Ebay Sniping, can my maximum bid beat a last minute snipe attempt?

[alm99]

I am not really sure how the sniping end of this works.

I am watching a vehicle on ebay and I want to put in my maximum bid towards the end of the auction, but I am worried about someone sniping it. Does the person using a sniping service need to put in a maximum amount they are willing to snipe the auction for?

Say my maximum bid is $5k, would the sniping service automatically beat my bid or is their a predetermined amount by the person doing the sniping?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Um, do you really not know how eBay bidding works? Regardless of your maximum bid, if they put in an amount higher than your maximum bid, they outbid you. Get it?

 

[ChaoZ]

Depends what they put as their maximum bid. The bidder would have to be an idiot not to set a maximum.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Predetermined by the sniper. If their maximum bid isn't higher than yours, you win.

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Predetermined by the sniper. If their maximum bid isn't higher than yours, you win.

Thanks

 

[Epic Fail]

Time has no relevant in auctions, you bid whatever you are willing to pay.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
Time has no relevant in auctions, you bid whatever you are willing to pay.

WRONG

You assume that bids are static, independent of other bids. In reality, it's more of a game theory set up, where overbidding someone in turn makes them bid higher than before. Sniping takes away the other guys chance of retort.

 

[UberNeuman]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
Time has no relevant in auctions, you bid whatever you are willing to pay.

I'd still recommend holding until near the end of the auction to place such a bid, as you could still have someone else out there that will keep chipping away until they can beat your max bid, thus driving up the price of what you're trying to win should your bid win...

and if someone else wants what you do badly enough - then they will be there to snip...

 

[alm99]

If my max bid is $5k, the auction is $4,500 with 10 seconds left, they snipe at 3 seconds for say $4,700, would ebay have enough time to override their snipe and automatically increase my bid beyond their snipe amount?

 

[UberNeuman]

Originally posted by: alm99
If my max bid is $5k, the auction is $4,500 with 10 seconds left, they snipe at 3 seconds for say $4,700, would ebay have enough time to override their snipe and automatically increase my bid beyond their snipe amount?

It's automatic. If your max bid is 5k and if they keep sniping (the sniper will be told that they're still outbid) and if they choose they can keep biding to try to go over your max bid, if they do then they'll win the auction...

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: alm99
If my max bid is $5k, the auction is $4,500 with 10 seconds left, they snipe at 3 seconds for say $4,700, would ebay have enough time to override their snipe and automatically increase my bid beyond their snipe amount?

Ebay doesn't need "time" to automatically increase your bid beyond their snipe amount. It would happen the same time their bid is posted-- with 3 seconds left you would see your posted bid jump to $4710 or whatever is needed to just beat the snipe amount.

The sniper would then have less than 3 seconds to update their maximum bid amount and try again-- but in practice this isn't enough time to do anything.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
Time has no relevant in auctions, you bid whatever you are willing to pay.

So wrong....and ironic name, there.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
Time has no relevant in auctions, you bid whatever you are willing to pay.

So wrong....and ironic name, there.

lollerskates

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: alm99
If my max bid is $5k, the auction is $4,500 with 10 seconds left, they snipe at 3 seconds for say $4,700, would ebay have enough time to override their snipe and automatically increase my bid beyond their snipe amount?

Yes. Ebay already knows your maximum amount. In your scenario, your max is set at 5k. You are currently high bidder at 4500. All the sniper is going to accomplish by coming in at the last second with 4700 is bumping you up closer to your max. Won't be any different than if he put that 4700 bid with 2 days to go....only by sniping, it's win or lose....you won't have time to raise your bid if you don't bid enough.

With the proxy bidding, essentially the high bid IS 5k....but neither the other bidders nor the seller know that. Only way to find out is to keep bidding more until they get over your max....which, again, won't happen in your scenario.

 

[Baked]

Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

 

[Brovane]

One thing that I have found in bidding on ebay it to use odd amounts for my maximum bid. For example if I am bidding on a item I would set my maximum bid at say $57 some odd amount and not do $50 or $55 exactly. Sometimes I have noticed that snipers will take you up to some predetermined amount. Say in this instance if I bid a maximum of $55 on a item the sniper might bid $55.50 and out bid me. However if I bid $57 and he bids $55.50 and he is still out bid he is left wondering how much higher I have my max bid setup. Sometimes it is to easy to settle on a even amount and the sniper will assume that to sometimes. In car instance if I were you I would bid something $5,070 not $5,000 exactly. I don't know if this makes any sense but it has worked for me in the past.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: Baked
Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

Dead wrong.

Sincerely,

Thousands of snipers including myself that have won auctions in the last few seconds...saving lots of cash by not giving anyone a chance to come back and bump our bid up.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Baked
Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

Dead wrong.

Sincerely,

Thousands of snipers including myself that have won auctions in the last few seconds...saving lots of cash by not giving anyone a chance to come back and bump our bid up.

Ding ding ding .... this is exactly why Nash got a Nobel prize in economics. People always assume static games, even though in reality the other players respond to your actions.

 

[Baked]

>_< Why would it matter if you set your max bid at a certain amount and having somebody else outbid you and win the item? The sniping system doesn't know the max bid either, it just bids above the current bid at the last sec. So if the current bid's 21 w/ the max bid of 25, the sniping service will bid 22 at the last sec, you still win. If somebody really wants the item and set a high max bid, you're gonna lose whether you use the sniping service or note. Don't you set a max bid limit w/ the sniping service too?

 

[DrPizza]

I've been frequenting another auction site online (they specialize in auctioning surplus items for schools, towns, and cities from NY.) What's great about that site is that it behaves more like a real auction. If someone bids during the last minute, the auction is extended by 1 minute, just as a *real* auction would be extended.


I'd give you noobs a link, but then, there'd be more people bidding against me!

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Baked
>_< Why would it matter if you set your max bid at a certain amount and having somebody else outbid you and win the item? The sniping system doesn't know the max bid either, it just bids above the current bid at the last sec. So if the current bid's 21 w/ the max bid of 25, the sniping service will bid 22 at the last sec, you still win. If somebody really wants the item and set a high max bid, you're gonna lose whether you use the sniping service or note. Don't you set a max bid limit w/ the sniping service too?

You have to tell the sniping program exactly what you want your bid to be when you set it. Depending on when you program the snipe, the amount you put in may not even be enough to match the current high bid.

 

[KKR]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Baked
Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

Dead wrong.

Sincerely,

Thousands of snipers including myself that have won auctions in the last few seconds...saving lots of cash by not giving anyone a chance to come back and bump our bid up.

Ding ding ding .... this is exactly why Nash got a Nobel prize in economics. People always assume static games, even though in reality the other players respond to your actions.

Nash equilibrium does not apply in a Dutch auction setting.

Are you saying that one's value of a good increases with the number of bids? If the absolute maximum you were willing to pay for a stick of butter were $5 and somebody bid $5.01, would you raise your bid to $5.02, given the chance?

If one truly valued the stick of butter at $5, why would he pay a price that exceeded his true value? The idea behind a Dutch auction is that you bid your true value initially and pay a price that is equal to or less than that true value. Thus, time should not be an issue.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: KKR

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Baked
Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

Dead wrong.

Sincerely,

Thousands of snipers including myself that have won auctions in the last few seconds...saving lots of cash by not giving anyone a chance to come back and bump our bid up.

Ding ding ding .... this is exactly why Nash got a Nobel prize in economics. People always assume static games, even though in reality the other players respond to your actions.

Nash equilibrium does not apply in a Dutch auction setting.

Are you saying that one's value of a good increases with the number of bids? If the absolute maximum you were willing to pay for a stick of butter were $5 and somebody bid $5.01, would you raise your bid to $5.02, given the chance?

If one truly valued the stick of butter at $5, why would he pay a price that exceeded his true value? The idea behind a Dutch auction is that you bid your true value initially and pay a price that is equal to or less than that true value. Thus, time should not be an issue.

I would guess that many bidders do not know the true maximum they would pay for the item when they place their first bid. I've seen auctions where a used item ends up selling for more than what a new one would cost. I'm guessing people just get emotional about it and keep telling themselves "It's only 5 more dollars" or however much they keep incrementing their bid by to try and win the item.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: KKR

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Baked
Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

Dead wrong.

Sincerely,

Thousands of snipers including myself that have won auctions in the last few seconds...saving lots of cash by not giving anyone a chance to come back and bump our bid up.

Ding ding ding .... this is exactly why Nash got a Nobel prize in economics. People always assume static games, even though in reality the other players respond to your actions.

Nash equilibrium does not apply in a Dutch auction setting.

Are you saying that one's value of a good increases with the number of bids? If the absolute maximum you were willing to pay for a stick of butter were $5 and somebody bid $5.01, would you raise your bid to $5.02, given the chance?

If one truly valued the stick of butter at $5, why would he pay a price that exceeded his true value? The idea behind a Dutch auction is that you bid your true value initially and pay a price that is equal to or less than that true value. Thus, time should not be an issue.

Well for once people don't bid their maximum or think they can overbid you by a slight amount. If I beat your bid by 50 cents, odds are ill go back and try to beat you by a slight amount.

The entire premise that people always bid their absolute maximum is empirically untrue - if it was the case, you'd only see one bid from a unique used per auction. That simply isn't the case.

Case point, check out one my recent auctions here
If the winner would just snipe in the end, the second highest wouldn't get a chance to retort bit by bit

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: KKR

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Baked
Put down the max amount you wanna pay and walk away. Sniping only jacks up the price, it doesn't win you the item. The only way somebody can find out the max bid is by going over your max bid.

Dead wrong.

Sincerely,

Thousands of snipers including myself that have won auctions in the last few seconds...saving lots of cash by not giving anyone a chance to come back and bump our bid up.

Ding ding ding .... this is exactly why Nash got a Nobel prize in economics. People always assume static games, even though in reality the other players respond to your actions.

Nash equilibrium does not apply in a Dutch auction setting.

Are you saying that one's value of a good increases with the number of bids? If the absolute maximum you were willing to pay for a stick of butter were $5 and somebody bid $5.01, would you raise your bid to $5.02, given the chance?

If one truly valued the stick of butter at $5, why would he pay a price that exceeded his true value? The idea behind a Dutch auction is that you bid your true value initially and pay a price that is equal to or less than that true value. Thus, time should not be an issue.

But if I wanted that stick of butter, and the current bid with a minute to go was 3 dollars, why not wait until the last few seconds to place that 5 dollar max? That way, the other person, who might not be using the proxy feature, can't come back and either bump me up to my max or even outbid me.
Saving money is why you snipe. You have to assume the rest of the bidders are stupid and will get competitive if you outbid them.....and that's a safe assumption since we've all seen it thousands of times. It either makes you pay more for an item or even loses it for you.
Sniping is final. You either win it at your max price or less, or you don't win. But there's no getting bumped up, either.