Poll: Ebay sniping..yes or no?

[C'DaleRider]

Sniping doesn't work if you set a higher price than they do.

Exactly! I don't know why people whine about being sniped........they didn't set their maximum bid high enough and it's their fault for doing so. The key is to bid the max you're willing to pay...if someone "snipes" you at the end, they really didn't......they just paid more than you were willing. If they "snipe" you at the end and you're upset, then you didn't bid correctly. Simple as that.

 

[Stifko]

I have been sniped many times, and I snipe too.

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Only acceptable when I do it.

 

[B00ne]

Originally posted by: badluck
mellondust:

Use Google, it's your friend.... 🙂


I don't see why people get so bent out of shape about snipers. THe idea from the bidders standpoint is to pay the lowest price on an item. Not to be a nice guy and spend more money by out-bidding someone with 3 days left. A smart bidder figures out the highest price they are willing to pay for an item and does not pass this price. Bidding on an item with 4 days left makes no sense. All you do is encourage others to come along and outbid you. Then you come back and outbid them. Multiply this by a few bidders and the price can skyrocket quickly.

If you hold your bid until the last moment, there is a better chance that you will get the item at a lower price. By using this method, there is a chance you will be outbid by another sniper, but that leads me to my next point. Many people who bid early get caught up in bidding wars. And, sometimes you are bidding against a fake bidder, who is a creation of the seller (which is illegal). So, you are getting screwed, and you probably won't ever find out about it. From what I have seen, eBay does little to track these people. So why not use the system to your advantage (by sniping)??? Furthermore, I have seen bidders get caught up in a bidding war and out-bid the cost of the item. Or, they are so eager to win my auction that they outbid another seller who has the auction at a Buy It Now price lower than their high bid.

One more tip......say your high bid is $50....always bid $50.32 or some weird number. People don't do that and sometimes lose by .32 or an even smaller amount...... Lastly, I understand that some people cannot be around their computers at the last moment to make their final bid, but that is why you use a sniper program. 🙂

exactly, I always do it like that. Also when there are several auctions on the same product and ending times close to each other, always choose the auction with the lowest number of bidders - imho then there is less chance of the price skyrocketing shortly before end of auction

 

[BD2003]

I still think that ebay should extend the auction by 30 seconds every time a bid is made, that way everyone has a chance.

 

[JW310]

Originally posted by: BD2003
I still think that ebay should extend the auction by 30 seconds every time a bid is made, that way everyone has a chance.

A decent idea.... but.... there'd have to be a limit on the length of time the auction could be extended, otherwise the auction could just keep going on for a much longer time than intended, and may never end.

JW

 

[vi edit]

It's just part of the game.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: JW310

Originally posted by: BD2003 I still think that ebay should extend the auction by 30 seconds every time a bid is made, that way everyone has a chance.

A decent idea.... but.... there'd have to be a limit on the length of time the auction could be extended, otherwise the auction could just keep going on for a much longer time than intended, and may never end. JW

This would be implemented only if there are less than 30 seconds left of course. And I certinaly wouldnt be complaining if it was my item. Snipers take away from what i could have gotten if everyone had a fair chance.

 

[BigJohnKC]

funny story about sniping (well maybe only funny to me)

I bid on something a few months ago and won the auction. When I checked the list of bids, there were three bids within the last 45 seconds of the auction by one guy. The last bid was one dollar less than my proxy bid, and the bid was placed at exactly one second before the auction was over. I won, and I can't imagine how pissed that guy was. 😀

 

[Spamela]

i hated it when i first lost a few auctions, but now i think it adds to the excitement.

 

[slikmunks]

gonna do me some sniping and get me a putter

 

[xospec1alk]

there are programs to do this~!?!?!?

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: xospec1alk
there are programs to do this~!?!?!?

Yep

 

[Smolek]

Originally posted by: LordMaul

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
I think it's perfectly acceptable but pisses me off when someone else does it. 🙂

 

[killface]

Can anyone recomend a good sniping program?

 

[Triumph]

I've done it, so yes.

 

[tcsenter]

It's out bidding someone at the very last second to win an auction.

If it were that simple, I wouldn't have a problem with sniping. Don't get me wrong, since Ebay allows this to go on, and you CAN'T win a damned thing unless you snipe, I do it, too.

But I have a problem with a system that allows a person to bid $500 on an item with 10 seconds to go when a reasonable price on that item is $50. They have NO intention of paying that $500, that is not their "maximum bid" according to the literal and understood definition of that term. Maximum bid is the most you would pay for an item and there is no way in hell they intend to pay $500...or whatever they bid.

I am registered and have participated in many public auctions, including US Marshall and Treasury auctions through the General Services Administation. If you bid $500 on an item, you damn well better be prepared to come up with that $500. That's your bid!

When I first used Ebay I was furious to find out that people were winning by such unethical behavior and Ebay allowed it to go on. But when in Rome...

 

[Geekbabe]

sniping is the best part of ebay 🙂

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

It's out bidding someone at the very last second to win an auction.

If it were that simple, I wouldn't have a problem with sniping. Don't get me wrong, since Ebay allows this to go on, and you CAN'T win a damned thing unless you snipe, I do it, too.

But I have a problem with a system that allows a person to bid $500 on an item with 10 seconds to go when a reasonable price on that item is $50. They have NO intention of paying that $500, that is not their "maximum bid" according to the literal and understood definition of that term. Maximum bid is the most you would pay for an item and there is no way in hell they intend to pay $500...or whatever they bid.

I am registered and have participated in many public auctions, including US Marshall and Treasury auctions through the General Services Administation. If you bid $500 on an item, you damn well better be prepared to come up with that $500. That's your bid!

When I first used Ebay I was furious to find out that people were winning by such unethical behavior and Ebay allowed it to go on. But when in Rome...

???
The system merely allows you to define your maximum bid.
You could be at a real auction and define a $500 maximum bid in your mind as well. But if the next highest bidder decided $50 was going to be his maximum, then you still only pay $51.
In both cases, god forbid some other whacko have $499 in his head as a maximum, you'd better be ready to cough up the $500. Decide how much you're willing to pay and bid! Whether you snipe or not, if you're willing to pay the most, you win. Isnt' that the way auctions are supposed to work, anyway?

The item you type in the box isn't your bid, it's your LIMIT. Your bid is one increment above the previous high bid.

 

[tcsenter]

You could be at a real auction and define a $500 maximum bid in your mind as well. But if the next highest bidder decided $50 was going to be his maximum, then you still only pay $51.

Defining a maximum bid in one's mind, and setting a false maximum bid by proxy in order to automatically out-incrementally bid someone in the last 5 seconds, are very different things.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

You could be at a real auction and define a $500 maximum bid in your mind as well. But if the next highest bidder decided $50 was going to be his maximum, then you still only pay $51.

Defining a maximum bid in one's mind, and setting a false maximum bid by proxy in order to automatically out-incrementally bid someone in the last 5 seconds, are very different things.

The bids are evaluated instantaneously. Sniping is irrelevant. If someone is selling a paperclip and I put a high bid of $500, it doesn't matter if I put it in as soon as the auction opens or one second before it closes. Anyone who bids less than that will be incrementally outbid. The only thing unethical is that if you set your max of $500 and then if it actually gets that high renegging.

The only reason sniping works is because people do it wrong to begin with. If everyone simply decided the absolute maximum they wanted to pay and registered that as their maximum, sniping wouldn't be useful.
But everyone decides they want to put in a lowball maximum bid and only raise it if they get outbid, and then they feel cheated after they get sniped, but had they done it right in the first place, they would be immune to sniping.

 

[tcsenter]

The bids are evaluated instantaneously. Sniping is irrelevant. If someone is selling a paperclip and I put a high bid of $500, it doesn't matter if I put it in as soon as the auction opens or one second before it closes. Anyone who bids less than that will be incrementally outbid. The only thing unethical is that if you set your max of $500 and then if it actually gets that high renegging.

It DOES matter. You wouldn't be foolish enough to place a falsely high maximum bid at the start of the auction, because that opens the real possibility that the current bid may far exceed what you're "truly" willing to pay well before the end of the auction and you can't 'retract' your maximum bid without consequences. The proxy system can't "handle" more than perhaps five (or so) "new" maximum bid submissions in the last several seconds of the auction, making it very unlikely that the winning bid will be more than five (or so) increments above what the current bid was at the time you placed your maximum bid. This is exactly why sniping works and why its reasonably safe, although not 100%, to place a maximum bid that exceeds what you're "truly" willing to pay without a great risk that the proxy system will ever reach your maximum bid.

On edit: I'm not sure if that makes sense, so I changed a few words. hehe

 

[Jzero]

You wouldn't be foolish enough to place a falsely high maximum bid at the start of the auction, because that opens the real possibility that the current bid may far exceed what you're "truly" willing to pay well before the end of the auction and you can't 'retract' your maximum bid without consequences.

It makes no difference WHEN the bid is placed. If you're willing to list a max you're unwilling to pay should it get that high, you're being unethical whether you bid early or late.
Further to that, if you bid absurdly high early or late makes no matter. If someone else's bid is high enough to exceed your "true" max, then you are going to get screwed whether you bid first or last.

The proxy system can't "handle" more than perhaps five "new" bid increments in the last several seconds of the auction, making it very unlikely that the winning bid will be more than five (or so) increments above what the current bid was at the time you placed your maximum bid. This is exactly why sniping works.

Oh, really? If that's true, Ebay won't admit it....you got anything to back that up? I suspect it can handle quite a few bids simultaneously, and, it's not like it has to sit there and count them out--if 3 bids come at once, one for $5, one for $50 and one for $5000, the computer doesn't say
"OK $5! do I hear $10? OK! $10!"
It evaluates that the highest max bid is $5000, the next highest max is $50, the increment is $5, so the resultant price becomes $55. It doesn't require a lot of calculation.

 

[tcsenter]

It makes no difference WHEN the bid is placed. If you're willing to list a max you're unwilling to pay should it get that high, you're being unethical whether you bid early or late.

Yeah, as I said its unethical, but it happens. I'm sure it happens far less today than it did when sniping programs were relatively new and far fewer people were using them. Now, sniping is pretty competitive, a lot of people are doing it, and I would think the risk of making a falsely high maximum bid in the last several seconds is far greater than most snipers would be willing to take. But, there are always a few...

I suspect it can handle quite a few bids simultaneously, and, it's not like it has to sit there and count them out--if 3 bids come at once, one for $5, one for $50 and one for $5000, the computer doesn't say "OK $5! do I hear $10? OK! $10!" It evaluates that the highest max bid is $5000, the next highest max is $50, the increment is $5, so the resultant price becomes $55. It doesn't require a lot of calculation.

I realize that. That's not what I intended to imply, but realized later that it may have read that way.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

It makes no difference WHEN the bid is placed. If you're willing to list a max you're unwilling to pay should it get that high, you're being unethical whether you bid early or late.

Yeah, as I said its unethical, but it happens.

So, we agree that it's clearly unethical to list a maximum bid higher than what you're willing to pay.
Would you also agree that sniping isn't unethical unless you bid higher than you would pay as your maximum bid?
It's not sniping that's unethical, it's saying that you agree to pay up-to "X" dollars when you don't really agree that is unethical, and that can happen regardless of sniping.
If everyone played the way Ebay tells them to (Bid your maximum and leave it at that) then sniping wouldn't be effective at all.
I've always been a proponent of limiting the number of times you can raise your maximum bid, and also having auctions not just extend after the last bid comes in, but to EXPIRE after the first bid comes in. Even if it's a 5-day auction, once someone bids, a clock should begin ticking, perhaps even a randomized one so no one knows when the auction is going to end except that it's between say 24 and 48 hours of the first bid being placed. If someone places another bid, then add 30 min or an hour to the clock.

This would eliminate any benefits of waiting until the last minute--you don't know when the last minute is, and it also may never come. You place your max bid and that is that. If you bid high enough, you win.
This would kill sniping, although it wouldn't save us from people listing max bids they wouldn't pay if it came down to it, unfortunately.

I know for me, I'm one that the possibility the price will go too high is too risky to put an artificially high bid. When I snipe, I pick my price, and I set it and forget it.
In essence, sniping actually saves me from getting into a bidding frenzy at the end and continuously raising my bid. I pick my price and I just say if I win, I win, if I lose, I lose.

I realize that. That's not what I intended to imply, but realized later that it may have read that way.

I hate when I do that 🙂