ebay tactics?

ddraver

yeehaamcgee wrote:

The way I see it, Person A decides that they'd happily pay £10 for something, but no more, so they bid £10. Highest bid goes up to £6 (for example).

3 days go by and the highest bid is still at £6.
Last few seconds of the auction, and Person A is thinking, hey, neat, I got a bargain there, then WHACK, the snipist comes in and bids up to £15.

Person A hasn't lost anything, they're just peeved at having something seemingly taken away from them at the last second. They weouldn't have paid more than £10 anyway.
For a few days, it genuinely looked like they were the only interested party.

If you're decided that £10 is what you're willing to spend to get something, But then thinking later, "ah, sod it, I'll just put a bit more on", then you're only fooling yourself.

Fair enough Yeehaa but multiply your numbers by 10, win the auction at GBP62, you ve saved 38 pounds if you snipe as no one will have time to bid over your GBP100 snipe

I don't deny that it is not fair, in fact it's very much playing the system, the only way to combat it would be to not let people know when exactly the auction is going to finish.

nozzac

I don't think that everyone has a fixed price they are happy to pay and they don't all just place it as soon as they see the item they want to bid on. They often wait and see what the price is doing.. They think "I'll pay about £50 for it" but if it creeps up to £60 they might actually bid at that price just to win it. If you'll pay £50 you'll pay £51. If you'll pay £51 you'll pay £52 and so on - people are not logical machines, they get caught up in it and some get competitive.

What sniping does is to hide some of the pricing information which stifles this incremental price rising. So instead of it having crept up steadily to £60 over a few days it sits at £30 until the last minute. So someone looking to place a bid quite late might think that good bid would be say £40 given the current price of £30. They might well have paid more but think they can get it at £40. If you snipe at £45 you win at a lower price than if your intentions had been open to everyone from the start.

If it was really just down to people paying what they are happy to pay then it wouldn't be forbidden to hike prices on your own items. But it is because it's possible to push the price up by doing so.

I don't think it's unfair really. It's just a legitimate tactic to try to get a good deal.

Anonymous

There's too many complications - I'm still not convinced anyone is really succeeding in doing anything apart from making di*ks o fthemselves and annoying people who thought they'd won.
I also think there's a lot of people with blind faith as well, kind of like a college mate who'd spend £30 a day on fruit machines, to get £4 back - when asked how he'd done he's say "I won £4", not "I lost £26"

I'd love to read a genuinely in-depth analysis of it though, and this is not it.

cooldad

Ebay is a hassle in New Zealand due to postage costs etc, so the most used website is called Trademe. Very similar to Ebay, just a bit simpler.
There is a function that is really annoying to snipe bidders (I enjoy waiting to the last second) and that is the auction can be set up to auto extend, so if a bid is put on in the last minute, the auction extends by 2 minutes, etc etc. Bidding wars can get furious.

thekickingmule

yeehaamcgee wrote:

The way I see it, Person A decides that they'd happily pay £10 for something, but no more, so they bid £10.

I think this is where you're 'going wrong' (I use that term loosely, as you're not wrong, but not right).

People don't think "I'm prepared to pay £10" they think "I'm prepared to pay £10-£25" or somet like that.

It happened to me last night on a Headset Press. It was going for £20, so I bid £25, where I was winning, with 30secs to go, it went up to £26, I bid £28, but that wasn't enough, I tried £29.01 (the penny is a classic ) and it stilll wasn't enough and the auction ended with someone winning for £30 + £5p&p (for that price, I can buy a brand new one from Wiggle with free p&p, so i didn't want to bid any more).

I can see for's and against's, but I don't think many people have a set price, they have a lower and an upper price, and even the upper price isn't set in stone.

supersonic

"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25

So £25 ;-)

Anonymous

thekickingmule, you lost out, because the price went above what you were willing to pay. simplez.

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25

So £25 ;-)

Quite, it's borderline retarded to say "willing to pay £10-£25". If the same item came up at a penny, would you not be willing?
£30 was what you were willing to spend. Lying to yourself doesn't change that.

nozzac

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I'd love to read a genuinely in-depth analysis of it though, and this is not it.

http://www.snipeswipe.com/site/references - fill ya boots but you might have to pay for the papers. I believe they conclude that it works.

Kaise

yeehaa there was some analysis in to this subject

http://pre.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v73/i6/e067101
the .pdf is pretty informative but i only understand the stats side to a certain level, and i dont think i can justify taking up a MATlab license at work to investigate it further and without running a monte carlo on it with the original data they used it is difficult to validate

but i draw from it that the use of sniping is an effective method

Anonymous

NozzaC wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I'd love to read a genuinely in-depth analysis of it though, and this is not it.

http://www.snipeswipe.com/site/references - fill ya boots but you might have to pay for the papers. I believe they conclude that it works.

Fair enough. I wish I could read the report though. Shame I'm illiterate

nozzac

yeehaamcgee wrote:

supersonic wrote:

"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25

So £25 ;-)

Quite, it's borderline retarded to say "willing to pay £10-£25". If the same item came up at a penny, would you not be willing?
£30 was what you were willing to spend. Lying to yourself doesn't change that.

You seem to be missing the point. of course they would be willing to get it for 1p but that is not going to happen so they don't bother putting that in their range. It is how people think and it's one reason sniping works. People are unsure of, and trying to ascertain, the true value of an item. It's classic pricing theory. The more information pertinent to pricing you have the more accurate your pricing is likely to be. So seeing other people's prices whilst withholding your own works in your favour to gain a more accurate price of the item.

Sniping is pretty pointless for new, commodity products since pricing them is trivial. But when the pricing model is more complex, such as items with multiple parameters and used items whose value is a factor of age and condition, it becomes a legtimate strategy. People know this and you don't get much sniping for say a brand new DVD of a very popular, new film. But you'll get loads for a rare antique clock.

supersonic

Sometimes I think sticking in your max bid early works to your favour.

I have seen this happen: I put my bid in of £500 or whatever, and the price goes to the next increment after the last bid, if high enough. Then I see it creep up for a bit, two quid at a time. Then it stops, as they get fed up as they are always outbid "you have not bid enough". No competetion, they have lost, and give in.

But if I put £250 in then it might get outbid and the next person is 'winning'. Then someone outbids them and silly wars start pushing the price higher as they like the chase. People like to see themselves winning auctions and DO get invloved in these bidding wars going well over what they would normally pay.

If someone snipes a bid, makes no difference to me, they would have to go higher than my original bid.

So the above can stop price wars mid auction.

thekickingmule

yeehaamcgee wrote:

supersonic wrote:

"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25

So £25 ;-)

Quite, it's borderline retarded to say "willing to pay £10-£25". If the same item came up at a penny, would you not be willing?
£30 was what you were willing to spend. Lying to yourself doesn't change that.

Not quite.
If I'd bid £25 straight away, the other bidders would have known there was an interest, and then bid against it. As said by others, this would give them a chance to outbid me.

I was prepared to pay a little more than £25 as I knew it was cheaper than a brand new one, but I always know how much a brand new one is, and take into consideration age, condition etc.

Meh at the end of the day, I was upset that I'd missed out. For that price, I'd rather have a brand new one. I tend to use shops more these days, but the odd bargain is still to be found on fleabay. Right place, right time etc.

Anonymous

fine, Sniping works. But i still think you're as dumb as a fenceposts for claiming
"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25"

Like sonic says, that's £25 then. Or in your case, £30.

Kaise

yeehaamcgee wrote:

fine, Sniping works. But i still think you're as dumb as a fenceposts for claiming
"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25"

Like sonic says, that's £25 then. Or in your case, £30.

Defo worth £30!

Mojo_666

Sniping I find to be the best and I have won the most and got the best prices by doing so. If you disagree then simply make our bid and see if you get outbid by the person who you just outbid. : / sniping eliminates the time period in which people can re-evaluate their highest bids.
Sniping of course also leaves little window of opportunity for sellers to shill.

I also do not “watch” items, I just make notes of end times and keep a link to the item, again this is to play down my interest for shill tempted sellers.

It might make more sense if you are a seller too I suppose.

thekickingmule

yeehaamcgee wrote:

fine, Sniping works. But i still think you're as dumb as a fenceposts for claiming
"I'm prepared to pay £10-£25"

Like sonic says, that's £25 then. Or in your case, £30.

£29.01 actually

Not really dumb. An auction is an auction. There's no point in saying a singular price, or you'd buy from a shop, or a local ad.

supersonic

If they had the item at the price you are willing to pay, of course.

thekickingmule

Exactly, the item went for £30.01 + £5 p&p (ie £35.01). From Wiggle, it costs £34.99 free p&p, therefore I knew I could get it cheaper (2p woooo). Had I won with £29.01, I'd have beaten Wiggle
These are hard times, you know

Anonymous

thekickingmule wrote:

Not really dumb. An auction is an auction. There's no point in saying a singular price, or you'd buy from a shop, or a local ad.

Oh dear god, you really are as thick as a brick aren't you.
The range of prices goes FROM ZERO, to your maximum. :roll:

Kaise

yeehaamcgee wrote:

thekickingmule wrote:

Oh dear god, you really are as thick as a brick aren't you.
The range of prices goes FROM ZERO, to your maximum. :roll:

speaking of which did you get your clothes dry this morning or have you been "working for home"

Anonymous

Dry now, thanks

andyrm

I've won plenty of items by sniping - and as has been said, it can and does work if you are on the ball at the last minute, as it denies other bidders time to put in a bid.

Is it fair? Life's not fair and 'fair' is a word much overused these days, much like 'luck'. I'll play to win thanks....

bluechair84

I've not been convinced by the sniping fanboys. Who ever puts in the highest bid, no matter what time during the auction, will win. Yes a snipe bid could potentially get it cheaper, but only in the absence of other snipers and autobidders.

Everyone who has promoted sniping here has forgotten that there is never one person doing it - the bid tally shoots up a dozen times in the final seconds which completely scuppers your plan. You could have put that same bid in three days earlier and it would still have gone for the same price - the bidding war takes place in a fraction of the time instead.

Pudseyp

Agree with most of the comments that is just bid you maxium and leave it at that...then you have the wait to see if you have won or not....to many asswanks end up in a biding war and end up paying more for a used item than you can get new by doing google research..

Ebay is the devils jizz...

bails87

andyrm wrote:

I've won plenty of items by sniping - and as has been said, it can and does work if you are on the ball at the last minute, as it denies other bidders time to put in a bid.

Is it fair? Life's not fair and 'fair' is a word much overused these days, much like 'luck'. I'll play to win thanks....

It's not about if it's 'fair' or not. If Mr Rich is willing to pay £11 for something and Mr Poor is willing to pay £10 for something, they can both put their bids in 2 days before the auction ends and Mr Rich will lead for the next two days and then win.

Or Mr Poor can bid early and then 10 seconds before it ends Mr Rich can put in his bid of £11, and , wahey, sniping works.

Or Mr Rich can bid early, there are no other bids so the price shows as £1, Mr Poor then 'snipes' but his max of £10 is instantly auto-out-bidded by Mr Rich's original max bid of £11, and uh oh, sniping doesn't work.

It all depends on if you're bidding against morons who don't know how eBay works, that's what makes it look like sniping works.

If you put in your max bid and you win the item then you have 'won'. If the item goes for more than what you would have paid for it then you have also 'won'. If you get sucked into a sniping war and bid more than you wanted to just to win the item, then you have lost, and ebay and the seller have won.

I like the idea of adding time when a bid is entered, it makes it more like a real auction than the game of bidding-chicken that eBay currently is.

stubs

I sell more than I buy on ebay and it is amusing watching a pair of dicks bid themselves into a hole with just one more bid.

men1pal

As a seller something I noticed annoying about ebay is if you put a reserve on your item. Say you put a reserve on your item on £50 and starting price 99p. Guy 1 bids £30 but then gets told he hasnt met the reserve so bids £55. Ebay will still set his bid to 99p so it is then reliant on another person bidding over £50. If the next highest bid is £45 then the item doesnt sell even though the first person was willing to pay £55. I know that it is designed like that in order for the buyer to get the lowest value but it seems flawed as noone ends up winning.

Also dont know if its changed but when I sold my first ipod a few years ago I started the bidding at £40 and set buy it now to £75 Two people obviously got a bit carried away at the end and the final price was over £75! :shock:

bluechair84

Now, I don't think you can use the buy-it-now option if there has been one bid.