Why is it when you need something from the 1980’s You bid on it and wait seven days for someone to outbid you in the last 4 seconds. What is your feelings on snipping? I don’t do it! I even let certain items go if I don’t NEED them. Any ebay advise on buying trains?
I buy tons of trains on ebay. It can be pretty cut throat on there. I’ve even been sent a message because someone figured out I won an auction. Just bid, even if it’s in the last second. In my opinion what you will pay is what you will pay and most of the bids are in the last minute or two of an auction. The other day an Overland Models engine went from $1600 to $2200 in the last 5 or 6 minutes. So if you want a decent chance of winning, bid often and bid late. But don’t bid too late or you’ll get the screen that it’s over. For ultra rare items, I just wing it and bid like crazy and look at the bill later. Good luck on the bay!
Right on. That is the reality we live in.
Works for me also.
Rich
The trick to Ebay bidding is to find an auction that ends at an odd hour of the night. Most newbie’s then to bid on auctions early. Unless the seller has a buy now option up you have to try to out bid the other bidders. This is best done by bidding in the last few minutes of the auction. I have talked to a seller and found that they had more then one idem up for sale but did not list them. You also have to check the fine print for the shipping charges. I once bid on a camera case for $1 but the shipping charges were over $50. I talked to another seller and found what I was looking for for less then a $1 shipping include.
I don’t like snippiing either, but it happens. Some folks have the wherewithall to afford to have it done. I just put in the bid I feel is the most I want to pay (including the shipping) and let it go from there. If they wanted to bid higher, so be it. There is little actual difference if you are outbid when you put in your bid or anytime later, someone was willing to pay more for it than you were.
Good luck,
Richard
Those are sellers trying to circumvent the ebay fees. Ebay doesn’t charge fees on shipping charges. So when you see ridiculously stupid shipping charges you know the seller is being dishonest.
You should have reported the seller to ebay.
I agree I put in my bid at what I think its worth to me. If They outbid me during the auction I dont feel so bad. Its when They have no bids all week then in the last 59 seconds it go’s high as a rocket. Or the snipper at 4 seconds left. Best regards, Mike
i generally put out an earlier “feeler” bid to kinda figure where it’s going to go, by being outbid. then yea- if i really want it, i’ll go nuts in the last couple minutes.
Really? Sniping services are very affordable. From the auctionsniper website: We charge a modest fee of 1% of the final auction price, with a minimum of 25 cents and a maximum of $9.95 for each auction that we help you win.
I use auctionsniper.com exclusively, for everything that isn’t a Buy It Now. I put in the maximum I’m willing to pay for said item and that’s it. I travel all of the time and don’t have time to monitor an auction. A sniping service will also keep you from getting emotional and over paying for something.
And bidding early doesn’t accomplish anything other than make the other bidders want to compete for the item.
Hate me if you will but when I was on E-Bay I was a good sniper. When I found something I wanted I would research what it was really worth. Lets say the bid was $50.00, and it was worth $100.00. I would wait say to 10 seconds before the auction ended and bid $150.00 which is way more than it is worth. My bid would only jump up a little over the next highest bidders prices and they would not have time to react to out bid me.
While it is risky bidding that much over, I never got burned. I have now been E-Bay free for 5 years. I spent well over $30,000.00 on E-Bay but man I got some cool toys! (lot none train items)
Cuda Ken
I follow Ken’s same method. Fortunately, I’ve never bid against Ken, otherwise one of us would have ended up paying way too much for the item ! [oops] I know my computer takes six seconds to refresh a bid page, so I always bid with eight seconds left to go. If I still get outbid, somebody else wanted it waaaay more than I did.
Mark.
Just bid the most you want to pay in the last few seconds. If you win, it will just be a few dollars more than the next lowest bid. It’s not that complicated. (If you bid $1,000 and the next highest bid was $500, you’ll only pay about $500-something. Check out the bidding procedures!
Snipers, ah yes I know what you mean. I used to feel the same way a long time ago. In the last several years though, they don’t bother me at all. Bottom line is, except for some like Cudaken and Mark R (and really, if they were willing to pay that extreme high price by taking the chance they weren’t both bidding against someone doing the same as themselves and knowing there was a chance they were, that is to say they wanted it at any cost, you would have lost in a straight up bidding war anyway) most will only snipe at their max bid of interest anyway, so even if they did bid against you (or me) the same way, they would have won.
The only truth to saying puting your max bid in early is it only drives the price up higher is that it gives the other person time to rethink their max bid should yours be higher. But really and in actuality, if I take shipping in as a part of the item cost and someone else does not, and there are many who don’t, the you are already potentially willing to bid at least the cost of shipping more than me. A person is only going to pay what they are willing to pay for something and if they are willing to pay that much in the end most likely they would have paid the same earlier on.
Yes I’ll admit it sometimes is a disappointment to lose right at the last second, but oh well, let 'em snipe away. Hang around and there’ll be another “RARE” or “Hard To Find” item just like it show up sooner or later.
I research what that particular item brings on average then add shipping, exchange rates and what I potentially will have to pay for import fees and duties (Woah! Canada). So I don’t really worry about being sniped when there are other expenses to be considered in the first place, plus the sniper has to beat my maximum bid anyway. I usually bid the most I’m willing to pay (incuding the aforementioned extra costs added into the total)in the last day or two of the auction, I work nights so generally I’m not around to watch the end of it anyhow. Besides when all is said and done if I don’t win it now usually I’ll win it at a later date usually in better condition and for less.
Thanks
Andrew
Ebay is changing it’s pricing structure to take care of this.
I’ve always bid the way Mark mentions. No, you don’t always win, but you also don;t end up paying twice what you wanted for the item, either. It takes a few tries, and the most important thing to rememebr is that if you miss this one, another of the same thing will come along. For example, it took me 4 tries, but I eventually got a Proto 2000 Alco S1 for $29.95, brand new in the box. The first three, I bid $40 at the last second and was outbit. The 4th time - no one else bid so I got it for the starting price.
–Randy
Don’t let 'em outbid you. It is worth whatever you are willing to pay for it.
Last night, I set a maximum bid of $20 on an item currently bid at $8 with 3 minutes to go. I eventually lost out to a $20.50 bid. It wasn’t worth a penny more than $20 to me. There are others out there identical to it.
However, recently, I saw a retired structure on eBay that I absolutely wanted to get. I set a maximum bid of $80 when the current bid was $12 with 10 minutes to go. I eventually won it for $42.
Rich
I have never paid more than I wanted to for an eBay item. No matter how much I paid, it was worth it because I thought it out beforehand and set a maxium price as a “silent reserve”.
Research the item beforehand. How much have “completed items” sold for? Are other identical items available? As Randy pointed out, the other bidders will find and buy the item so the number of potential bidders will eventually be reduced or eliminated.
On eBay, as a buyer, you gotta be smart.
Rich
P.S. Try being a seller. Takes guts to set the starting bid at $0.99 when you are hoping to get $100 for the item. Truth is, though, the lower the starting bid, the greater the bidding activity.
Hi!
I’m a very experience buyer/seller (mostly train stuff) on Ebay - having started in 2000. The auction process (most items now are buy it now) is just that - an auction. Whether you bid up front or in the last three seconds it doesn’t matter - for the highest bid wins. While “sniping” may seem unfair, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
From my experience, putting a large bid out there up front often encourages others to “feel you out” and keep bidding until they wipe out your max bid. It happens almost every time on a desirable item. Years ago that was pretty common (someone putting a max bid out there early on) but these days folks tend to come in towards the end of the auction with their highest bid.
For those items I just “have to have”, I’ll put in a low bid up front to test the waters, and then wait until the end of the auction to place the final bid. Of course sometimes the end of the auction is when I can’t be at the computer, so I just have to place the bid as late as I can. And yes, there have been many auctions I sent a bid in during the last 10 seconds - and probably lost as many as I won.
All is fair…
I have to agree 100% with mobilman44.
I cannot recall ever placing a bid earlier than 10 minutes before the end of an auction even on a 10 day auction. What’s the point of placing a bid on Day 1 ?
Rich