Love those friggin snipers

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw 

I just watched an auction end on an Old Judge boxing card I wanted. The price more than doubled in the last few seconds as the snipers came rolling in on the attack. I got the card (you can't snipe what you can't afford), but what a ride. I've come to the painful conclusion that if there is something I've really got to have, I just have to post up my maximum number and let it ride.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

That's the only way to snipe. When you drop your bid in the last 5-10 seconds, there is no second chance and that is when I usually place my final bid.

Jay

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

If I'm not going to be around the computer when the auction ends, I will put my high bid in early. I almost always either lose the auction (which happens no matter how you bid sometimes), or pay 95% of my high bid, because of buyers who want to "win" and keep changing their minds about what they're willing to spend.

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

I just wanted to point out what a wild ride it can take you on when you are in on a card with snipers. I wonder what happens if multiple snipers from different services try to hit the auction at the same time?

What I hate are underbidders--people who figure out your max bid on a string of similar cards and run up the tab for you. This has happened to me a couple of times. I now vary my bids rather than bidding the same $25 on each card of a type.

[Archive]

Posted By: john

just bid like i do,go for stuff no one else wants like Pirates cards from the early 80's,just got all 3 81 sets,the first year i collected(topps,fleer,donruss) for $10 delivered and made a great wall display out of them....won a pirates hat off ebay the other day,brand new officially liscensed for 6 cents!

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I learned very early on never to bid the same amount, never end with $xx.00 and always vary the cent amount. Too many people just use .01 and savvy bidders know to not to bid that any more. Another tip, some people get cute with bids and bid $25.25 or $30.30, etc. In tht case I usually throw up a bid of $25.27 or $30.32. Nothing like a getting an email from a pissed loser whining about losing auction by 2 cents, lol.

Jay

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

Sit back, pop a cold one, and enjoy your victory!

I've never received a "whine note", but I have felt like whining a few times after losing to snipers - of course, the formula is the same...Sit back, pop a cold one...

[Archive]

Posted By: leon

Just bid like there is NO tomorrow Cause if most of our wives find out there probably won't be
regards all

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

...but cards are small and can be hidden easily! I've found that if she can't actually SEE the cards they will sometimes ignore it. My experiments also show that fancy card displays and framed cards don't go over too well, nor does replacing her framed Monet prints with framed Sporting News Supplements.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

the best solution of all is to not get married or have a girlfriend. Just ask Lee I can do without ever having a wife again, but not a GF. Need one of those so I don't end up like my brother, Lee.

Jay

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

...as long as you don't get weird. I'm not saying dogs aren girlfriend replacements...really, I'm not...i think

[Archive]

Posted By: john

I have 4 dogs and no girlfriend,is that bad?

[Archive]

Posted By: leon

I just lay my cards in piles in my office at home. Since they are everywhere she really doesn't notice. ALSO, if they are in piles it's very hard to tell if one has been added as they are very thin. On the other hand the tobacco packs (my new thing) are on display and those HAVE to be reckoned with.....as far as dogs go I am in need of 2 big ones and those will come soon.....live on 6 acres and am sure a couple of dogs would love it..... sorry for getting off of the subject... regards all...

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

...

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom

7 months, so I guess not new.....mentioned what a card cost the other day (I know, STUPID STUPID STUPID). She looked at me like I was rainman or something. Guess we're still early enough in the relationship that she doesn't feel fully comfortable telling me I'm an idiot. Oh well, that'll come soon I guess. My dad already does........ex-wife DID......

[Archive]

Posted By: edhans

went out and got a job to help pay for my E90-1 Mitchell... then told me I had to sell twice as much as I paid for it anyway!

[Archive]

Posted By: Lee Behrens

It's time to respond,

I am single, infrequent girlsfriends (they cost money and cutinto my card buying), have no pets (they shed, smell, and can be annoying) that sounds like my brother. I have a low stress job.

I'm happy with life!!!

If anyone is in need of a good sniper rifle, Tim Newcomb has one he keeps using on me.

Lee

[Archive]

Posted By: Plastic Dog

early on she was pretty tolerant. I was 2 hours late for our first date because I was going through some card store's 57 Topps commons and picking out the ones I needed. Kind of lost track of time in the negotiation. Then she went and bought me a beautiful T207 Weaver for our 1st anniversary (currently the highest one graded by SGC). That was back in 1992. Now she just continues to remind me that Old Judges and Candy cards are worth exactly $0 unless I ever actually sell them. Ya right, little chance of that. The children are starving? Let them eat cardboard. No gas for your car? How can you complain after seeing this beautiful M101-1 McGraw?

Just kidding - gotta hide my cards too.

[Archive]

Posted By: MW

Can't begin to count the number of times cards have made me late...but who would believe me if I told them

[Archive]

Posted By: MW

Perhaps someday banks and financial institutions will offer mortgages based on card values??!!??

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

Hey, when you first get them as girlfriends, we have charming eccentricities and we get laid every day. After several months, they are quirks. When we marry them, they are habits. After the first year, they are annoying habits and sex is a fond memory except for procreation. I've been married for five years; I ebay and post here from my office (the home computer is reserved for paying bills and checking stocks online, you see) and catch the wrath of god when I go to a show. My cards are either in a safe deposit box to which I have the only key or locked away in a cupboard to which I have the sole combination; otherwise, I'd
expect to come home one day and see them on QVC!

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

in addition to women finding our fun habits to be eccentricities in the beginning, when they first view us they see the "future, modified version" of us, and they are already plotting how they can make it so. The only parts they plan to keep are things like eyes, hair, smiles, ***ises,etc....certainly not baseball cards and dogs! <==youngsters, take note of this - it took me 25 years of dating to figure it out, and I still fall for these tricks - DOH!

[Archive]

Posted By: john

wow,youve been dating almost as long as ive been alive....the only thing i learned is dont tell girls how much the cards are worth,because they try to figure out how much jewerly that equals....i found a way around it though,besides not dating,its called not working....so far i think its saved me more money than when i was working

[Archive]

Posted By: W.M.

I have one rule of thumb for bidding on something I really want "Always Snipe Always Win."

[Archive]

Posted By: TBob

of ye olde ebay "hang" when you try and snipe and the page hangs, and hangs, and hangs, and as you gnash your teeth the auction ends and are left with only regrets.

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

even if I get blown out of ebay, I can always get back in within about 10 seconds.

[Archive]

Posted By: John

One thing nobody has mentioned is using one of the free sniping services out there. I use this one...
http://www.vrane.com/
It has yet to fail on me and consistantly places my bid 10 to 13 seconds before the auction ends at any time of day.

[Archive]

Posted By: Bill Cornell

Two more sniping sites that are reliable:

http://www.esnipe.com (small fees after initial free period)
http://www.auctionstealer.com (free)

These types of automated "screen-scraping" sites are always faster than manual entry, since they don't have to load images. Most common 3rd party listing tools (Andale, AuctionWatch, etc.) work on the same principle. I've had good luck with eSnipe in placing bids as close as 4 seconds before the close.

[Archive]

Posted By: ...

anonymous post

Elliot

[Archive]

Posted By: Brueso

don't hate snipers- get even with em- by using a service!

John- your service bids 10-12 seconds before the end? Why that's a HUGE amount of time for someone else to step in- you need one that will bid 3 seconds before the end, that REALLY turns the competition green! (I say this half in jest, because it's funny how now 10 seconds seems a lot- while you're waiting to see if any other bids come in- but otherwise in most of our lives, 10 seconds is no time at all!

I have had great luck w/stealthbid.com. I used to use auctionstealer, but they annoyed me too much for the month or 6 weeks when they were repairing their site due to someone hacking on them.

I chuckle when I remember the days of staying up late for an auction so I could bid at the last minute. Even those last 10 seconds when I would be keying in my bid- I'd feel my heart pound in an uncomfortably noticeble way! Now I still sometimes get into an auction at the last minute when I have a snipe set up- and it's more of an observer to see how MY sniping service matches up with someone else's!