Slightly OT: Snipe issues on eBay
 

Has anyone else been hearing complaints on their snipes not going through tonight on eBay? I had one of my lowest selling weeks in some time bid and dollar wise, and when I just checked my email....I had messages from multiple bidders on different items saying that they placed a snipe and it did not go through? Anyone else experienced this tonight, as either buyer or seller?

I had snipes that didn't go through tonight.

Same here

Appears to be an a major issue.. Discussion about it over on the PSA boards too.

The glitch blocking bidders happened earlier this week, snipe services getting blocked at the end of it. Lot's of $$ left on the table for sellers this week without a heads up from eBay.

If I were a seller with auction listings ending I would be pretty pissed.

Wow, that really stinks. It already takes nerves of steel to run regular auctions on eBay having to wait until most of the action in the last few seconds, and then tonight...no action hardly at all at the end...I was expecting a little slow as it's a holiday weekend...so thank goodness I had a very very modest reserve on two large items, the reserve was only one third met on one and one half met on the other. I had assumed both reserves would easily be met. Multiple people not getting their snipes through on them. Just image If I hadn't put a reserve on those two and they had gone off at one third of a very low expected price. At this point I probably only left a few hundred on the table, but that is only according to those who contacted me about it.

I had one snipe not go through yesterday, but I won three cards tonight by sniping.

I had a card I paid $1,050 for recently with a VCP average of $1,200 sell last night for "only" $800. I had around 33 watchers at the time of closing, yet only one snipe appears to have went thru at the last seconds. The card was a rare card, appears to have been undergraded, and at the VERY LEAST should have been close to what I paid for it! This is NOT GOOD at all now that I found this out!

On top of the that, the winning bidder already paid! (I guess he paid quickly because he knew he got a steal on the card). I am torn as what to do. I think blocking snipes is a pretty shitty way for EBay to treat their customers! And yes, the sellers are really Ebay's customers, NOT the buyers.

I had 2 snipes set on Gavelsnipe that did not execute last night. In both instances I would have been the winner. I will be bidding manually from now on until I know it is fixed.

Why are you torn? The bidder won the auction based on the parameters you put forth. You should send the card. Most of my auctions at least start at the money I have into the item. That way I never lose money.
I am AGHAST that a winning bidder would pay immediately!!! How dare he!

WOW - I'm just glad I didn't have any snipes set this week. :eek:
Been using a couple different free services for 10-15 years now - never once had a snipe not go through. I've come to rely on them and never doubted the reliability.

I had a few last week

I also had snipe problems. I couldn't believe how low the prices were on some items I was sniping, just glad I wasn't selling anything and feel bad for those that were.

Yea...losing $330 is rough. And the poster above who slammed me is missing the point. When bidders arent allowed to get bids in, meaning they are blocked from bidding due to Ebays incompetence, well, that is just as bad as shill bidding. It is called bid rigging, and it is just as illegal as shill bidding. Should a seller be forced to make a sell when other bidders are blocked from participating?

Ebay never ceases to amaze me in its' incompetence. Just when I thought I had seen it all.....

This is concerning to me. Has anybody figured out if it's any particular sniping tool, or is it all of them across the board?

Wonder if Ebay has suddenly decided that auction sniping services pose a "security breach".

:rolleyes:

Yup, missed 1 last night and am pissed, as it was a piece I really would have loved to have :mad:

Please tell me it wasn't a 1954 Bowman Ted Williams card!!! :mad:

No worries, Bobby, it wasn't. The 1950's stuff is too new for my taste :D

My gavelsnipe bids worked fine last night. I didn't win but was under bidder on at least a few. It seems the snipes worked properly.

Does anyone know if it is an Ebay issue or sniping program issue? I use esnipe.com and had no problems the past few days.

I often bid on the Yahoo Japan auction site. The seller can list the item using an option that extends the auction. If there are no bids within the final 5 minutes the auction will keep extending so sniping is not an option. Most sellers use this feature.

Bid rigging? That would mean that eBay or other bidders INTENTIONALLY defrauded you by restricting the price of your item. To my knowledge, eBay itself does not have any sniping software. It is likely against their Terms of Service to use such a service.
My guess is that the sniping services all have disclaimers that say STTE "we are not liable in the case that your bid does not go through at the appropriate time." So I would guess they're off the hook.

Full disclosure: I don't use bid sniping services. If I want an auction item, I am there when it ends.

If I bid on a card for 800 dollars, paid, then had my winning bid cancelled because someone else's sniping software wasn't working, I would never ever buy another card from that seller. Ever.

Ebay warns sellers against ending their items early. They state that most bidders bid within the final seconds (which is true), and that you run the risk of alienating them should you choose to do so. If it is true that EBay is then restricting the software of these companies that place bids within the final seconds so a bid is never placed, then that is a problem. No seller likes to see their items sell for less than what it is worth. For the card in question that I had, it had a known commodity with a value that most people look at as the gospel (VCP). That value was $1,250 (as of last night - I am sure it is lower now thanks to my throttled auction). If the card sold low due to a fact that Ebay is restricting these sniping programs from placing bids, well that affects me as a seller. I no longer wish to run 99 cents auctions. I also feel I shouldnt be held responsible to negligence on Ebay's part. Ebay makes it so I can't do anything really about non-paying bidders. How about some seller protection for seller's who don't wish to give an item away?

If the auction were a "true" auction that had no issues, then of course I would have no problem shipping the card off at a $330 loss. However, when I hear from multiple people that EBay is not allowing their bids to go through, well, that is a problem. A big one.

If I won a card for $500 that was worth $1,000 because people couldn't bid, I too would be ecstatic! I realize I would have won the card from gaming the system though. Period.

http://www.gavelsnipe.com/faq.php?anchor=2#2

Quote: "My snipe failed to execute. What happened?

GavelSnipe may encounter problems on an auction site that can cause a snipe to fail to execute. Network delays and server timeouts can cause the sign in page or bidding page to not respond. GavelSnipe is designed to continue attempts to sign in and bid during the user-defined snipe buffer until a bid is placed or the auction ends.

eBay has security measures in place to detect weak passwords. This security measure can cause your snipe to fail because the eBay log in process is interrupted by the weak password notification. Click here for tips on creating a secure eBay password.

eBay randomly uses captcha verification codes. These codes require human intervention to proceed with the sign-in/bidding process. Captcha verification codes will cause a snipe to fail because GavelSnipe is unable to sign in and bid."

Ebay has to give permission, and a key to their back door for 3rd party developers like sniping services to even exist. Therefore they giving some sort of tacit approval for the service being offered.

The question is if the problem is on the sniping service end, or if Ebay is unnecessarily blocking some of these services due to yet another glitch or "enhancement" in their system.

You seem to be saying it's intentional, but have no proof. Based on the link I just posted, it could be the buyer's own faults that their bids didn't go through (either weak passwords or getting hit by a random captcha). If eBay approved the use of snipe bidding, they wouldn't be putting captchas into their system. eBay has every incentive for items to end at the highest value they can attain.
You're inventing a conspiracy theory which doesn't make sense. Next time list your items with higher starting bids. Then you'll never get snake-bit if it happens again.

Ok so I'm bidding on a card and right before the end the power goes out in the town of the guy I'm bidding against... Cancel the auction. Another bidder has an internet outage or lag ... Cancel the auction.... Another bidder has to change his newborn and misses a bid, cancel the auction... Look go ahead and cancel the bid if you want realist the card ( maybe with a reserve this time). Do whatever you need to, but I would really like ethics teachers opinion on this one.

I did some searches on ebay for "sniping services", "terms of service", and "sniping bids" in their Customer Service section, and got no true hits (some "community" questions popped up, but none were answered by official eBay personnel). Odd that eBay's help site has zero official word.

I never said I wasn't shipping the card. I am. But if people aren't allowed to snipe because Ebay has blocked certain people from bidding on my items, then yes, I have a sour taste in my mouth! A very bad one! A $330 one! To the point that I don't ever want to do 99 cent auctions again.

You state you never want to bid on someone's items that won't honor "throttled" bids, "Pennies on the dollar" bids, or whatever you want to call them. I don't think you have to worry about that, because that seller will be gone anyway, because he doesn't want to sell his items for peanuts. He is moving on elsewhere. Thanks Ebay! (note the sarcasm here)

You definitively do have a right to the sour taste. You also have the right to be pissed at ebay. No doubt there.

Totally agree John, if the problem wasn't on eBay's end then the rigged auction theory flies out the window. I think it sucks these sniping programs even exist (no offense to anyone), nothing like staying up late to bid on an auction only to be outbid by a pre-arranged snipe bid scheduled two days earlier. Guess I'm old-school that way.

I think Bobby's rightfully upset that a glitch in the system he was paying a generous fee to use, has dramatically affected the outcome of his auctions, costing him quite a bit of coin.

I don't see any signs he has actually pulled out of the transaction either. Let a guy vent. :)

I had a piece a couple weeks ago. If the final bidder had been blocked from sniping, if might have cost me over $1000 bucks on the item.

I don't know that's its been clearly established as an "ebay issue". It could as easily have been a sniping service issue.

Saw this on JustSnipe - the one I normally use. It was posted last night.

Starting from 17:00 Pacific Time, eBay servers experience problems with its servers and networks. The response page from eBay stated that it was timing out. The issue seems to be reduced at 18:00.

eBay has not yet announced the issue on the website.

Pleas use caution during this time.

JustSnipe Support

I doubt there are very many sellers that wouldn't honor their sales (maybe I am wrong?), I will of course...but what it will do is likely be an eye opener that running a straight auction without a high starting bid or reserve just might not be an option for higher dollar items as the risk for something like this to happen is just too high. I know folks will say don't do a 99 cent auction...the thing is, that is what bidders say they like to see (obviously), and for items that have a well established value, they often work better than a starting bid that's higher. It draws more eyes and also puts more eyes on other items that are up for sale at buy it now prices.

If accurate, that changes things a bit.

I'm sure ebay will credit it s valued sellers for bids not received.... Seriously tho a crappy situation for bobby and whoever said we all should've just let him vent is right.

Quite ironically (or not), Ebay has also recently adjusted it's terms of service to clearly state they will never extend auctions if there has been a "service interruption".

Not that they have done that in years anyways........but once upon a time.............

In my opinion, there is no way eBay will even consider compensating a seller for a bid that didn't get through...not a chance.

I think he was being facetious.

Yeah it was a poor attempt at sarcasm. Ebay won't do a thing.

Yes, now I see the sarcasm :-). I wonder what some of the real large eBay seller who run auctions and had any ending last night noticed? There could be some disappointed consignors, and if they are on big ticket items those prices could effect perceived value of Vcp on if it's a rare card.

Anyone get a snipe to work tonight?

My snipe didn't go through on this card ('54 Bowman Williams).. I'd have won it. I had several other (4-5) snipes that did not go through either, however my snipe in the early AM did.

I did have the Williams auction open on my phone at the end, but didn't pull trigger since I'd already made a couple purchases earlier in the day. I was surprised by the ending price and bummer for everyone that left money on the table

I hate I heard that Ian. Someone earlier stated that for high dollar items, just set a reserve or set the bid higher. I am taking this advice. There is absolutely no way I can lose this kind of money and stay in business long. For items that have been in my collection for so long that I don't care what I get for them, then 99 cent auctions can suffice. However, when I get a card for the sole purpose of flipping and basically just hand it out - well, that isn't going to fly. By the way, the winning bidder is a very famous dealer. He has bought from me before. I fully expect to see this card in his store, and sell for $1,200+. I was able to be robbed with the full help of Ebay. Never again.

There are just too many alternatives. Huggins and Scott, Goodwin and Co, Greg Bussineau all come to mind.

Lol. Your posts are too funny.

I'm glad peoples snipes didn't work. That's what they get for using them instead of ACTUALLY BIDDING!!!