PSA: eBay bidders!

[Mike Gayner]

Does ebay have an autobidding function? The superior NZ equivalent to ebay is Trademe.co.nz, which has an autobid function. In other words, you just put in the max you would pay and if anyone else bids any amount below that it automatically puts in the next minimum bid. I don't see how sniping can be any more effective than this method.

 

[HAL9000]

Proxy bidding nullifies that process.

Not so, proxy bidding wont necessarily do it instantly after the bid is placed, particularly if theres 1 or 2 seconds till the end of auction

 

[HAL9000]

Does ebay have an autobidding function? The superior NZ equivalent to ebay is Trademe.co.nz, which has an autobid function. In other words, you just put in the max you would pay and if anyone else bids any amount below that it automatically puts in the next minimum bid. I don't see how sniping can be any more effective than this method.

Yeah it does exactly that, but a lot of people wont bid there max, they bid slightly higher than the current bid, then sniping kills them.

 

[IronWing]

Not so, proxy bidding wont necessarily do it instantly after the bid is placed, particularly if theres 1 or 2 seconds till the end of auction

Proxy bidding is autobidding and always is factored in. If I bid $10 on an item 4 days before the end of the auction and a sniper bids $4.50 a tenth of a second before the end of the auction I win. If the sniper bids $10 in the last tenth second I still win because my $10 bid was placed before the sniper's $10 bid.

 

[mcmilljb]

Does ebay have an autobidding function? The superior NZ equivalent to ebay is Trademe.co.nz, which has an autobid function. In other words, you just put in the max you would pay and if anyone else bids any amount below that it automatically puts in the next minimum bid. I don't see how sniping can be any more effective than this method.

That's called proxy bidding. Sniping seeks to keep the price lower in hopes of getting a better deal right at the end by eliminating the emotion of losing. Sniping will not help on items people really like because they will seek to get their bid in. Sniping would be most effective in auctions for things with low demand and low supply. Prices are hard to determine so people will bid the max they'll pay at the very last second. Could also help in low demand and high supply, such as when a glut of things show up. The prices will be lower than normal so you can keep sniping until you hit the price you want. High demand eliminates the advantage because mutliple people will try to snipe.

 

[HAL9000]

Proxy bidding is autobidding and always is factored in. If I bid $10 on an item 4 days before the end of the auction and a sniper bids $4.50 a tenth of a second before the end of the auction I win. If the sniper bids $10 in the last tenth second I still win because my $10 bid was placed before the sniper's $10 bid.

True, but if you bid $10 four days before the end of the auction then the end of the auction comes round and you are winning but 4 seconds before the end I bid with $11 you have no chance to change your bid if you want to. It works very well on items where the value is subjective or even unknown.

 

[mcmilljb]

True, but if you bid $10 four days before the end of the auction then the end of the auction comes round and you are winning but 4 seconds before the end I bid with $11 you have no chance to change your bid if you want to. It works very well on items where the value is subjective or even unknown.

Well if he only wants to spend $10, then you both won. Losing because you do not want to pay more seems like winning to me. I did not have to waste that extra dollar that I can now spend on a soda which will make me happy now, and I can try again later. You have to be honest with yourself and have some restraint to beat emotional bidding which hurts all buyers really (unless it is a gotta have it now thing). Sniping's main goal is to beat the emotional bidders, and I believe it can do that quite well.

 

[HAL9000]

Well if he only wants to spend $10, then you both won. Losing because you do not want to pay more seems like winning to me. I did not have to waste that extra dollar that I can now spend on a soda which will make me happy now, and I can try again later. You have to be honest with yourself and have some restraint to beat emotional bidding which hurts all buyers really (unless it is a gotta have it now thing). Sniping's main goal is to beat the emotional bidders, and I believe it can do that quite well.

It's not just that, it's about beating bidders who don't know how much something is worth, or people who value it lower than you, not giving people the chance to change their bid is a brilliant idea, as a lot of people will bid, someone will out bid them, they will then re bid and out bid the second person and so on and so on. Sniping removes the option.

 

[TheUnk]

I just wish each bid would increase the time left to a minimum of 5 minutes or something.

 

[HAL9000]

I just wish each bid would increase the time left to a minimum of 5 minutes or something.

Surely then the auction might never end?

 

[Brigandier]

Surely then the auction might never end?

As the price just keeps increasing. Can that be too bad?

 

[HAL9000]

As the price just keeps increasing. Can that be too bad?

It is for the bidders!!!

 

[mcmilljb]

It's not just that, it's about beating bidders who don't know how much something is worth, or people who value it lower than you, not giving people the chance to change their bid is a brilliant idea, as a lot of people will bid, someone will out bid them, they will then re bid and out bid the second person and so on and so on. Sniping removes the option.

I have nothing against you but listen to these arguments.

If they don't know how much it's worth, then you can't do any thing about it. Idiots pay retail all the time when I want to wait until the season ends to get it cheaper. Might not have enough supply for me. It's how it goes sometimes.

If they value it lower, who cares? Why should you get it for the cheaper price and not them because you value it more? In economics, people who value things more than others are willing to pay more. That's why organic food costs more in the store.

I can see your point on the rebidding. I don't know how well ebay protects against people bidding up their own prices, but the rebidding helps ebay's bottom line and the seller's bottom line. That means you will not see it change. Once again, it's bad for you but not other people, and that happens in life.

 

[HAL9000]

I have nothing against you but listen to these arguments.

If they don't know how much it's worth, then you can't do any thing about it. Idiots pay retail all the time when I want to wait until the season ends to get it cheaper. Might not have enough supply for me. It's how it goes sometimes.

If they value it lower, who cares? Why should you get it for the cheaper price and not them because you value it more? In economics, people who value things more than others are willing to pay more. That's why organic food costs more in the store.

I can see your point on the rebidding. I don't know how well ebay protects against people bidding up their own prices, but the rebidding helps ebay's bottom line and the seller's bottom line. That means you will not see it change. Once again, it's good for you but not other people, and that happens in life.

You're right and for some items it works completely but the items I'm bidding on are vintage comic books, as a result you get two kinds of people bidding:

Type a) The occasional collector who will see a comic at a cheap price and thin "ooh I could get that for that" they will then bid as soon as they see it and hope to win.

Type b) [me] A serious collector, looking for this specific comic who will know what the price of the comic could be and how much it is worth, they will wait until the last 10 seconds in the hope of getting the price at it's value or potentially less.

In this instance Type a rarely win the comics, as they bid too early and too low. However if they keep bidding days before the auction or fighting with each other all it does is push up the ultimate price for Type b, when they don't win anyway it's very annoying. I end up paying more than I was hoping (but not more than the actual value) sometimes because people have pushed up the price then lost.

 

[TheUnk]

Surely then the auction might never end?

Not really. Think of it as a way to say "going once, going twice..."

 

[Lean L]

Meh snipping is very useful when using ebay just because of the usage patterns that already exist. It used to piss me off whenever I got snipped. Now I just use my server to snipe at the 2 second mark for all auctions. Snipping is so prevalent that for the few months that I did not have my server snipping for me, I lost a few auctions due to snipping.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I'd say that at least 80% of my ebay purchases are now through Buy It Now. When I do choose to bid on a traditional auction, I certianly use an auto-sniping tool... because this "PSA" was something that I was able to figure out 12 years ago (I've been registered for a while).

When I sell on ebay, I love the noobs. I start the price very low and wait for the noobs to start bidding wars. There's always that one guy who outbids by only the minimum amount and then keeps coming back to bid again even when there are days left in the auction. A larger number of bids seems to increase the end price. I don't know why.

The biggest drawback to the current version of ebay is that sellers can't leave negative feedback for non-paying bidders. It irritates the crap out of me.

 

[parker15]

Sniping is a convenience for people who know that early bidding often attracts more attention, 'nibbling' bidders, and results in a higher final price.

It isn't magic, you still have to have the highest bid to win.

Anyone that has a problem with sniping most likely doesn't understand ebay's proxy bidding system, it raises your bid only until you're the high bidder, or, your bid has been exceeded.

Knowing ebay's bid increments is also a good idea for ebay bidding in general:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html

If you would have bid more if you had time, you should have bid that amount the 1st time. Even non-snipers (don't know why you'd be one) should be happy with sniping, as it forces you to decide on your absolute max, and bid it, or, schedule a snipe for it.

A couple of benefits of sniping that haven't been mentioned:

You can cancel a scheduled snipe if you change your mind or find something better (as close as 5 minutes til the auctions end with hidbid at least). If you placed a bid on ebay, you have to file a bid retraction, something that ebay and sellers frown upon. If you have to many bid retractions, you can be auto-blocked from bidding on other auctions.

Sniping is a way to combat shill bidding (seller or his buddy using a different ebay account to bid on their item, raising their bid until they're the high bidder and know your max, then retract their bid, leaving you the new high bid, maxed out). You can't see it defeats it, but it at least helps against it.

hidbid.com is a good sniping service to use.

 

[HAL9000]

Sniping is a convenience for people who know that early bidding often attracts more attention, 'nibbling' bidders, and results in a higher final price.

It isn't magic, you still have to have the highest bid to win.

Anyone that has a problem with sniping most likely doesn't understand ebay's proxy bidding system, it raises your bid only until you're the high bidder, or, your bid has been exceeded.

Knowing ebay's bid increments is also a good idea for ebay bidding in general:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html

If you would have bid more if you had time, you should have bid that amount the 1st time. Even non-snipers (don't know why you'd be one) should be happy with sniping, as it forces you to decide on your absolute max, and bid it, or, schedule a snipe for it.

A couple of benefits of sniping that haven't been mentioned:

You can cancel a scheduled snipe if you change your mind or find something better (as close as 5 minutes til the auctions end with hidbid at least). If you placed a bid on ebay, you have to file a bid retraction, something that ebay and sellers frown upon. If you have to many bid retractions, you can be auto-blocked from bidding on other auctions.

Sniping is a way to combat shill bidding (seller or his buddy using a different ebay account to bid on their item, raising their bid until they're the high bidder and know your max, then retract their bid, leaving you the new high bid, maxed out). You can't see it defeats it, but it at least helps against it.

hidbid.com is a good sniping service to use.

I prefer to do it myself. More fun.

 

[God Mode]

I just put in the max price I'm willing to pay over buying it new from a retail store. I win some and I lose some.

 

[HAL9000]

I just put in the max price I'm willing to pay over buying it new from a retail store. I win some and I lose some.

I win some more by doing the same in the last 10 seconds.

Also what I'm bidding on have no "retail" prices.

 

[kami333]

Not really. Think of it as a way to say "going once, going twice..."

Yahoo Auctions had that, every new bid would add 5minutes.

Not saying that was what was bad about Yahoo Auctions, but they aren't around anymore. Though they do still have it in Asia, and is still very popular in Japan.

 

[Blackjack200]

I used to use ebay, I would find an item that I wanted with a "Buy it Now" price that I was willing to pay. Then I would set my max bid at that amount figuring no one would be dumb enough to bid the item higher than the original "Buy it Now" amount. It worked for a little while, but then people started regularly bidding over that original amount.

I just thought that was retarded, I don't know if it was the listers trying to prevent their items from going too cheap or just really weird buyers, but I don't care, and I don't use ebay anymore.

 

[TwiceOver]

I stopped bidding on things. NOw I just find someone selling a bunch of whatever all buy it now and contact them directly. Offer 20% less than their BIN price, pay with paypal and a CC.

 

[halik]

Hey you!

When you're bidding on an item on eBay, don't bid until the last 30 seconds (better yet the last 10 seconds), firstly all you do is push up the price of the item, so that people who bid at the right time have to pay more.

Secondly, unless you've bid a lot of money you wont win!

Wrong. Look up game theory.

Edit: Whoops, I thought you said don't bit in the last 30 seconds. You sir are correct.