Question on eBay bidding

Because you were incohprhresnsibe.

Yes. We clearly disagree that every one had a chance to bid. To me they clearly did.

I place my bids when I see the item I want, and I am not already bidding on something similar, and it is a couple of days or less (usually) away.

No snipeing service, no rushing to the computer furiously trying to get in to bid at the last second.

What you can't read? when did I snipe? WHen have I ever?

jk

Except that every one COULD use a snipeing service (or do it by hand). And if you do use them, you stand the chance of getting "knocked aside" to use your term, and losing out completely.

I would modify it to be a single extension, of random but short duration. But all either of them does, is equalize the chances of the snipe services with the manual sniper. It still wont get the seller more $ out of me. I am not even there when the auction ends, except by happenstance once.

jk

I don't, it is not that I wouldn't, but that I don't see an advantage to me in doing so. It ties up either my time or my money, and there is always another widget coming down the road to ebay.

So $24 is the difference between an asshole and a saint. :) So, on to something you clearly have thought about, how late a bid is sniping then, the last week, the last day, the last hour, the last minute, or the last second, or even the last millisecond?

jk

So, on to something you clearly have thought about, how late a bid is

Sniping is when some MFer wins and you don't. Hope this explanation helps. ;-)

Steve

LOL. Or when the seller is absolutely certain there was some guy out there who was watching TV, taking a crap, out for a drive, or otherwise indisposed, who would have paid 2x what the gizmo sold for.

This is the same view of life that the sniper has, when somebody else gets the gizmo instead of him, and he was sure if he just went two dollars more he could have had it.

Jim

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

That does not change my (snipe) bid. I decide early what I want to bid. If, by the time the auction is approaching its closing time, the visible bids are above that, I won't bit. If the visible bids are not above my maximum, I bid my maximum. Sniping only gives me two benefits:

Oh yes -- also it leaves me free to bid on another auction for the same item. Let me give you an example:

I remember that there was a long auction (10 days, IIRC) for a nice set of three or four Tesa tri-mikes. (I forget whether it was the

The description in this auction was wonderful, as were the images. Lots of them, and lots of detail. As a result, this drew quite a bit of attention -- both early bidders and snipers..

Then a second set showed up. Not as nice a photo, not as nice a description, but the photo showed that it had the wrenches for the extension tubes and both setting rings.

That second auction was set to close a day before the first. Since I had not put in a bid for the first, I opted to bid on the second, which had quite a lot fewer bids. I got the more complete set for a significant but acceptable price (far from dirt cheap). A day later, I watched the first auction close for $300.00 more than I got the second set for.

Now -- if I had put in a bid early on the first, what I was willing to pay for it, I would not have felt free to bid on the second set (as I don't buy things just to turn around and re-sell them -- I buy them to *use* them.) The first closing auction would have closed for less than I was willing to pay, to the loss of the seller of that auction. And -- the final closing price of the second closing auction

I can see your point if you think that all sniping is done with full knowledge of the current bids, and with a bid calculated to just be above the visible bids. But -- remember that a sniper does *not* know what remaining unused escrow is in the top bid which is showing, and he also does not know what other snipers will be bidding. A sniper, to have a *serious* chance, must also bid what he considers the item to be worth to him. If there is no competition (as is sometimes the case) the sniper is lucky. Often there are other snipers who bid more than what I think something is worth to me. How do you think that *you* lose in that case?

O.K. Then you won't be seeing my* bids, even if you have something which I want. There is not enough time to search all of the auction sites. eBay has a greater chance of having what I want, so that is where I go for my searches.

Depending on what you were selling with such an option, I might or might not bid.

But --- if there were such an option, you would simply see a new form of sniping -- seeing how close you could get to that fifteen-minute period without triggering an extension.

Remember -- there are a *lot* of people out there, and some percentage of them will figure out the best way to make the auctions work for *them*.

Enjoy, DoN.

We do not use a sniping service, as we don't believe in releasing our eBay password to anyone else.

Aside from that, using a sniping service presumably makes it more difficult to back out of a planned bid, if an alternative one which is better shows up set to close earlier. :-)

OK, you're wrong. They can outbid me instantly if they've placed a proxy. Even if they haven't read eBay's recommendations on how to bid, anyone with half a brain can figure it out after an auction or two.

There's no way that I can be sure that sniping has saved me money (i.e. there's no way you can prove that the sellers have lost money). Yet I'll do it anyway, because it has other advantages that you either ignore or don't understand.

Great; isn't choice _wonderful_, Jim? I don't want to sell to someone who snipes, and since the purpose of such a term of sale is to avoid them, it sounds like a win-win.

Everyone _could_ be an asshole and merge right at the point where "left lane ends" too, but most people have the decency not to.

Then stop bidding. Your choice.

And (4), it absolutely prevents shilling. Shilling only really works when the seller bumps the bids during the auction. This sort of nonsense does not work in the 'sealed bid' example of sniping.

Jim

And you contend that people make one proxy bid ever, and never up it? I disagree. It's those people who you're outracing at the last second.

I've been on more than one road where the sign said "Stay in lane until merge point". (Eastern PA most often) Those are the rules Ebay has. You don't like them (obviously), but that doesn't make them immoral or wrong. (snip)

Some days it doesn't seem like it.

WHy should I stop bidding? Even your method doesn't get more $ out of me.

jk

So, why don't you let us know where these seller-optimal websites you like so much are? You're right that Ebay isn't the only game in town, but the rules are clear, and as both a buyer and seller I find that valuable. I don't like the games I've often seen at live auctions where you really can't see all the players.

Thanks, Pete

So you join them, do you?

Then why do you object to it?

I was about to post the same thing. I'll bet Dave can't figure out why using both lanes until the merge point is best practice either. It goes against his "ethics", so it must be bad.

Why am I not surprised. It's not "best practice", it's "screw you, I'm gonna get in front of you no matter what". Somehow, I'm not real optimistic that you'll "get it" on this either. I see a distinct pattern.

I'm sure you'll reply, but I'm done. There's nothing positive that could come from dragging this out further.

Right, the State Highway Dept. is advocating a "screw you" mentality when they post those signs. They have no logical reason (at least in Dave's little world). They're just in cahoots with the auto body shops and hospitals. Yeah, that's the ticket.

No point in explaining the real reason to someone with a padlock on his brain.