bloody ebay

TheHatter

I must be really stupid but I cant see the advantage of bid sniping. What is the advantage of sniping rather than simply entering your highest bid early and then checking after the end to see if you've won? Doesn't the autobid feature of ebay ensure you only bid the minimum you have to? then its just a simple question of who bids most - no?

I know I must be missing something as everyone does seem to bid very late - but whats the advantage?

nwallace

My gripe with E-bay is that i asked them to close my account over a year ago, they didn't close it. I asked again in December, they still haven't closed it. :twisted:

el_presidente

TheHatter wrote:

I must be really stupid but I cant see the advantage of bid sniping. What is the advantage of sniping rather than simply entering your highest bid early and then checking after the end to see if you've won? Doesn't the autobid feature of ebay ensure you only bid the minimum you have to? then its just a simple question of who bids most - no?

I know I must be missing something as everyone does seem to bid very late - but whats the advantage?

So that no-one has time to outbid you. If your bid is sitting there for a few days there is a chance that someone will look at the item and think oooh yes I will pay more than that. If your bid is only there for 10 seconds this is not going to happen

Le Commentateur

But if you bid aggressively with a hefty amount you can then calmly sit back and enjoy watching the losers snipe away frantically in £1.01 and 49p increments during those last few minutes.

Depends how much you want the item of course.

alfablue

and pay too much...


I snipe, I line up multiple items (if there are similar available), decide on my top price, snipe them as a group. ignore what everyone else does, don't fuel a bidding war, and just forget about it. More often than not I get what I want at the price I want without too much waiting, often getting the deal on sales that finish at awkward times of the day / week.

But - sniping is for losers, don't do it!!!!!!

fluff.

Why would you not snipe? I can't think of any advantage to putting a bid big in early, if you really want the item you can put the same big bid in late. If you do bid early and you are outbid by a sniper, there is no chance you're going to be able to manually rebid, all my snipes are done with 3 seconds to go.. can you type that fast?

alfablue

fluff. wrote:

Why would you not snipe? I can't think of any advantage to putting a bid big in early, if you really want the item you can put the same big bid in late. If you do bid early and you are outbid by a sniper, there is no chance you're going to be able to manually rebid, all my snipes are done with 3 seconds to go.. can you type that fast?

Don't encourage them Fluff, they may outsnipe me!

fluff.

oops. Look into my eyes, not around the eyes... you're under

Sniping is bad mmmmkay

back into the room

TheHatter

I wonder how much of the benefits of sniping is simply imagined - ultimately you'll never know if putting in the same bid at the start of the auction would have had the same affect as sniping in the last second. Ultimately if you're prepared to pay the most you win. And if you bid when you want you never have a last minute connection problem or sadly setting alarms to be at your computer at a set time just to save a few quid (which obvoiusly I've never done :oops: )

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alfablue

I think the benefits are real. Items frequently sell well over the price of new shop bought items because people enter into bidding wars, people don't like to lose.

Sniping doesn't require a connection at the time the auction ends, I set up a snipe online at any time and it all takes place automatically, neither my presence or an internet connection is required at the time.

neeb

Sniping doesn't require a connection at the time the auction ends, I set up a snipe online at any time and it all takes place automatically, neither my presence or an internet connection is required at the time.

Exactly. So if your philosophy is just to decide how much you are willing to pay and place a single bid early, you may as well do the same thing through a sniping service. It can't put you at a disadvantage and it might put you at an advantage.

In some ways it would be easier if everyone just did this, as it would prevent inflation of the bids and the item would just go automatically to the person who was prepared to pay the most.

I think one reason that you sometimes see things selling for more than you can buy them new for is that some people just really, really want things, and they want them quickly. The truth is that buying from a top ebay seller is usually less hassle and quicker than using an online shop. Ebayers are very protective of their reputations and usually dispatch items very quickly, and give better and more personalised customer service than the average online retailer.

bigjim

I recently used best offer on a buy it now. I put a silly offer £100 less than "buy it now" on a new camera outfit. Next time I looked I had a "You have won this item message". I could not have bought item used for this price. Plus got a 2 year guaretee. and free postage. Crazy.

Jim

ride_whenever

If you want to see something really cool, go to swoopo.co.uk they make some serious cash on the big items. costs 40p to bid and each bid raises the final cost by 1p.

See some real bargins on there like a 13" macbook that someone paid about £40 for :shock:

pintoo

Swoopo is a con. AVOID. For all eBay's hassles, you're OK on there are long as you keep your wits.

Read: http://technologizer.com/2008/09/17/is- ... d-gimmick/ before thinking about signing up.

keef66

Swoopo is not for the arithmetically challenged. It is not an auction, but a lottery. You have to pay cash up front to buy bids to use in bidding for items you generally don't win, and if you think you're about to win something , they repeatedly move the end of the "auction" to allow more bids. I read a thread on a pc forum about someone who spent nearly £500 NOT winning a laptop.

peanut

the thing you have to watch at the moment on ebay is the number of sellers using private sales
There is only one reason why you would choose to have your bidders ID's private and that is because you get a friend or family member to bid the item up . A lot of sellers have several accounts .

sicknote

peanut wrote:

the thing you have to watch at the moment on ebay is the number of sellers using private sales
There is only one reason why you would choose to have your bidders ID's private and that is because you get a friend or family member to bid the item up . A lot of sellers have several accounts .

I have sent this back fire on a few when it has gone back on a few days later haha

e999sam

fluff. wrote:

Why would you not snipe? I can't think of any advantage to putting a bid big in early, if you really want the item you can put the same big bid in late. If you do bid early and you are outbid by a sniper, there is no chance you're going to be able to manually rebid, all my snipes are done with 3 seconds to go.. can you type that fast?

I recently put a frame for sale on ebay with a starting bid o £30. After several days no one had bid but one guy had asked me several questions. In the mean time a friend offered me a reasonable price so as no one had bid I stopped the auction and sold the frame to my friend.
The guy who had been asking questions got in touch and said that he had set a bid of £100 via a snipping site.
Obviously he lost out through not placing a bid. Had he done I would have been obliged to continue the auction.

pintoo

he lost out through not placing a bid. Had he done I would have been obliged to continue the auction.

Good that you think that way, but I've seen a lot of auctions close early for no good reason - when there are bids on the item. As a seller, I always let my auctions run their course because all the action happens in the last few minutes anyway. You just have be smart about your listing.

Ebay's not perfect by any means, and the charges coupled with Paypal do irritate me, but compared to putting a card in the newsagent's window or a car boot sale, ebay is so much better. A huge marketplace with lots of potential buyers not limited by location.

I agree that I've seen some people buy at stupid prices. I recently sold a two year old Canon flash for £165 incl. postage. OK, it was as new, but the buyer could have got a brand new one, with a guarantee for £160 with a teensy bit of research. But, bids are binding and he was happy to pay that. Like others here, I don't tend to bid so much now because people really are over-paying.

There's a Fuji Track on there right now at £255 + £25 p&p and there's plenty of time for it to run. Final price is likely to be close to full retail and although it is brand new, why not just pay the few pounds more to get it from your favourite chain or LBS and have the comfort of some aftersales backup? I guess fools and their money...

larmurf

I have a feeling that there are a lot of people who spend their
time bidding for the "fun" of it without any intention of buying