bloody ebay bid snipers - don't you hate them!


ben3943 your card is marked !!!

bid sniping is the only way mate.

You can't beat em so why not join em?

http://www.auctionsniper.com/

http://www.hammertap.com/powertool/

Why give someone time to react to your bid?

Cheers

Mark

Just wanted a rant........

its crap aint it,

what were you bidding on?

I just looked at his profile and his feedback is kept private!????????

Why????

Polo Rad been waiting ages for the right one to come up on ebay, still the end price with postage wasn't much less than at the local autofactors...

Just bloody annoying when you have been bidding during the week and someone come in out of the blue like that

Been doing that for years. Just without the software. Fun counting till the last 10 secs placing a bid, refresh check and repeat once more if ness.
Its happened in auction houses since days of old. Why let an item be bidded on more than it has to, let everyone else burn out then nip in to take the glory. I think a lot of auctioneers will tell you often the winner is the quietest one in the room.
Hard luck though

quote:

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Originally posted by colmaccoll

I just looked at his profile and his feedback is kept private!????????

Why????

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When I bid, I place a maximum bid of what I'm willing to pay. I can't be sniped - if someone outbids me at the end, well, they paid more than I would.

My max is capped at the lesser of what it's worth to me and (item value - shipping costs - bargin discount - unknown seller discount - uncertain condition discount).

My bidding "strategy" is to occasionally bid at the last minute so as not to provoke a bidding war, but more so I'm not locked into a particular item if another is available. I need to balance against forgetting to bid at all .

Am I paying too much? How should I change?

I've read of a study that says we're more likely to trust a stranger than someone we know, because the stranger has never let us down. A losing strategy, but I guess it makes ebay work .

Stick a ridiculously high bid in, leave the decimal point out, then apologise and offer to pay the next bid down and cover ebay costs. It's about £41 for a new one here.
edit:- ben3943 only has 1 feedback and it's a negative. No longer a registered user according to his user id.

[Edited on 12/4/05 by Peteff]

the problem i find with using autobid is that if you autobid early on, people will bid against you until you reach your limit. Also, if another person autobids aswell the auction can instantly go out of your price range, hence waiting tilthe last minute. I have even on occassion on really specific items submitted a pre emptive high bid about 10 seconds before the end of hte auction substantially higher than the nearest one, so all the other people trying to bid a little bit over (ie next increment) will still be beaten by me and not have enough time to refresh and enter another bid.

The only way i can thin of countering sniping is if there is a bid i the last 30 seconds add an extra minute to the auctino duaration to give everyone a fiar chance to bid upto what they want, this couold go on for a while though and perhaps autobidding is the answer, but again it has it's issues, so bottom line is you can't please everyone, especially if they didn't win!

Ned.

I have had abusive emails from losing bidders on ebay after I had sniped and won an item.

The problem is with inexperienced users who you can see bid for something, then if out bid later on will then keep bidding up in say £1 steps until they hold the highest bid again, often with hours or days still left to go.

if you or I then put our bids in then they sit back, have a think about it and talk themselves into giving a couple more pounds and even if we eventually win, it is no longer a bargain price.

with bid sniping they have no chance to react, so in the end it forces everyone to decide what their highest bid is and stick to it - actually a better system IMHO

Also with the software I don't even need to be online to have my bid go in in the last 3 seconds it is all done automatically

If I have a group of items I am watching, but I only want one of them, then www.auctionsniper.com is able to keep bidding on one after another until I win one then it stops. this way I can even do stuff when I'm on holiday!

Not sure about your approach Pete I think that would invite -ve feedback, it would if you did it to me anyway!

Cheers

Mark

I've never done it I just thought it up. I'm of the "Didn't win it sod it there'll be another" school of thought actually. Does it cost you to e-snipe? If I want something that much I'll go to a shop and buy it, I can find a lot of the stuff cheaper round here a lot of the time but sometimes I'll do buy it nows because it's easier than going out to fetch something.

quote:

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Originally posted by DaveFJ
Polo Rad been waiting ages for the right one to come up on ebay, still the end price with postage wasn't much less than at the local autofactors...

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Do you set a limit for snipers or will they bid enough for the item regardless.

If you put on really high max bid and some one sniped they would end up paying loads, wouldn't they?

The hammersnipe one I think gives you 3 free snipes per week. but only in the last 30 seconds or so

I tend to use auctionsniper.com customisable to the last second if you want! which does cost a small amount (1% of final price) I am happy that this is worth it to me.

I built my car and saved many hundreds of pounds buying stuff for it on ebay, not only on purchase price, but some stuff i would never even have found without ebay.

I think that the whole point of buying off ebay is to save money and if the price goes too high, I don't win the auction. My maximum price will often win an auction using sniping but the same price would probably lose if I bid it say an hour before the end.

Using a sniping tool means that I win more often at generally lower prices than if I bid 'normally'

Cheers

Mark

As a seller I hate bid snipers BTW

you were lucky not to win it, I asked & it was the rad with the filler cap on the side,, I won this one last week
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4539142101&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT

If the item's low value and there are many for sale, I'll just "set it and forget it". If it's a big-ticket item or is particularly undervalued, I'll snipe, setting my price at the highest I'm willing to go. Having DSL sure helps!

OK - things progress......

Just recivieved an email apparently from ebay offering a second chance to buy at my highest bid....

Is this legit or is it a con ?

It might be legit - depending on the circumstances surrounding the reason why the 'winning' bidder can't complete.

It's not outwith the realms of possibility that someone has being trying to work a scam.

First and foremost, make sure you're happy at the price you're being asked to pay.

Cheers

John F - Dyed in the wool sniper

I've had second chance emails a couple of times, completely legit. The guy has been negged and is no longer a registered user so you have the option now.

If in doubt wether its legit the check the link it asks you to click. But not visiually as you can make a link say and point to different places. Right click on it, copy shortcut, paste it into word.
if it points to ebay.com or ebay.co.uk take it as legit.

Forgot to say that ebay is a buisiness, obviously. Ebay want to make money. Ebay dont mind 3rd party autobidding (sniping) as if increases their income from charges to sellers. Sellers also dont mind as it increases theirs, althought they pay more costs its still an increase their profits.
Unfortunately you have three choices. Accept it. Dont do it again. And form your own auction site which is unable to be 'abused'. sorry. hard facts

the man who is selling has loads of these, they are always on, Ive been watching for ages, but as I said earlier, this rad is the ine with the filler cap on the side & I think it sticks out too far for a locost, ask him to be sure befor you buy

already checked and it is not the one with the filler cap on the side so should be OK - also the Tiger is quite a bit bigger than a locost....

After checking the link I think i will go for it - I will be paying by cheque as always anyway so will have a real address...

the seller, not ebay, offers the second chance. hes likely discovered the other guy was a waster.

give the seller an email and talk. or phone him.

atb

steve

quote:

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Originally posted by DaveFJ
OK - things progress......

Just recivieved an email apparently from ebay offering a second chance to buy at my highest bid....

Is this legit or is it a con ?

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Just been outbid/snipped on a set of wing supports for clamshell wings, bummer... checked out winning bidder and they've just purchased some cycle wings hmmmm, wonder if the are unrelated purchases or the winner's an ejit, if somebody on here has just gone SHIT! give me a shout I'll buy them off you for a moderate loss on your part.

I hate using Ebay.. I've always found better deals thru networks of people in forums,clubs,friends etc.... Shows always worked out well for old V.W. stuff..

Fletch,

If you place a bid early on in the auction, allow yourself to get out bid, and then bid again in the last seconds, are you still a bid sniper?

Seriously, if you bid early and keep bidding, you are just fueling a bidding war. The price will escalate enormously. The first few items I bid on were lost that way. I stopped bidding when the bid price reached the new price.

The difference with eBay and a normal auction is that a normal auction stops when all bidders stop. eBay stops at a fixed time which allows bid snipers.

It is the way it is. You either have to accept it or stay away.

Bid sniping is cool

No scrapyards in your area then!!

Mick, with a Micra rad expansion tank and fan for a tenner and 20 min work.

If you add up the item cost +postage that = almost the new price from the factors

quote:

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Originally posted by mookaloid
I have had abusive emails from losing bidders on ebay after I had sniped and won an item.

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Are ebay now offering auctions that last 9days 23hours 59minuits and 6days 23hours 59minuits?

Sniping may be a pain in the donkey, but just because a bid is placed with less than a minuit to go doesn't mean its necisserely sniping.

as someone already said, it wouldnt be a problem if everyone did it - you would have to enter your genuine maximum bid in case someone else bid too...

as a seller, i find it annoying, cos bidding wars are great news but as a buyer, its the only real way to do it.

If there is aomething I want on ebay I will place a bid early if there are no bids, otherwise I wait until the last few seconds to place the bid - about 10 seconds to go seems about right provided you already have the submit bid page ready! Almost came unstuck when teh computer crashed on one item though - fortunately no-one else bid.

Never used a sniping tool though, I enjoy the chase.