Poll: Is auction sniping ethical?

[Analog]

I was wondering what the community felt about this.

 

[Dragoon42]

whats auction sniping?

 

[Koing]

Its perfectly fine.

The bidders aren't going to get anything that you weren't willing to spend on. You stick your max bid in and forget it. If you didn't win then you weren't prepared to spend that extra £10+ on.

Sniping is fine. They can snipe all they want but if you set your limit high and you want it that will deter the sniper anyway, if not they wanted it more then you did.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I don't really see a problem with it...

 

[mpitts]

Why wouldn't it be?

 

[IBuyUFO]

I don't see how that would be cheating? There's nothing wrong with waiting until the last few seconds to put in your bid.

 

[Amused]

The way I see it, snipers are just paying more than I wanted to pay. More power to 'em.

The way to use E-bay is to bid the max you'd pay for that item. If someone pays more, they're getting ripped off, not you.

People start seeing the bidding as a competition. When that happens, the idiots start paying more than retail.

 

[dethman]

"ethical?" what a stupid question.

 

[MikeO]

I'm not sure if it's ethical or not, but I wouldn't like it. The reason I say "wouldn't" is that on Huuto.net, which is pretty much the finnish equivalent of egay, sniping isn't possible. Auctions are closed at pre-defined time or 5 minutes after last bid, and I definetly like it that way.

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: Amused
The way I see it, snipers are just paying more than I wanted to pay. More power to 'em.

The way to use E-bay is to bid the max you'd pay for that item. If someone pays more, they're getting ripped off, not you.

People start seeing the bidding as a competition. When that happens, the idiots start paying more than retail.

the reason why sniping works is because most people don't bid the max they want to pay. typical bidders will bid as low as they can, to feel like they're getting a deal. so sometimes sniping can get you a product at a lower price. why else would their be bids of $4 and $5 on $100 items?

of course, if there is an experienced bidder who put his max bid at the beginning, a snipe would not be effective.

also, in order for the auction to keep from becoming a competition as you mentioned, a snipe is more effective because the other bidder does not know what you are willing to pay, or that there is even someone else interested so he will keep his bid low.

 

[Haircut]

Originally posted by: dethman

Originally posted by: Amused
The way I see it, snipers are just paying more than I wanted to pay. More power to 'em.

The way to use E-bay is to bid the max you'd pay for that item. If someone pays more, they're getting ripped off, not you.

People start seeing the bidding as a competition. When that happens, the idiots start paying more than retail.

the reason why sniping works is because most people don't bid the max they want to pay. typical bidders will bid as low as they can, to feel like they're getting a deal. so sometimes sniping can get you a product at a lower price. why else would their be bids of $4 and $5 on $100 items?

of course, if there is an experienced bidder who put his max bid at the beginning, a snipe would not be effective.

also, in order for the auction to keep from becoming a competition as you mentioned, a snipe is more effective because the other bidder does not know what you are willing to pay, or that there is even someone else interested so he will keep his bid low.

If you put your max bid as $100 then it only goes up by the minimum increment anyway. You will only pay $100 if someone else bids just below that.
Anyone who doesn't bid the max price they are willing to pay for the item deserves to get sniped IMHO.

 

[jlee]

As others have said..place the max you're willing to pay as a bid. If you get outbid, you saved yourself money..if you win, you win...and that's it.

 

[ndee]

The problem is the concept that allows to snipe. If after a bid the auction would go 5 minutes longer, there wouldnt be that problem.

 

[Imdmn04]

only if u do it manually, if you use some kind of software sniping, you should be shot.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
only if u do it manually, if you use some kind of software sniping, you should be shot.

Why? The only way to win an eBay auction is by having the highest bid. If you don't have the highest bid, you lose. It doesn't matter when you place it.

 

[wnied]

Auction Sniping is what auctions are all about.


Unless you are the one to get sniped
~wnied~

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Absolutely, it is a rule that can be used to the fullest.

[Klingon]It is a good day to snipe.[/Klingon]

 

[FrustratedUser]

Perfectly fine. It's an auction. That's the way it works.

 

[Sid59]

anothor vote for "fine". You set a max for proxy bid and go on. If you want it enough, you'll watch the last few minutes to ensure a win or bid enough to win or make the price really high for the sniper.

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: Yo_Ma-Ma

Absolutely, it is a rule that can be used to the fullest.

[Klingon]It is a good day to snipe.[/Klingon]

is that Klingon for "Kaplah?"

 

[Jzero]

If people used the proxy bidding system appropriately, sniping would not be effective.

 

[Triumph]

I just lost an auction yesterday, dang sniper. But I concede defeat-we were both there waiting for the auction to close, and I wasn't fast enough. I'm mad that he won, but I'd do the same to someone else. That's just the way it is. Dang slow-ass dialup!

 

[luv2chill]

I snipe every auction I bid on (i.e. place one bid with 5-10 seconds remaining) for the reasons already well said by other posters. Many (dare I say most)ebay bidders don't use proxy bidding, so oftentimes by sniping you end up winning the auction for a couple of dollars over the previous max bid. Also, bidding early and/or often just indicates your interest to the seller and other buyers. I prefer not to advertise my interest in an item until absolutely necessary because dumbasses (or shill bidders) will enter into a bidding war and drive the price up.

Sniping also gives quite the adrenaline rush! My heart pounds in anticipation of sniping on a rare or big-ticket item (things that don't get listed often).

I have been burned before, although rarely from being out-sniped. Mainly it's been that my broadband connection will go out right when I'm about to snipe. That's happened to me four or five times. I just take it as fate telling me I wasn't meant to have bid on that auction . Services like esnipe would tend to solve that problem but also cost money. Plus, I prefer the thrill and skill of doing it manually. The key? Multiple browser windows

As a seller, I'm indifferent to sniping. It is rare to have an auction (sniping or not) fall much below market price by the time the auction ends. It's more of a problem with rare items that don't have much interest.

l2c

 

[Thump553]

I think sniping is 90% of the reason eb*y has gone so popular. For many people the process of buying there is entertainment-hoping to score that really great buy. Unfortunately, the auction fever many buyers have, coupled with the more sophisticated seller's having fairly high reserve requirements, means that bargains are few and far between there (excepting perhaps the "collectibles" field, which I think is a prime example of our consumer culture at its worst).

 

[Thegonagle]

Esnipe is a great service, and it's quite inexpensive, IMHO. (I bet you can guess which poll option I picked. )