RANT: Argh! Lost an eBay auction to a friggin' proxy bidding!

[RossMAN]

I think it's called proxy bidding when a computer automatically outbids you by $0.50 - $1?

Susan wanted some Nokia faceplates, we found two for $3.99 plus $4.95 shipping.

I timed my stopwatch to countdown 1 minute before the auction ended. At 5 seconds I attempted my newbie sniping skills to get it at $4.49 but the mofo outbid me by $0.50 argh!

Now we have no pretty butterfly and dolphin Nokia faceplates

 

[phatcow]

its called sniping...

proxy is liek "bid caching" where you put in your max your willing to pay for.... then as the bids go up, ebay automatically raises your bid up from its "cache" up until your set limit on your behalf


if someone is willing *or snipes* more than your cached bid, you will lose.


waaaaaah...

 

[Sluggo]

Sorry, I really didnt want them, but I just love to snipe people.

Any buyers for a couple of Nokia facepleates?

 

[Danman]

NO SPENDING FOR YOU RossMAN!

 

[SOSTrooper]

I think you meant this?

On ebay nowadays, its all about whos willing to pay the highest, not the latest. When it started out, I used to bid at the near end and usually got what i wanted. Now... ppl are crazy w/ it. I fed up w/ it and just buy/trade on our own FS/FT forum

 

[BD231]

A computer dosen't do it, E-Bay lets you bid at a higher price than the item is at. You could have put a bid in for 20 bucks and your bid would only show as 3.99+ whatever the bid increase was at. E-Bay will the charge up to 20 dollars for you to win the bid, this is what happend to you most likely.

 

[Viper GTS]

Somebody else was willing to pay more.

All there is to it.

Viper GTS

 

[OS]

That's God's way of telling you not to buy anymore sh*t.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: OuterSquare
That's God's way of telling you not to buy anymore sh*t.

I think that's the only logical explanation.

 

[ChangLi]

Ain't life a bitch.......ferrengi?

Go pay retail.....it's what keeps peeps like me in rent/food money.

Seriously Ross, I think you take it tooooooooooooo far.

just MHO

 

[yakko]

Argh! Lost an eBay auction to a friggin' proxy bidding!

actually you lost by not bidding enough.

 

[Farbio]

rossman - here ya go - never lose an auction again!

esnipe!

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Farbio
rossman - here ya go - never lose an auction again!

esnipe!

:Q

 

[HiTek21]

I lost a great deal on a Nokia 8290 on Ebay by 1 penny! I proxy bid up to 40 dollars and some guy won the auction with $40.01

I also lost some face plate deals, there were 3 different auctions (for the same item at the same price) by the same person I bid on one before it ended keep in mind the other 2 were also ending at the same time and some guy just has to place a bid on it. I lost it because I was at work. Some people SUCK!

 

[fr]

So RM, you lost because of how eBay works.

Were you willing to pay 50 cents more for them? If so, you should have just entered a higher amount. If you're going to get your bid in with 5 seconds left, then you should always bid the absolute highest you are willing to pay. Don't worry. eBay won't place your bid at anything higher than required to win so you'll always pay just the next step higher than the second place bid unless it exceeds your maximum bid.

Or else, give yourself so more time to think it over by placing your bid like a minute or two before so you have time to decide how much you really want to pay in case you get outbid.

 

[iam4u2nv]

Were you willing to pay 50 cents more for them? If so, you should have just entered a higher amount

Problem is you do not know what they have put as there proxy. You could put 2 dollars more and their proxy was 6 or whatever. I have lost several that way too. I also one a couple that I really wanted by putting a huge proxy and waiting. I got a Palm IIIc and an RC car.

I can not believe how many other internet companies have been built around ebay. Esnipe.. paypal C2it and many others I do not even no of. There was one company that handled large transactions for ebay like escrow and another that handled the shipping of the item to insure the buyer the item was legit. I am always amazed and kick myself and say "Why the heck did I not think of that"?
Later

 

[fr]

Originally posted by: iam4u2nv

Were you willing to pay 50 cents more for them? If so, you should have just entered a higher amount

Problem is you do not know what they have put as there proxy. You could put 2 dollars more and their proxy was 6 or whatever.

Good point. It could have been a lot more than 50 cents.

 

[teddymines]

Some people worry about their retirement accounts, others complain when their kids start smoking, and others get bent out of shape when they can't get a certain cell phone faceplate on ebay. It's all relative, I guess.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
I think it's called proxy bidding when a computer automatically outbids you by $0.50 - $1?

I timed my stopwatch to countdown 1 minute before the auction ended. At 5 seconds I attempted my newbie sniping skills to get it at $4.49 but the mofo outbid me by $0.50 argh!

The proxy bid will automatically add the minimum bid increment to any new bids if the new bid doesn't exceed the maximum proxy bid. So while it looks like you got outbid by an infinitesimal amount, the possibility exists that had you started earlier and engaged in a bidding war, there would have been a much larger difference between the point at which you started bidding and the final price.

I always bid at the last minute (otherwise, you're inviting people to push up your proxy bid), but when you do so, you should submit a proxy bid of your own for the highest amount you're willing to pay (and be sure to factor any hidden shipping/insurance costs into that figure). If you get it, great; if you don't, walk away, because someone else has paid more than you were willing to.

I only engage in bidding wars if it's a demonstrably rare item. Chances are, the faceplates you were interested in will be available in another auction from the same seller within a month.