How many of you bid on MR stuff on E-bay?
How many use a sniper when bidding?
Which sniping service do you feel is best?
How many have been bit buy a sniper ?
Does sniping increase your winnings or do the snipers get sniped also?
How may E-bay change the rules to discourage snipers?
This is only for modeling products and nothing more.
Pete
Pete,
I have bid on eBay for model railroading items from time to time and, no, I don’t use a sniper.
If I am “interested” in an item, I predetermine the maximum amount that I will pay for it and then launch my first bid with less than one minute left in the auction, having set a maximum amount when I place the bid. If I win it, great. If I lose out, so be it.
If I am “desperate” to win the item. I will aggressively bid, again with less than a minute left and place an outlandish maximum amount to ward all others off if that is possible. Then, I sit back and watch the auction end. If I fail to win, having placed such an aggressive bid, then so be it. But, in that situation, I usually win because even a sniper has a breaking point.
As far as trying to get eBay to do anything including changing the rules to discourage snipers, forget about it. Ain’t gonna happen. eBay listens to no one but itself.
Rich
Don’t use a sniper service. I snipe 99% of the stuff I buy.
Never bid on what you are trying to get.
Enter bid when the clock says 1:00
Click on place bid
Look at a watch that has a second hand and remember were the second hand is when there’s 1 minute left.
When there is 6 seconds left click on conform bid.
95% of people bid in the last 10 seconds.
Mike
I ONLY BUY HO MRR STUFF ON EBAY. I don’t care if there is a train hobby shop is across the street.
MIKE
I am a sniper, but I don’t use a program to do it for me. I have a set price in mind, and I will not exceed it. I do this to get the best price on an item, and yes, I will take the item from you if your not prepared to rebid. It’s called a free market, I can understand bad feelings, but people shouldn’t cry for change just because they lost. It’s an auction, the highest bidder wins period, regardless of when the high bidder places the bid.
(Yes I have lost to other snipers, two of them guys is named Rich train something and the other is some Turbine dude [(-D] )
I snipe manually, and the times I DON’T, the final bid is usually more than I was willing to pay anyway.
If the item is something recent production, I’ll cross check with some vendors like MB Klein to make sure the proice on eBay plus shipping is less than it would cost me to just order from them. Case in point, the latest run of Atlas HO Trainmasters with sound - there’s a lot going on eBay for $175 plus shipping, Klein had one for $179 but less shipping, sum total, $5 cheaper from Klein.
If the item ends at some crazy time when I can’t stay up for it, I’ll just put in my maximum bid when I go to bed. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don’t.
–Randy
I have bid, sometimes won, sometimes lost, probably some to snipers.
If I know the maximum I am willing to pay, figure in shipping and bid. If someone else wants to pay more for it, it makes little difference if they bid before or after me, I loose.
Not to say that I haven’t upped my bid sometimes. In such cases, I saw something I wanted, then decided I wanted it more than originally figured. Sometimes I’m still the high bidder, others, I’ve been out bid.
When I go to in person auctions, I have a limit on an item. If the other bidder hits on my maximum, sometimes I will go one more increment to see if they are at the same maximum. Only difference on Ebay is that I will put the extra on if I really want it.
Happy bidding,
Richard
I fail to see the problem with sniping. As with any business transaction there are people who find a way to get what they want in the most efficient manner they can. In my opinion, sniping only causes you to lose in the last few seconds instead of earlier on. Trust me, If I bid $100 early on and the highest a sniper is willing to go is $95, then I will win regardless of when he puts in his max bid. It’s just when they decide to do it that’s different.
I buy things occasionally off E-bay and have not had a negative experience.
I do not snipe myself or use a sniper service.
I figure the rarest of items usually shows up again so I’m really not missing much and if it doesn’t, well I guess I’ll live without it.
I determine what I’m willing to pay, shipping included, give myself some time to let it sink in, and place my max bid. If someone is willing to pay more, then they will get it, if not, then chances are I was going to pay what I paid regardless of when they bid.
I don’t get too wrapped up over it.
If I snipe, I do it manually.
eBay is such an MR crap shoot. One day an item sells for 10 bucks with 2 bidders, the next day it’s 24 bucks and 7 bidders. Same item, same time of day. [(-D]
And man, I think I could retire tomorrow if I had a few dozen flat cars to sell there.
-Ed
Yeah, that is a great point, Ed, If you lose the auction first time around, there is almost always sure to be the same item at another auction, and you may win it for less than the winning bid on the prior auction.
Rich
Pete, Because I am a price shopper for certain items and when I am looking to buy an item from either the LHS or an online retailer, I always include EBay as a source for the item. I also do my own sniping and if I win it, great, if I don’t, I just move on - but I don’t exceed my maximum regardless of how much I might want the item. Reason for that is generally there are multple auctions for the same item, or the same item will come up again in the future. I have also found ‘Buy It Now’ items that, when I add shipping, the total cost is less than the auction or pricing at a retailer.
I think the ability to snipe is one reason for eBay’s success. In the late 90s another auction site, maybe Amazon, would extend an auction for a few minutes if a bid was placed in the last minute. I lost interest in the site and I think most others did as well. I’m not sure if the site still exists.
Sniping works. An Italian univeristy studied bidding techniques on EBay and concluded that, on average, snipers get better deals than non-snipers.
I almost always snipe. There is nothing unfair about it.
Well I buy on Ebay every once in a while, mostly out of production, new in the box, new old stock sort of stuff.
I don’t snipe - not because I think it’s wrong, but because who has that kind of time? to sit there and be there when the auction ends OR “preload” programs to do it? Not me.
I simply bid what the item is worth to me, and that’s it. I would not pay more in a store, why would I pay more on Ebay. I do often “watch” stuff until the last day or two, then, if it’s still under what I will pay, or has no bids, I put in my max and see what happens.
Just got two long out of production kits last week, same seller, I was the only bidder, $30 total for two great kits, shipping and all.
I don’t buy new stuff on Ebay as a general rule, I have a number of good local shops and other web stores I like for that - and I never pay as much as I see the same things going for on Ebay.
Sheldon
It doesn’t really take any time, a couple of minutes at most. If I see something I am seriously interested in, I put it in my watch list. I automatically get notified by EBay near the end of its listing time. I just set a timer to notify me a couple of minutes before the auction ends, then bid at the last second.
If I’m not going to be around when the auction ends, instead of sniping, I just bid my max early and let EBay email me the results when the auction closes.
I just enter my initial bid and then enter a maximum bid for the maximum that what I’m willingto pay.
You get “notified”, on your iphone or what ever? I don’t ever want to be that “connected”. I don’t have a cell phone connected to the net, I only spend an hour or so a day on all computer related activities, I don’t want to be interruped while doing other things - like building model trains.
Sheldon
In fact, when I close IE in a minute or two here, I will not be back in front of this thing until tomorrow morning most likely.
Sheldon
I won’t buy on ebay myself. Not that there isnt good deals to be had. I prefer using my LHS. They are so few and far between anymore that there is only a few within a 40mile radius of me. So I use the one closest. I try to budget what I buy so they are the perfect fit. Plus they consign stuff for their customers which makes it so much easier and less hassle then trying to ebay it myself. I get what I need when I need it. And I keep a look out in my area for auctions that have MRR stuff. Those are the absolute best place to go. There is one a couple weeks with over 400 pieces of rolling stock alone. Last time I went to an auction I bought over 100 pieces of RS for 20 bucks. Went thru it and picked out what I needed and flipped the rest for a nice profit to foot the bill for other things. That and HOyardsale on yahoo is really nice to.
My 2 cents(For what they are worth)
This always makes me chuckle! Someone gets outbid on e-Bay in the last few seconds of an auction, then complains because the winning bidder used a “snipe” program to beat him and shouts: “UNFAIR! UNFAIR!”
Unfair? How is using a ‘tool’ unfair? Sniping is just that, a TOOL to use to keep out of bidding wars and paying too much for something. Sniping doesn’t guarantee successful bidding, but it dramatically increases your chances of winning AT A PRICE YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH! And that’s an important distinction: you win at the lowest price you want.
And demanding that e-Bay “outlaw” sniping programs is pure nonsense. It would be like hiring a carpenter and then telling him he can’t use a hammer!
If you couldn’t already tell, I’m an ardent user of snipe software. I watch many items without ever placing a bid. As the auction end nears, I decide if I still want to bid and enter my snipe bid. Often, the regular bidding has put the item out of my price range and I won’t bid. But when the price is right, I calculate the total amount I’m willing to pay, subtract postage from that amount and enter a snipe bid. (I also keep in mind the cost of the snipe bid, too. In my case, it’s usually a quarter.)
To those who decry the use of sniping, I suggest you sign up on a sniping program and start fighting fire with fire. Or quit complaining about someone else being smarter than you. That’s what it really is: someone with the ability to consistantly beat your bid is working smarter than you are.
E-Bay’s proxy bidding system is a shill for sellers. Once a proxy bid has been entered, anyone else can come along and bid up the price until they either reach their maximum or outbid the proxy bidder. Who does that help? The SELLER, of course! It drives up the bid price. What seller isn’t please that his item brought MORE than what he paid for