MRR Auctions - No Sniping? What fun is that?

Sniping is a "good thing" and an "advantage" in your opinion. Not everyone agree with it.

The rules outlined above are more inline with what happens in a real auction. The bidding ends only when there are no new bids, not at some pre-determined time.

I, for one, would MUCH rather deal with mrrauctions.com for that reason than use eBay.

Brian

That's true and that's the great thing about the internet - someone can start their own auction site if they want and make their own rules.

As far as agreeing with sniping, I only agree with it when I do it and win the item. When someone else does it and gets the item I wanted then I disagree :-)

Perhaps "real auctions" are going to be a thing of the past. eBay certainly has taken the auction market by storm. Buying and selling on eBay is a wonderful experience. I just read an article in the local paper where a car dealer has sold 5,000 vehicles on eBay so far. 70% of their used car business is now done on eBay.

The time limit can't be all that bad can it? I like knowing when the auction ends. I don't want the auction to potentially drag on forever because someone keeps bidding another dollar. I like knowing the auction ends at a specific, predetermined time. I too have a time limit and it is motivated by my patience, or lack thereof. Knowing when an auction ends allows me to plan my time. I like the stress of the last few minutes of an auction on something I really want. The repeated clicks of the refresh button to see if I am going to be the winner, the last minute bid, the final "Auction Has Ended" in red and hopefully my user ID in the winners spot...I love it.

On the selling side it is great as well. Again with the refresh to see if 2 guys are duking it out over something I listed. 90% of the time I am plesantly surprised at the outcome. I should list some things on mrrauctions to see how they compare. I wonder if the 5 minute delays would allow people to lose interest or lose that impulse the time limit creates.

That's great, to each his own. They both probably have positive qualities.

Good for you, maybe.

I think this line sums up the situation pretty well.

Whahhhh... me, me, me. To hell with the guy who was high bidder all week, your time is more important and he shouldn't be allowed the opportunity to place a new bid if they so desire. Sniping is all about you.

Cry me a river... if you want the item bad enough, place your bid earlier in the auction and let the natural bidding process take care of the rest.

Of course, you probably won't do that, because it makes things fairer for other potential buyers, and you might actually have to pay full market value for an item.

Before you ask, yes... I have sniped things at auction every now and then. More often, however, I just do my research on the item I want (such as MSRP, availability, condition, etc), and bid a fair price ahead of time. Then, I sit back and wait for the auction to close. Very rarely do I get sniped out of an item. Sometimes my original opening price gets bid up by others trying to find bargains, but I also don't have to sit in front of the computer waiting for auctions to close.

Seems to me the mrrauctions software would be more attractive to sellers. Why not extend the auction if people are willing to come back and keep bidding on it?

And your desiring the auction to continue to allow you to bid on it isn't about you?

Good for me too.

Nope, snipe, that's the way to get the item. It works almost every time.

They can do the same to me and the things I buy have no established fair market value (timetables, china, etc). Jim Stanton

EBay has automated the proxy bid this makes sniping an obvious tactic. If everybody does it, it becomes less effective. If EBay didn't like it they could end it with ease.

...

See that's the problem. There is no way to get rid of "sniping". All sniping is, is bidding near the end of a fixed time auction.

If you try something like, no bids in the last minute, all you've done is moved up the end of the auction by one minute. Then I'd snipe at 1:01. This "solution" can be iterated.....

Dave.

I'm quite aware of what sniping is, I've used it,successfully, a time or two. What I find baffling about EBay is the tendency for prices to go >1x of list (forget the lower prices you might find on the net or a good LHS). IT'S NUTS!!!!

Paul

Then don't bid. Nobody's forcing you to pay too much. If some idiot with more money that brains wants to pay twice what he would at his local hobby shop, I say let him!

Don

-- snipped-for-privacy@prodigy.net

snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com moderator: snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com co-moderator: snipped-for-privacy@Yahoogroups.com

Nope... and if you continued in my post, you saw that it's not. Extending the listing helps only the seller, because it allows the last minute "can't be outbid by the other guy" crowd battle it out. I don't "need" items so badly that I will sit around and wait for auctions to close.

As I said previously, I research the item, then bid what I feel is a fair amount. If I get the item, I get it. If not, then it's not the end of the world.

Why is it that no one else can bid? Any number of people can throw up a 'hail mary' in the final seconds of an auction.

---john.

Sounds more in line with the way a live auction works. The auctioneer doesn't end the bidding if someone comes with a last second bid during "Going.. going..."

Snipers are scum.

The real fun is seeing the results of three or four "Hail Marys" thrown in the closing seconds... when some schlump ends up paying $500 for a relatively common item because their ego got in the way of common sense. :-)

I had to laugh when, a while back, one seller listed about a dozen Walthers 89' auto racks on eBay. The snipers started hitting as the end of the listings approached, and took the auction prices well above MSRP in the closing minutes. I looked at the cars I was outbid on, went over to Caboose Hobbies' website, and found all of them in stock for about $7 cheaper per car. I saved enough to be able to order additional cars. :-)

Unfortunately, for a few bidders, sniping gets in the way of common sense. I suppose auction strategy depends on whether or not you wish to be an educated consumer, and bid accordingly, or simply "have" to be the winner of an item...

I see that as a good trade off when an item is extremely rare... but why do so many guys bid prices up into the stratosphere on items they can find at an online hobby supplier at a cheaper price?

I've been amazed at the number of times I've seen prices reach insane levels, only to log onto Caboose Hobbies' or Walthers' website and see the same item listed as "in stock" for a much better price.

Even if the item is rare, I'm inclined to sit and wait. Usually, if an item goes for a very high price, somebody else will list the same thing shortly thereafter, hoping to catch some of the "frenzy" from the first listing. 9 times out of 10, the item usually ends at a price much closer to where it would sell in a shop.

An auction house that currently has all of 45 items with a listed starting price at about current retail.

Choochooauctions.com which has been around since 1999 has 206 items listed, two of which are not tinplate.

I'm sure that ebay has crapped their pants in fear of these dangerous new auction houses....Not.

Eric

Charles Bix wrote:

A friend of mine just forwarded a link to mrrauctions.com. I don't understand why they would have what they call "dynamic auction ending". Apparantly it extends the auction by 5 minutes. Here is the wording from their site:

-On "other" auction sites you can get Sniped at the last second of an auction.

-Model Railroad Auctions extends the Auction if there is less than 5 minutes to go, by 5 minutes each time a bid is made.

-This helps Sellers achieve the maximum bid; and

-Gives Buyers an opportunity to respond to each bid.

Sniping is a good thing, I don't understand why they would take this online auction advantage away. So, conceivably the auction could go on forever and there is no specific end time? Maybe there is a market for this change and I don't see it. I don't want to have to continually go back to the auction site every 5 minutes after the end time to see if someone has bid me up. I want to bid at the last minute, win the damn thing, and get back to what I was doing.

Do I own stock in eBay? No.

CBix

By your logic, the auction should only be posted for five minutes, since that's how long the real action is.

Brian