong Tinkerer California JZZ31 (N/A 5 speed)
Friday, August 31, 2007 - 06:05 pm, by: Jonathan Hong(Djyoshi)
Thanks Adam for the link. Well this program sounds alright, bidding for you and all at the last moment possible but for security reasons, I wouldn't use it. I personally don't like to snipe at the last 3 or 4 seconds cause my computer might lag :X Then its game over for me!
Friday, August 31, 2007 - 09:02 pm, by: Craig Moore(Craig)
Another sniping program you could consider is here, http://www.moxieproxy.com (Prospector) This one requires you to install a program onto your computer. It's more like a browser and you can use it for searching. Free for so many snipes and searches a month unless you upgrade to a full version. I have used this one and auctionsniper as I find it hard to be at the computer for auction end times.
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