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Ebay sniping


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Originally posted by Funderbunk

How do
I
drive up the price of auctions? If I'm willing to pay $200 bucks for something, the only way to beat me is to be willing to pay more. If they "really want the stuff", then they have to be willing to spend more than I'm willing to spend - that's all there is to it.

 

 

This is certainly true no matter when people bid.

 

The point is that if I bid my $220 an hour before the auction's end, you will see the proxy bid of $205. You might feel compelled to say, "OK, I'll go $210." I'll still win. But for $215. If you don't see my bid, then I will win the auction at $205.

 

If $200 was really your highest bid, it wouldn't make a difference. But several posters here have whined about losing auctions by a fraction of a $. Those people would have bid again, given the opportunity. Sniping takes away that opportunity.

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Originally posted by dewees



This is certainly true no matter when people bid.


The point is that if I bid my $220 an hour before the auction's end, you will see the proxy bid of $205. You might feel compelled to say, "OK, I'll go $210." I'll still win. But for $215. If you don't see my bid, then I will win the auction at $205.

 

 

But see, that's my point. I was willing to spend $200. That was my max bid. That's what I entered. You bid more than me - congrats, I'm out. I don't drive up prices; in fact, quite the opposite. If I had sniping software (or was sitting there, refreshing like crazy), yeah, I would have driven the price up.

 

Second guessing your max bid and sniping are what drive up prices.

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Originally posted by Fosse Fox



You wouldn't pay an extra 2 cents for something you really wanted?
:rolleyes:

You sound like the sort of person who drives up the prices of auctions. If you're not prepared to win summat bad enough, you should let the people who really want the stuff win it.

How stupid is that comment? WOW!

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Originally posted by Funderbunk



But see, that's my point. I was willing to spend $200.
That was my max bid. That's what I entered.
You bid more than me - congrats, I'm out. I don't drive up prices; in fact, quite the opposite. If I had sniping software (or was sitting there, refreshing like crazy), yeah, I would have driven the price up.


Second guessing your max bid and sniping are what drive up prices.

 

 

I was probably editing when you posted:

 

If $200 was really your highest bid, it wouldn't make a difference. But several posters here have whined about losing auctions by a fraction of a $. Those people would have bid again, given the opportunity. Sniping takes away that opportunity.

 

Oh and absolutely - That second guessing is what sniping prevents. Not sure I see how sniping drives up prices...

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This is what I do. About 10 minutes before the auction is over, I bid on it. THEN I do that thing where you can tell Ebay the most you'll pay for it so that Ebay keeps bidding.

That way, I don't pay more than I want to and I don't get in the midst of bidding wars. Plus it stops the snipers.

Had one recently try to snipe a Boss phaser from me. Didn't work. :wave:

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"If I really wanted it, I should have..."

 

If I really want it, why would I go buy it, from a reputable distributor, and get good service, a warranty, and not have to pay shipping?

 

Ebay is turning into a pain in the butt. There are always threads about eBay complaints.

 

Use it and live with it, or don't use it.

 

Seems pretty simple.

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Fine, bid the maximum you want, but the way the psychology of bidding works, is you have to keep your max bid a secret until the very last moment.

It's pointless to show your hand several days or even hours or even minutes before the auction ends. Don't let competitive bidders know how much you are willing to spend. That keeps the prices lower. I have won many many auctions for sick low prices by doing it this way.

I decided exactly how much I want to spend, then I add on a couple of bucks. So for a $200 I'll bid say 207.88. Then, I never show that hand until the last 5 seconds of the auction.

I have sent many a competitive bidder running home crying this way. :D

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Originally posted by Pigsinzen

This is what I do. About 10 minutes before the auction is over, I bid on it. THEN I do that thing where you can tell Ebay the most you'll pay for it so that Ebay keeps bidding.


That way, I don't pay more than I want to and I don't get in the midst of bidding wars. Plus it stops the snipers.


Had one recently try to snipe a Boss phaser from me. Didn't work.
:wave:



10 minutes doesn't stop snipers. My program places bids a few as 15 seconds before the auction's end. As always, if your maximum bid is lower than mine, I'll win the auction.

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Originally posted by Funderbunk



That's true; I admit that I was wrong. However, they are annoying as hell.



That's where we're different, Fenderbunk - I would have found a way to argue that point until I made a complete ass of myself.

:D:cool:

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Originally posted by dewees



That's where we're different, Fenderbunk - I would have found a way to argue that point until I made a complete ass of myself.


:D:cool:



Eh, I think I'm getting too old (or too apathetic) to get into protracted message board drama anymore....:freak:

Which, actually, is probably why I deal with eBay the way I do. I'm not willing to put up with all this game playing, philosophy of the deal stuff. I'm trying to buy a guitar, not win a chess game. I decide what I want and my max bid, throw down, and if it goes my way, great. If not, well, there's always another guitar. :thu:

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Snipers don't make me angry quite as much as the people who bid within the first 2-3 days that the auction is put online. There's no reason to place a bid when there are 4 days left unless you're gonna be w/o internet for those 4 days. But it seems to happen very often where I'll see a great deal and within a day people have already beefed the price up a lot. People would pay a lot less for the item if they waited til the last day, or hour, or minute, to bid.

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Originally posted by ylwledbetter68

Snipers don't make me angry quite as much as the people who bid within the first 2-3 days that the auction is put online. There's no reason to place a bid when there are 4 days left unless you're gonna be w/o internet for those 4 days. But it seems to happen very often where I'll see a great deal and within a day people have already beefed the price up a lot. People would pay a lot less for the item if they waited til the last day, or hour, or minute, to bid.

 

 

Ummm... why shouldn't they bid early? If I am, indeed, willing to pay $200 bucks for something, then that's what I bid. Heck, I like bidding early - because I only bid once. Bid once, with my true genuine max bid, and if it goes over that, then I can forget it and start looking for something else.

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Originally posted by Funderbunk



Eh, I think I'm getting too old (or too apathetic) to get into protracted message board drama anymore....
:freak:



Man, I just turned 50! last Sunday.

I can't believe I survived that night in Cortez....

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Originally posted by Mighty Coogna!

They aught to have a 1 day grace period where you can browse the complete auctions and make another offer.
:wave:
No sniping allowed.

WOW! How do you allow an auction to go the full amount of time yet not allow people to bid in the last minute of the auction? How is the auction still live if you can't bid? So you can't bid in the last minute so everyone bids in the minute before. Rediculous.

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Originally posted by Funderbunk



Ummm... why shouldn't they bid early? If I am, indeed, willing to pay $200 bucks for something, then that's what I bid. Heck, I like bidding early - because I only bid once. Bid once, with my true genuine max bid, and if it goes over that, then I can forget it and start looking for something else.

Ya,why do people think they have the right to decide how others go about their bidding business. The auction is open for a set amount of time. Bid whenever you want.

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Originally posted by Mazi Bee



I decided exactly how much I want to spend, then I add on a couple of bucks. So for a $200 I'll bid say 207.88. Then, I never show that hand until the last 5 seconds of the auction.


I have sent many a competitive bidder running home crying this way.
:D



Thats what I used to do Mazi, and had a great deal of success. Then I started selling on Ebay, and after experiencing what it was like to see your treasured goods fetching piss all up to 10 mins before the auction end, I then started to bid earlier.

But I may return to this tactic. Thanks for the reminder of the way to go dude.....and thanks for being constructive unless some of the other bonfire pissers:cool:

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Originally posted by Funderbunk



Ummm... why shouldn't they bid early? If I am, indeed, willing to pay $200 bucks for something, then that's what I bid. Heck, I like bidding early - because I only bid once. Bid once, with my true genuine max bid, and if it goes over that, then I can forget it and start looking for something else.



In a real ideal world this would be the way to conduct the auction, and it's fairer on sellers. There was a period when sellers would quite frequently pulls items before the last 12 hours to prevent low selling prices. All my sales now are on BIN or Open to Offers. Sorry for getting arsey with you dude.....was a tad uptight earlier, and let my steam go where I shouldnt have.:(

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Originally posted by Fosse Fox

Sorry for getting arsey with you dude.....was a tad uptight earlier, and let my steam go where I shouldnt have.
:(



Hey, no problem - it sucks getting your hopes up for a new toy, and then not getting it.

It took me a long time to be able to set aside the emotional aspect of eBay - it's so easy to get sucked in. But like I said earlier, there's always another guitar out there that'll show up tomorrow, or next week, or the week after... (I guess they're like women like that...) :D

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I'm with Mazi on this. I always bid with one second left. I don't give anyone an opportunity to outbid me. If i bid my max early, someone will outbid me.
I've won nearly every auction I wanted and always for less than my max bid. Sometimes for much less.
As a buyer, you want to win and win at the lowest possible cost. I have a max for an item I want but I don't want to spend it if I don't have to.

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