Arrggghh! lol Why oh why can’t I seem to get my hands on any Walthers retired kits! lol I was sniping a Walthers Backshop and Walthers Car Shop this afternoon around 4:45pm, and I lost to somebody who sniped me in the last 5 seconds! I put in my bid at 14 seconds to go and was the high bidder. He put his final bid in at 5 seconds and beat me by barely 50 cents! On BOTH kits and there was a 2 minute difference between ending times. I don’t know if he reads this forum, but congrats and admiration for a faster internet connection than mine! lol
I really gotta have these two kits for my engine servicing and car maintenance area of the yard on my layout. I was even willing to pay over retail this time! lol
Anyways, I did win a 2 Stall Engine House from Walthers for $10 under Walthers sale price ($16 under retail), so it wasn’t a total loss! lol Oh well, I’ve seen several NIB Backshops and Carshops lately, so maybe I’ll get lucky in the next few weeks.
When there is 1 minute left “exactly” start your timer. Get a stop watch or a watch with a second hand. Get your high bid ready and go through everything except clicking on “CONFIRM BID” When it gets to 4 seconds click on “CONFIRM BID” 95% of the time it’s yours. If you really want something that’s the way to go. Bid sniping seems like doing something illegal. [:D]
I keep two Ebay screens open in the last minute, one with another bid ready to go and with the other Im hitting the REFRESH button to monitor the auction, I don’t depend on EBAY instant notification via email that I’ve been outbid, I’ve gotten them too late before.
You probably got beaten my much more than 50 cents. You will never see how much your competing bidders high bid is if they win. He could have bid $500 more than your high bid and it would still just show 50 cents over. It is the bid increment you see. So don’ t feel too bad.
In some ways, these fellas react like they were on slot machines or playing craps. They get all worked up, and have a big let-down when they don;t win. HOWEVER…they don’t have to pay a single dine when ithey lose…unlike at a casino.
There are 2 structures that I need for my layout on eBay right now. They close in just a few minuets but I am not about to snipe. They both are selling for more than I could buy them new. I love it when people throw their money away. They will look better if I build the it myself anyway.
I’m not really sure why everyone has so much of a problem. If you put in a bid of $10.00, and someone bids $10.50 with 5 seconds or 1 second left, they beat you. THEY BID MORE. It’s not when you bid. It’s how much you bid. If you’re willing to go as high as $20 in a last second bid, why not just put that in earlier? That’s what I do all the time, and that’s how I’ve gotten 80% of my stuff. Yes, I’ve lost some auctions, but they all went over the amount that I was willing to bid.
I think the LHS has a few of those kits yet to be sold… I suggest going to walthers.com and finding the kit in question. Then clicking the link to "Hobby Shops who have recieved this item in the past " Whew… then emailing each one of them and ask if they do have the item.
Be prepared to wait a day as all the responses come flooding in. Many will offer a price and shipping. Usually it will be a bit less than MSRP. I do this from time to time to acquire some really OOP items.
Regarding the sniping… 5 seconds tells me that this buyer may have been on Cable or Fast DSL. I can do 4 seconds with preloaded bid confirm screens but that is extreme. The server needs just a bit of 3 seconds to record and send results.
The auctions isnt over until the fat lady sings. So line up your target decide what to spend max and enter it at 4 seconds to go. You need a good stopwatch synced to the Ebay LOCAL time… NOT your desktop, computer, house clock or anything else.
Dont use software to snipe… ebay is working to make it somewhat illegal. And… dont worry… some chumpith will pay far more than resonable in really hot wars. Let em fight over it… the seller will win.
More of these kits will pop up on ebay, though. Several months ago I won a Walthers Car Shop for $34, which was a pretty nice deal. I wanted a Walthers Back Shop, but then realized that I actually like the Car Shop kit as a locomotive Back Shop building since visibility of the inside from the outside is better than the Back Shop kit. I plan on adding detailing and lighting to it once my layout is up.
I plan on getting another Car Shop kit and splice it together with the kit I now have to make it a nicely sized engine shop.
As an option for those of you that are looking for an engine shop, the Bachmann Plus locomotive shop kit also shows up on ebay from time to time. It’s very nice, though it only has two stall instead of the Walther’s three.
I have found that almost regardless of what you bid, someone is willing to bid more. I do not bid high at the start. If I bid high and my $20 turns out to be the highest, maybe I could have gotten it for $9? Why pay more if you don’t have to? It doesn’t make sense. Even if I am willing to bid $20, I still want to get it cheaper if I can. If someone else wants it more than I do, they will bid it up regardless of what I bid and I will lose anyway.
I use eSnipe for sniping. There is a small charge on successful bids only. If you bid and lose, there is no charge. eSnipe allows me to bid with as little as 1 or 2 seconds left, and I am not relying on MY computer connection to make the bid. (I have tried using two screens, etc., and I usually wind up watching my computer inexplicably slow down just when I want to bid!) eSnipe will place the bid for me at the time I specify in the amount I select, and will continue to bid up to my pre-set limit or the end of the auction. I win a lot of auctions this way for a LOT less money than any other method. Yes, I lose a bunch, but that’s because someone else is STILL willing to outbid me, long before the auction is CLOSE to being over, which is why I don’t bid high 6 days before the auction ends ! ! ! Let them spend their money, I’ll wait for the next auction.
If you like to bid your maximum at the start of the auction, you are only running the prices up and are contri
