Getting so sick and tired of being 'sniped'

[JR6ooo4]

I can bid by $40 over the next highest bid, by proxy, and ebay only adds the minimum dollar increment, which is often one dollar. That is why you see that amount.

Mikeeee

 

[joyjoy]

My boyfriend buys a lot on eBay and absolutely uses sniping software. What's not fair? You can get it, too. It's free and it works. There's no way he's waiting up until an auction ends at 3 a.m. to politely enter another bid with 5 minutes to go. That's crazy. It's kind of like saying it's not fair that those weirdo shoppers that waited outside Best Buy all night get to go in first when they open. It's just a fact, not any kind of foul play. If you want to compete on eBay, you'll have to conform and get the same tools. By the way, he has been eBaying since the mid-nineties as well. Not that that matters.

 

[surfergirl602]

I never bid until the last minute. Why drive the price up for myself by bidding early? I want it for the cheapest price possible, so why not wait? I enter my max bid of what I am willing to spend on it, and then always refresh. If someone is getting close, I will bid higher, always at an odd amount, like 7.61. Usually it has you bid in like, .50 cent incraments on most things.

 

[LisaR]

I've certainly never messaged anyone for doing it. And what you did, was bid.

Out bid me last minute - fine. The sniping bugs me. It's always $1 more than what I put in - exactly. And done within seconds of auction end (in this case - 7 seconds). Odds are, that's a snipe - not a person, sitting there bidding.

I've just had it happen so many times, I'm tired of it. I'm just whining. I know.

I am not understanding this. First, how do you know you were sniped and someone didn't just bid at the last minute? The $1 more than your bid doesn't make sense to me. I won my auction by $1. The only bid was for $11.01. I forget how much Ebay said my bid needed to be but I put in an amount of $15 to cover my bases. Ebay took care of it from there. They adjusted for her highest bid and mine and I won the auction.

And I don't know how someone messaged you, when eBay no longer shows user ID's of other bidders.




As the only way of not being sniped? I'm physically sitting there, bidding. I'm not using software.

We obviously are not going to agree, and for some reason you're angry with my thread. So be it.

Hmmm......if it is true that email addresses are hidden, then I am concerned. I don't know how she got my email but she did. I have a nasty gram in my trash folder. Not that I would post it on here anyway, but if I wanted to, I couldn't. It isn't Dis appropriate! I might forward it on to Ebay if this person shouldn't have access to my email. She certainly let me know how she felt.

 

[Uuaww]

I'm not understanding how sniping is unfair. You have a bid, the maximum that you are willing to spend. Someone else has a big, their maximum. If the snipe is under yours, you win, if it's over you win. If you want the item, put in higher bids.

 

[Rora]

I've never used sniping software before and really understand how Cathryn feels.. it just sometimes stinks when you really want something and have been bidding and then lose it. Sniping or no sniping. It still stinks. Of course, it's fair and that's what an auction is but still..

 

[legalsea]

As a long-time seller, and buyer, on ebay here is my take:

1. If you are bidding on an item that you absolutely want, then place your bid for the top dollar you are willing to pay. Who knows? You may well get it for less. As so often stated, ebay will 'up' your bid if other people bid, up to your limit.

2. If I bid my top amount, and someone outbids me, then I do not worry about it because they were willing to pay more for the item than I would.

3. My personal wish: I wish that Ebay would change their methods so that an auction is automatically extended if there is a bid in the last minute or so. Hence, if there is 10 seconds left on an auction, and a new bid comes in that raises the amount, then the auction automatically extends for five minutes. Then, after a five minute period has gone by without a new bid, the auction ends.

I have been to 'real' auctions, and I have never seen an auctioneer, during a period of hot bidding, announce "Times up! No more bids!"

 

[MosMom]

Sniping doesn't always work. I wanted something and had my set price. I tried in the last few seconds and they had their bid higher. If you really want something. Set your max price. That way, you're only bidding your max price for it whether you get it or not.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I always snipe. If you want to win & get the best price sniping is the only way to go. I always set mine to 3 seconds.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

We snipe here too. I love the thrill of it! Even as an Ebay seller, I never minded my items being sniped. To each his own though...it's a love/hate sort of thing.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

We snipe here too. I love the thrill of it! Even as an Ebay seller, I never minded my items being sniped. To each his own though...it's a love/hate sort of thing.

Definitely. I use to hate it until I started sniping too. Now I love it - it makes Ebay so much easier to deal with. Now I just set my max price and go. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose, but at least I never overbid anymore.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

The previous posters are right - sniping is sniping, whether you do it manually or using software (I will freely admit to doing both!). What you do is no different than a person who uses software, except that the person using software usually has to pay a fee to use it. When I want something badly enough, I'm willing to pay the fee.

By the way, with your seven second "snipe", I could outsnipe you every time, manually. My manual snipes are usually within the last three seconds, and I've gotten very good at it.

 

[CathrynRose]

I fully admitted, this was a whining thread.

I d/l'd the link a PP poster provided. I guess I will 'join 'em' since I need to sleep, and can't be attempting to beat them at midnight.

 

[ilovejack02]

I guess I snipe too. I never bid till the last min and usually so at the last 10 seconds or so. As a pp has said, I have gotten pretty good at it also.

I also dont get to emotionally attached to things on ebay .. I always remember that I can lose it. LOL I do remember the first cpl of times people outbid me.. I would get all worked up and then end up spending more than I wanted, now I just wait till end.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

I fully admitted, this was a whining thread.

I d/l'd the link a PP poster provided. I guess I will 'join 'em' since I need to sleep, and can't be attempting to beat them at midnight.

Welcome to the dark side!

 

[robinb]

The snipe doesn't win by 10, 15, 20 bucks. They win by a dollar. I put it 'retail' price for this item. It really has nothing to do with the amount. Had that amount gone in more than 7 seconds before the auction ended, I would have raised mine - KWIM?

It doesn't give you a chance to raise your bid. And they don't have some obnoxiously higher than you were willing to pay, amount.

No auction is won by 10-15-20 bucks. They are always won by a dollar or less because of the way the eBay bidding software works. It increases your bid by the minimum amount over the highest current bid up to your maximum. All a snipe does is enter a person's maximum bid in the last few seconds. If your existing maximum bid is higher than the sniper's maximum bid you still win the auction.

In the interest of full disclosure, I usually snipe. I would rather snipe all at once than to have my bid nibbled away. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose.

 

[dis-happy]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who thrives on the adrenaline rush of a last second bid! I always do it manually and really, I can't think of a time I've lost (but I also make use of buy it now, and will not even bother to bid at all if the price is higher than I want to pay in the hours before an auction closes). And it's a dirty secret, but if there are a lot of bids early on I'm always suspicious that the seller has a friend or second account that's being used to drive up the price. Last week I snagged a vintage lunchbox I wanted, got it for $65. and the one selling earlier in the day (with lots of early bids) went for $260. which was way out of line (wasn't in perfect condition of anything like that).

The only thing that matters in an auction is the last minute. Bidding 4 days earlier and watching it and re-entering bids only drives up the price and potential interest. Save time and money by waiting until the last minute.

Now, if only I can get my dh to understand that the only part of the football game that matters is the last 10 minutes or so. It's what decides who wins or loses, right?

 

[glitterkittyy]

Remember, it's not the last bid that gets the item, it's the highest bid! So bid your TRUE maximum when you place your bid.

Just because someone won at $1 more than your highest bid, doesn't mean that's what the sniper bid. Their highest could have been $50 more than yours, but they only need to win by one increment more than your high bid so that's why you only see $1.

By bidding the most you are willing to pay when you place your bid, you don't have to worry about sniping. If you are outbid during any stage of the auction, it just means that someone was willing to spend more than you to get the item so you can move on and look for others.

ETA: I'm a sniper myself. I do it by hand, and you wouldn't know if it was electronic or manual by looking at the auction.

 

[JessicaR]

My proxy bid is the highest price I am willing to pay for an item. I don't usually lose an auction to snipers unless they are willing to spend as much.

 

[AlleyKat]

What infuriates me are "fighters"!

I'd love to throttle those bidders that exhibit what I consider childish behavior. It's the same as "That's mine", "No, it's mine" tug of war kids do when arguing over a toy or game.

I don't understand how it's not apparent to them that their actions are driving the price up on the very item they may end up having to purchase.

What they don't realize is that bidders, such as myself, are watching and waiting until the last seconds of the auction, laughing to themselves as neither "fighter" ends up with the item!

Two seconds, five seconds, it doesn't matter how I manually snipe as I bid far and above the highest bid shown!