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[subversus]

Yeah, I expected this but I didn't expect people increasing bids in the last 5 seconds! I thought 10 seconds were enough. And that's for an old lens.

So you must sit there and wait for the last 1-2 seconds to pull the trigger?

 

[cbox]

bid snipers are why I stopped using ebay.

 

[The Interrobanger]

Put in the absolute max you're willing to spend. If it goes over, someone was willing to pay more.

That's what an auction is, so deal with it.

 

[subversus]

so, it's a common problem, I see.

 

[DemiMatt]

Just be prepared not to cheap out on what you want (if you really want it). There have been many a time i've cheaped out on something super hard to find because the extra 5 was "too much"

 

[Borgnine]

It's even worse as a seller because your item is like 50 cents for a week and then goes up $1000 in the last 5 seconds. Even though it's not true, you can't help but feel that if the trend was allowed to continue for just 5 more minutes, you would have a million dollars.

 

[Shiv47]

Pretty much what's been said. That being the case, I've used the auction site for a movie poster seller that automatically extends the bidding another few minutes when someone tries to bid in the last few seconds, which is a nice way of killing part of the impetus to snipe, since whoever you outbid now has more time to bid again.

 

[Like the hat?]

I bid what I'm willing to pay at the beginning and if I get outbid I say screw it

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Put in the absolute max you're willing to spend. If it goes over, someone was willing to pay more.

That's what an auction is, so deal with it.

Pretty much this. If you're going on eBay with the intent of getting an incredible deal then you should prepare to be disappointed sometimes. If you're just looking for something not easily found in stores, then ask yourself what you're willing to spend to get it.

 

[kehs]

You don't win anything.

You just offer more money than anyone else.

 

[Stealth Editor]

Time is not even an issue. Just put the max amount you are willing to pay. Chances are, you'll end up paying less than that.

If you get outbidded and the auction end at a price lower than what you were willing to pay, it's your own damn fault.

 

[Smithy C]

I buy dumb shit that no one else wants.

 

[FLEABttn]

Put in the absolute max you're willing to spend. If it goes over, someone was willing to pay more.

That's what an auction is, so deal with it.

That may be how a real auction works, but that's not how eBay works. You're likely to spend more and come out empty handed by doing this.

 

[Kosmo]

bid snipers are why I stopped using ebay.

Set you maximum bid, be done with it. Why is this so hard to understand?

 

[subversus]

It's even worse as a seller because your item is like 50 cents for a week and then goes up $1000 in the last 5 seconds. Even though it's not true, you can't help but feel that if the trend was allowed to continue for just 5 more minutes, you would have a million dollars.

Now I sort of understand that guy who bought MW3 for 1400$ or something like that. Got carried away, lol.

 

[acheron_xl]

bid snipers are why I stopped using ebay.

If you can't beat em, join em. If you can't sit on the end of the auction, you just don't want it bad enough.

 

[Borgnine]

Never understood why Ebay never did anything about the sniping. Once people are invested in an auction, they are willing to spend more than they intended if given the chance. It's more money for everyone.

 

[krae_man]

I always turn one click bidding on and place my max bid in the last 5 seconds. If I win, I win. if I don't, I don't.

Yahoo Japan adds time to the auction when there are multiple bidders in the last few minutes. Now that's EVIL.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

It's even worse as a seller because your item is like 50 cents for a week and then goes up $1000 in the last 5 seconds. Even though it's not true, you can't help but feel that if the trend was allowed to continue for just 5 more minutes, you would have a million dollars.

That's terrible for buyers though.
When people bid in the last seconds to find out still haven't outbid the previous bid, then they go in a panic to increase their bid without much thought.

So a widely available used video game might end up selling for over $60 plus the shipping from panic bidding.

 

[Quadrangulum]

It's very easy if the item doesn't have ridiculous demand. If it does, I stay until the end of the auction.

 

[acheron_xl]

That's terrible for buyers though.
When people bid in the last seconds to find out they still haven't outbid the previous bid, they then go in a panic to increase their bid without much thought.

So a widely available used video game might end up selling for over $60 plus the shipping from panic bidding.

Too bad. People shouldn't bid money they're not willing to spend.

 

[Kosmo]

Now I sort of understand that guy who bought MW3 for 1400$ or something like that. Got carried away, lol.

LOL I remember selling an original 20GB PS3 when they launched. Last 2 minutes went from $600 to $800 to $1000 and finally a last bid around $1300. Was quite a rush TBH

 

[tokkun]

There are websites you can use to autobid for you in the last few seconds of the auction, so you don't even need to wait at your computer.

 

[krae_man]

LOL I remember selling an original 20GB PS3 when they launched. Last 2 minutes went from $600 to $800 to $1000 and finally a last bid around $1300. Was quite a rush TBH

Did the winner actually pay up? There were tons of people fake bidding on those consoles IIRC.

 

[D4Danger]

Never understood why Ebay never did anything about the sniping. Once people are invested in an auction, they are willing to spend more than they intended if given the chance. It's more money for everyone.

they should have a system that takes the clock back up to 1 minute if a bid is made in the last 59 seconds

I lost once because someone bid in the last 2 seconds and I had no time to do anything about it. such bullshit.

 

[ascii42]

Set you maximum bid, be done with it. Why is this so hard to understand?

I agree with you, but that can be tricky, for certain things. I've bid on cars before, and there have been situations where I bid $3000, but, if I'm honest, I'll probably be willing to pay more. But how much more is hard to decide. And if I've got the highest bid, but there's still a reserve, I might not want to try bidding up to the reserve to early, in the hopes that the existence of the reserve might dissuade bidders.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

95% of the time I use buy it now.

It's items that are worth that or only have that option.

 

[kehs]

Auctions should be indefinite.

 

[Kosmo]

Did the winner actually pay up? There were tons of people fake bidding on those consoles IIRC.

Yep, I've never really had an issue with buyers, other than one who tried to get me to ship to a non-verified address in Texas (she lived in Brooklyn, where I shipped to her verified address) and was aghast that I told her to bring the slip down to the post office "because going to the post office here isn't easy!" to pick it up. I simply said that if the 360 ended up back on my porch I would consider it a gift. Never heard from her, though I did describe her as a cunt on one message board and she somehow found it and threatened to sue me, LOL

I agree with you, but that can be tricky, for certain things. I've bid on cars before, and there have been situations where I bid $3000, but, if I'm honest, I'll probably be willing to pay more. But how much more is hard to decide. And if I've got the highest bid, but there's still a reserve, I might not want to try bidding up to the reserve to early, in the hopes that the existence of the reserve might dissuade bidders.

If you're not willing to enter the bid, you're not willing to pay it - I always laugh when I put an item with a buyt it now for around $200 with a $0.01 starting bid and people say "I'll give you $180 right now!" I say "Enter $180 as your maximum bid, you might get it for less.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Sniping programs are available if you don't want to sit there, or can't at the last second.

As others have stated, if you have a firm price you can set that and win if you win. However, if you win you will probably pay more. This is because other people will drive up the prices, usually in small increments, and also think about increasing their max prices to improve their chances of winning.

Sniping works because you don't give yourself enough time to second guess. It works better because it doesn't give somebody else enough time to decide that they are, in fact, willing to pay more than you. If you win, you did so at what was actually at or below your maximum price. If you lose, then somebody was willing to pay more, no problem. But because nobody has time to say, well, I'm willing to go a dollar or five more, there is nobody to drive up the price incrementally on the ultimate buyer, even if they never win.

I think its ignorant to hate on snipers for acting strategically in their best interests, especially when you are able to either bid late yourself, or set yourself a firm price at any point during the auction, and let others pay what they want to pay.

 

[DrFunk]

95% of the time I use buy it now.

It's items that are worth that or only have that option.

This.

Mass denial is so satisfying

 

[hsin]

Yeah, I expected this but I didn't expect people increasing bids in the last 5 seconds! I thought 10 seconds were enough. And that's for an old lens.

So you must sit there and wait for the last 1-2 seconds to pull the trigger?

1-2 secs might be too late. 5 secs is about the threshold for a successful snipe.

 

[GavinGT]

But it Now only, no exceptions. Ship that shit ASAP.

 

[Jarmel]

Gixen is King. Won some signed Crash stuff earlier this week due to Gixen. I now snipe every auction on Ebay. Faster, easier, and makes people assume there is less interest for a good than there really is.

 

[George Claw M.D.]

Real auctions don't abruptly end while people are still actively bidding. On eBay, last-second-sniping is the best way to minimize your winning bid, regardless of how much you're willing to spend. You can set the same maximum bid amount 10 days or 10 seconds before end of auction, and the bid 10 seconds 'til end will always yield a final price less than or equal to the earlier bid, but never the other way around.

And for those who complain about being beaten by bids at 2 seconds left, well did you bid your maximum amount, or didn't you? Even though sniping helps to minimize the final winning bid, a sniper still has to place a higher bid than everyone else. So, I really don't see what the complaint is about. eBay isn't a live auction with an auctioneer there to give people a chance to outbid each other. Once the clock stops, it's over.

I like Buy-It-Now, also, but sometimes you can get really good deals on the auctions, and sometimes an item is so rare, that there are no BIN listings, or are listed at an overly-inflated price.

Here's a recent personal eBay victory of mine. I found a rare collectable listed on eBay, at a starting bid of $800. It was a 5-day auction, and this particular item rarely popped-up on eBay, except for a couple of grossly-overpriced BIN listings. I was willing to pay up to $900 for it, but waited until the last 10 seconds to place my bid. As the timer counted closer to the 10 second mark, there were still zero bids. I placed my bid for $900, and won the item. To my surprise, the final price was $840. Someone else had actually put in his own sniper bid, but didn't bid high enough.

Moral of the story ... bid your maximum amount, but wait until the final seconds if possible. If you still lose the auction, then someone was willing to pay more. You can always place an early bid for your maximum amount, but it's not the most efficient method, and you only increase the chances that someone else will actually outbid you.

 

[Snaku]

Bid the maximum amount I'm willing to pay in the last 5 seconds. I hate auctions though, and mostly stick to Buy It Now's.

 

[Drkirby]

I just use bid sniping programs, also allows me to essentially cancel a bid, since it won't be made till the last few seconds.

 

[Urban Scholar]

"buy now" I just hit that button

 

[teruterubozu]

misspelled listings FTW!