Sniper Bids.

[hamster]

Sorry, it's exactly the same. At my local auction house I get them to bid for me and tell them my maximum. They will bid on my behalf exactly like an ebay bid. Sometimes I get maxed out and lose. Sometimes I win some way below my maximum. Sotheby's do precisely the same!

 

[Broady]

If theres something I want I always wait till the last 10 seconds to bid. Bidding earlier just starts a bidding war.

 

[davew]

Sorry, it's exactly the same. At my local auction house I get them to bid for me and tell them my maximum. They will bid on my behalf exactly like an ebay bid. Sometimes I get maxed out and lose. Sometimes I win some way below my maximum. Sotheby's do precisely the same!

Not really, no. The point of sniping, and the reason people do it, is to take advantage of the fixed end time for the auction - the fixed end time being the time bids are closed NOT that the maximum bid has been reached. It's the equivalent of an auctioneer bringing the hammer down half way through the bidding.

If an auction starts on Monday and finishes on Friday putting your max bid on on Monday will probably guarantee that someone with more money than sense will outbid you by raising their bid in small increments until they are the "winning bid". Putting in an early bid almost guarantees you will pay much more for an item even if you win it.

With sniping you put your maximum bid on in the last few seconds, not giving any of the increment bidders time to respond. If you tried that in an auction house then the hammer wouldn't go down until all the other bidders have had a chance to respond to your new highest bid. By not giving increment bidders the chance to respond you get the item cheaper than you would have done otherwise.

The "battle" at the end of an ebay auction is normally between the snipers and whoever puts the maximum bid in wins at that point. The incremental bidders (who deserve no sympathy as far as I am concerned) never get the chance to artificially raise the price and neither do the sellers "mates" or multiple account jockeys.

 

[hamster]

I agree with that Dave!

But in the end, usually the whinging is about people losing out. If you really want it so badly, bid high and early. You can't penny pinch and guarantee a win simultaneously.

 

[hamster]

oops, finger trouble.

 

[technodup]

If Ebay wanted to remove sniping they could do so very easily by adding 30 minutes to an auction end time if a bid is made within 30 minutes of the end time.

How would that make any difference? Buyers/snipers would just adjust the bid time by the appropriate number of minutes, surely?

In any case I've used an auction site that uses that system and believe me it doesn't stop late bids. It's an absolutely awful way of running an auction, and means you never know when it will actually end. Much better to have a defined end time and everyone knows where they stand from the outset.

 

[weeman_mtb]

Never used a sniper but if I really want something then I put my best bid in with about 8 seconds to go, other bidders probably presume that I'm sniping though.

Bidders would be right to assume that, because bidding in the last seconds has a name .....yep you guessed it, it's called sniping

Its not the software that makes it sniping, its the bid being entered in the closing seconds that makes it sniping. The software came later to save you having to do it yourself.
[/2p]

I am in the corner with the cone shaped hat on as I type this .

 

[MikeD]

Sorry, it's exactly the same. At my local auction house I get them to bid for me and tell them my maximum. They will bid on my behalf exactly like an ebay bid. Sometimes I get maxed out and lose. Sometimes I win some way below my maximum. Sotheby's do precisely the same!

Similar, not the same. An auction house auction runs until no-one's willing to pay more, eBay runs until the time is up. At an auction house you pay what you bid, on eBay you pay what the second-highest bidder bid plus the increment. At an auction house you (or your proxy bidder) knows how much other bidders have bid. These things all effect how the thing plays out.

But yes, at the end of the day, highest bidder wins which is what counts

 

[Ernie]

i use "sniper"...always have done and always will..set it up as soon as i am happy with a price..i like it for two reasons... one.. it stops you getting into a bidding war..this happens the seller wins and two if an item comes up cheaper ..you just cancel the activation

If i am selling and the buyer uses it and wins.."tel Aviv" as delboy says

Ernie