eBay's totally crushing my soul

[1duck]

i do mind getting bid up by an automated sniper which is just making me pay more than i would have had to pay if it wasn't there.

But a sniper IS just a person bidding - it's no different to someone sat there, counting down to press the button manually at the last second - Someone has still 'bid' more than you.

:?

It is different though, because if i'm against a machine i'm basically facing a reserve price...if i'm facing a human then it comes down to who can hold out longest before dropping their bid, i don't fancy my chances of competing with a computer.

I don't know if that makes sense? but yeah its about the level playing field basically if you want a computer to bid for you, just put your highest bid in from the outset surely.

 

[technodup]

I really don't get the moaning about sniping. Highest bid wins, not latest bid.

Man or computer, first day or last minute doesn't make any difference whatsoever. Highest bid wins.

Bid once, bid your maximum. It really is as simple as that.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I really don't get the moaning about sniping. Highest bid wins, not latest bid.

Man or computer, first day or last minute doesn't make any difference whatsoever. Highest bid wins.

Bid once, bid your maximum. It really is as simple as that.

To a point I agree.

I used to bid late and low for a lot of items, but I was making a business of it and if I bid on 20 and won 5 it was all I needed to keep things ticking along. Nowadays I use eBay and similar to get the odd thing, and if I really need it I will pay the money needed to get it. Not really bargain hunting in other words.

It is a little like a car boot sale.

If you see something you like and wait until the last five minutes to go back and make an offer, don't be too surprised if someone else is in there before you.

 

[technodup]

Don't get me wrong it's obviously not as 'exciting' as sitting there watching the seconds tick away sitting in first place hoping nobody's coming in at the last minute etc etc.

I've done both, but in the end the result is the same. Highest bid wins, end of story.

If people think Ebay is bad for that they should try a site where they add 5mins every time someone bids in the last 5mins. Now that is a pain in the arse, just when you think it's done some tit fires in a bid and it gives everyone else another chance, and so it goes on. Stupid, stupid stupid way of doing it.

Having said that the highest bid principle remains, it just takes longer than expected to get there.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

I tend to bid late and high.

At first I used to bid early on, but there were always some people who would bid slightly above the indicated maximum bid, and then bid again if they weren't the high bidder.
Leaving them in the lead with their low bid will save you a few £. Bid high in the last seconds, and they don't have time to try to increase their bid.

Doesn't always help much though, as sometimes other people use the same tactics on an item I'm going for. In those cases you just need to be the one with the biggest numbers.

 

[SantaHul]

Can I just point out a misunderstanding. I didn't snipe, I bid the day before it ended, and I had the highest bid at the end, but the second highest bid wasn't high enough to push it over the deserve. The seller delisted it with a low BIN and it sold before I saw it, which is why I was gutted.

Chalked it down to fate and bought a cheap Sun GT 10XL.

Agreed though, highest bidder always wins. But don't like it when you think you're getting a bargain to get shot down at the last minute.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

That's why you should bid high, SantaHul. If you only bid just enough, you can end up losing the auction. Bid as much as you're willing to pay (or as much as you can afford), and see what happens.
Sometimes you get a bargain, sometimes you get it for a realistic price, sometimes you don't get it but have the satisfaction that the other guy had to pay more.

 

[grahame]

I think what SantaHul was complaining about was that, although he was willing to go above the reserve, there were not sufficient competing bids (or at least not high enough) to push the auction above the reserve - Ebay does not increase your bid to meet the reserve unless somebody else bids against you to take the bids up to the reserve amount.

If another bidder had taken the auction up to reserve, he thinks he'd have "won" the auction. Nobody did, so the reserve was not met and the item not sold. The item was then relisted with a "Buy It Now" price lower than he'd have been prepared to pay, but he didn't see the relisting until too late, and somebody else had bought the item.

I hope that makes sense. It did whilst it was still in my brain, the question is, did it make it to the keyboard in a sensible fashion?

 

[KDM]

Sniping is just a tool for those who want it cheap but are afraid that it might go for more money than they have but also live in hope that sitting on a computer for the last ten minutes of the sale will make a difference.

I know what I am willing to pay for an item, put my bid on and if I win then great and If I don't then someone wanted it for more than I was prepared to pay for it. In that respect sniping has little to do with any ebay sale

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

Maybe there should be an option to pay reserve if you're the highest bidder at the end.

I do sometimes think I'll buy at or near the list price but then don't bid if others do as I make a point of not collecting stuff I don't need just because it's cheap.

I also bid late and at my maximum, otherwise I over value things and pay over the odds, bidding late give me no time to over think things.

As for the OP that is unlucky though it sounds to me like a buy it now deal had been struck before the item was re listed, Check the listing time against the bid time and they're usually secons apart.