How many use a sniper when bidding? I have but only a couple of times.
Which sniping service do you feel is best? I’ve only tried eSnipe so I can’t answer that one.
How many have been bit buy a sniper ? I have.
Does sniping increase your winnings or do the snipers get sniped also? What increases your chances of winning is how high you’re willing pay for what you want.
How may E-bay change the rules to discourage snipers?
Pete, given the number and nature of your questions about sniping, it’s pretty obvious that you’ve been burned before - and probably within the past 24 hours. To be honest, I don’t think eBay will do anything to discourage sniping. YOU have to be comfortable with bidding the maximum you are willing to pay for an item and live with the fact that someone else may outbid you for it.
I only use eSnipe so that I don’t have to “hover” around my computer the last 5 minutes of an auction. If I don’t win something- unless it’s an extremely rare item- it will usually come along again at some point down the road.
Recently I bid on and won a fairly popular item on eBay: A Walthers Alco HH600/HH660 switcher. These originally went for ~$80 when they first came out in the early 90s. 20 years later they still fetch that price and then some.
Now, I could have gone into a bidding war with others and paid over $100 to get one. However, I was patient and was able to find a new one (and one with the NYC herald) for only $51 because it was listed in such a way so that it didn’t show up on the “regular” radar screen. I put in my bid via eSnipe a few days before the closing date/time then found out by e-mail when I won.
I offer a fair maximum bid for things that I want on eBay. Sometimes I win; sometimes I lose
My answer will mirror many of the first posts. I used eBay, but no sniper program. I’m not above manually sniping at the last minute. Generally, I determine what I will pay and set that as my max price. If the auction exceeds what I’m willing to pay (with shipping), then I’ve lost nothing in my estimation.
I personally won’t bid on ANYTHING when it is first put up and always wait until the end to snipe the bid. I get more frustrated with people that bid early and bid the item up. As someone that snipes bids I like to get the lowest price I can and so there are many times I will pass on an item that has a lot of bids on it early because I feel the price is going to shoot up at the end.
Now as an occassional seller…I love to see those early bids because I know it will drive the price of my item up!
As long as it comes in sometime during the last day, that’s all I need. Then I set an alarm on my PC to go off a couple of minutes before the close of auction. It takes seconds to set an alarm. It’s no big deal and is virtually effortless.
As a contrarian, I am not above putting in my true maximum bid early. Many auctions end at awkward times, so I can’t be bothered sniping except when it is convenient for me. An early bid locks in the auction - seller can’t easily withdraw item once a bid is placed. And if two of us bid early, a lot of snipers go away with the early rise in price. If they don’t, they get to pay more than I was willing to. Of course, I’m buying on eBay because I can’t easily find it anywhere else, not because I’m bottom feeding for the lowest possible price. Which frustrates the snipers even more.
That said, I’m left wondering what the intent of the OP was with this thread. The questions imply the OP thinks there is somehting wrong with sniping, or that eBay should change its rules. How about outlining your proposed changes so we can really come down on you? [:)]
As for where I buy my stuff, I’m all over the board because most locomotives, rolling stock, and track items that I buy are difficult to find or are out of production. I have 4-5 hobby shops that sometimes carry what I want - one is here in town. He buys up collections and resells them - I find some pretty good deals with these. He advises me of his latest finds that might interest me when I come in every week or two. A round of phone calls to the others is often my next step. A number of items have to be ordered direct from the small-time manufacturer. Ebay is usually the last sou
To clarify, I usually purchase my modelling supplies and such from my LHS’s. I too believe they are important to have around and I feel lucky to still have that option. Many do not.
What I do buy from E-bay are things that just strike my fancy and I can use but not available from the LHS or the items on consignment there. Therefore my bids are usually low and account for my lack of volume in purchases because well, I’m cheap at an auction or yard sale. I don’t go to garage sales and check the bargain boxes at trainshows, or go to auctions to pay full retail price, whatever that may be. I, thankfully, have two 20% discount Local Hobby Shops for that.
Unless it is an item I really want and is unavailable locally, I am rarely concerned about winning or losing and my max bid will probably have little effect on the total outcome. If it is an item I really want and I am available near the auction close I may sit and, what you call “snipe”. I have yet to win one of these as it always comes back “out bid” and it is rarely at the last few seconds at that. If my loss is the result of a higher max bid or another snipe I am not concerned as I would have lost anyway do to the fact there was at least one person, sniper or not, that was willing to pay more than I and I would have lost anyway irregardless.
I still have no problems with sniping. If they feel it will better their chances, (a feeling I don’t neccessarily see but will not rule out the possibility), then snipe away. My strong feeling is an item will go to the highest bidder regardless when the bid was placed. The only difference I see is I know early on I won’t be getting the item, or think I may, only to have my hopes dashed at the last second. Another reason for not being there when the bidding closes. I think that’s probably is the #1 reason sniping gets bad feelings. But that’s just my [2c] . Your opinons, of course, may vary.
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 brou
You still don’t get it. You have to look at the computer to read E-mail, I live in a 4000 sq ft house with 3 floors, 18 rooms, and my train room is in the second floor of my detached garage. I don’t spend all my time where the computer is, and it is not one you “carry around”. Nor do I leave the internet browser on or open to “see” or “hear” the mail - nor do I want to. I own the computer, it does not own me. It has an “off” button. I don’t answer phones if it is not convenient either.
As you can see I did make back here today, but not for long, more important things to do.
Ok. Thank you for participating in this non official poll.
As the OP reads the replies of this poll I hope the following quells some accusations and innuendos.
This poll was to find out if some or any one is using a sniping program. My gist is most snipe manually. To add personality to a thread that was not supposed to reap any type of flame war. What the original intent of the poll was to snipe or not. And if I was going to snipe would I use a program to do it. I never consider a lost auction as being burned either by a sniper or not. I will put my maximum bid in either days or hours ahead of the end of the auction. To be honest I have been a member of E bay for 8 years and have wins totaling under 40 and hobby wins under 15. I am not an E-bayer but have won and lost. I was just curious about others on the forum and what they prefer and use. I have been told by several acquaintances that using a sniping program would almost guarantee more wins then losses. I, personally laugh at most Ebay auctions because I can acquire the same thing at the LHS for the same price or less. I also read that Ebay is not a major player in the hobby. It seems to be behind the LHS purchases and third to online orders.
on may 1st ebay will ban all snipe bidding. you will not be able to bid on a item in the last 5 minutes of an auction. in fact you can not double bid within 1 hr of each bid. it is right on the front page of there websight.
I bid on Ebay all the time, particularly for out of production items.
I don’t use a “sniping service” or snipe.
I’ve never been sniped. I bid what I bid for the price I want to pay. If someone wants to pay more than me, then they need it more than I want it. I also get a bit of satisfaction when they end up bidding higher than MSRP of a LHS.
i will admit that i might pay a few extra bucks to have it delivered to my door. it’s sometimes cheaper to pay that then a few gallongs of “super” unleaded and 9 miles a gallon in my new jeep. what other service can you say that sucks, but you love. huh huh
The link you gave doesn’t work. Probably a scam site of some kind.
A quick check of eBay (ebay.com) says right in its polices that sniping is part of the eBay experience. They will not investigate sniping complaints. Here is the quote from eBay:
Someone outbid me at the last minute. Placing a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing is called “sniping” within the eBay community. Sniping is part of the eBay experience, and all bids placed before a listing ends are valid, even if they’re placed one second before the listing ends. Learn how to avoid being outbid.
Not being able to bid in the last 5 minutes doesn’t make any sense - the effect is to just shorten the auction by 5 minutes. And you can also increase your bid any time you want until the auction closes - again it would be a stupid to change. Ebay makes more money when the price is bid up. They want the transaction to go smoothly so they collect their fees, and the seller returns with more items, and the buyers (auction winners) return too.
Been E Bay free for 4 years now. I have spent well over $30,000.00 On E Bay and I was hooked. I bought a lot of HP car and Audiophile equipment then I got into trains. So I bought a lot of my train stuff on E Stupid as well.
I all so became a sniper and got darn good at it! One of the reasons I went t a very high speed internet.
It’s you who don’t get it. What right do you have to tell me what I do is a waste of time? If you do something different, that’s your business. What I do and how I do it is my business.
Exactly, now you get it. When I said it was a waste of time, the implied message is that FOR ME, it is a waste of MY time. I never said my choices applied to everyone, you took it personally when it was NOT personal or direcected at you or others at all - seemed clear to me I was expressing my opinion about my choices. The OP did ask for opinions about our personal use of Ebay. You can spend all thime you want on Ebay - I promise I don’t care.
Remember, I asked (and answered) a retorical question - “who has that kind of time? - Not me”. If you have that kind of time - fine, spend it as you like.
You first responded to my post, challenging MY personal choices and MY use of MY time, telling me how easy it is. Sorry you feel threatened or insecure when others make definitive statements about their choices that do not agree with yours.
You may have assumed that because I posted right after you I was responding directly to your comments - WRONG. If so I would have quoted you. It is a FORUM, I was reponding to the totality of the thread, to the OP’s questions and to ALL the comments up to that point.
If someone asks about garden tractors, and I say “Gravely makes the best garden tractor”, it should be clear to anyone that that is an opinion. Even if such an opinion is based in a set of facts, it is still a su
I rarely try to snipe on Model Railroad items, but if I do, I plan to overbid by a huge amount to ensure that I get the item, and I don’t use software, so I usually bid within the last minute on my own. I really prefer to watch for a low buy it now deal, and leave the bidding to others. It’s amazing what comes up for a decent price on buy it now sometimes. Now when it comes to RR artifacts, that’s a different story, I’m a hawk on items that I really want. I have little complaints about snipers since everyone wants to get the best deal on an item. Here’s a tip, if you want an item worth $100, then wait until the last 30 seconds, and put $1000 on it. I’ll bet you get it! Just pray there isn’t someone out there willing to pay $999 for the same item!
I was actually accused of sniping when I entered my maximum bid for a Varney docksider with Central Valley valve gear a week before bidding ended. In fact, I forgot that I had bid on it. When I opened my message folder on EBay, I had several nasty messages from that person. Needless to say I reported him and he is no longer on EBay.
Some call it sniping, but the bottom line is it’s an auction and auctions get crazy in final bidding. As a seller, it’s a thrill to see your merchandise jump $200 in the last minute.
i have done this before, i know it’s mean and arrogant. i do not do it anymore. if i am bidding on something and it takes off in the last 10 minutes i bid small amounts till i outbid him. i then know what his high bid is. i then retract my bids and. if his high bid was 200.00 and the bidding is at 50.00 i’ll bid 199.00 and let him pay full price. i know it was mean and i surely do not do it now. ebay will let you retract any bid as long as it’s retracted within i think 5 minutes of your previous bid. no matter how much time is left.
mike
Time restrictions for retracting a bid
Auction ending time
Retraction allowed?
Result
Listing ends in more than 12 hours
Yes
When you retract the bid, we remove all bids you placed on the item. If you are correcting a bidding error, you must bid again.
Listing ends in less than 12 hours
Yes, but only if you retract the bid within one hour of placing it
When you retract the bid, we remove only your most recent bid. Bids you placed prior to the last 12 hours of the listing are not removed.
