Snipes are killing ebay auctions

[ChiefBenderForever]

I'm sure I'm not the only one seeing a rash of ebay items that are being auctioned being ended in the last hour or so. Looks like the snipe is killing the auctions leaving some sellers to paranoid to see what happens. We have all seen cards jump $500-5000 in the last remaining seconds but also have seen the final bids hold as well. Is gavel snipe and other snipe programs the final straw that will break ebays auction style listings for any good cards out there ?

[Bosox Blair]

Hi Johnny,

Interesting - I noticed this too. I have been buying cards off eBay for 13 years. This week I had 2 bids from 2 different sellers cancelled because the auction was ended early. Both auctions had underwhelming bids going into the final day.

In the prior 13 years, I never had a bid cancelled like this!

Cheers,
Blair

[Orioles1954]

Ebay also no longer (from what I understand) charges extra for higher opening bids. The days of the true e-bay steal are long gone.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair

Hi Johnny,

Interesting - I noticed this too. I have been buying cards off eBay for 13 years. This week I had 2 bids from 2 different sellers cancelled because the auction was ended early. Both auctions had underwhelming bids going into the final day.

In the prior 13 years, I never had a bid cancelled like this!

Cheers,
Blair

Like Ozzy says 'Paranoia the destroyer' . I was waiting to put a nice hammer down and all of a sudden it ended, it was also doing ok. Another one that was ended was up five minutes later with a huge starting bid lol ! In the auction description it said 'bid with confidence' !

[vintagetoppsguy]

If I remember correctly, you can't retract your bid within the last 12 hours of an auction (is that correct?). It should work the same way with sellers - they shouldn't be able to end the auction early if the auction has less than 12 hours. That's just my opinion.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

If I remember correctly, you can't retract your bid within the last 12 hours of an auction (is that correct?). It should work the same way with sellers - they shouldn't be able to end the auction early if the auction has less than 12 hours. That's just my opinion.

I understand that viewpoint, but on the other hand, if it's my card (and I have not turned it over to a third party seller, i am just using a service to sell it), why can't i change my mind?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I understand that viewpoint, but on the other hand, if it's my card (and I have not turned it over to a third party seller, i am just using a service to sell it), why can't i change my mind?

+1. Ebay goes out of its way to state that it isn't an auctioneer, isn't responsible, and so on. I don't think it could make those claims if it prohibited sellers from withdrawing their items at will. That said, I don't think a consistent pattern of those sorts of shenanigans will go on for long before the Ebay police start closing down the accounts of the offenders.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I understand that viewpoint, but on the other hand, if it's my card (and I have not turned it over to a third party seller, i am just using a service to sell it), why can't i change my mind?

You can change your mind. That’s my point. I’m asking why can a seller change their mind and end the auction early, but a buyer cannot change their mind and retract their bid within the last 12 hours?

If you’re selling a card that ends in 5 minutes and want to pull the auction early for any reason, there’s nothing keeping your from doing so.

However, if I place a bid on a card on Sunday for a card that ends tonight and I change my mind an hour before the auction ends because I would rather spend the money on something else, why shouldn’t I be able to retract my bid?

All I am saying is that is should work both ways. It just seems like a double standard. Ebay is saying it’s okay for the seller to change their mind, but it’s not okay for the buyer to change their mind.

[nebboy]

Yep Ive seen alot of this of late. My watch list and/or snipes bids have been getting wiped out early. Even when they have a bid on them already. Some have been relisted right away with higher starting bids, some have yet to be relisted. So I keep the listing to check for feedback later so I could figure out if someone came in with a buy now offer or maybe they were sold locally away from E-Bay (one was a local auction company). The other seller Ive seen the most of this kind of thing from is not new/used to selling cards and I would'nt think should have that level of paranoia about late money to the party.

[deadballera]

one seller responded to me that their house was broken into and all of the cards were stolen.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by ChiefBenderForever

Like Ozzy says 'Paranoia the destroyer' . I was waiting to put a nice hammer down and all of a sudden it ended, it was also doing ok. Another one that was ended was up five minutes later with a huge starting bid lol ! In the auction description it said 'bid with confidence' !

I was going to put this at the end, but realised the main bit of the post is rantish and it might be taken wrong
That's not actually Ozzy. It's from "destroyer" by the Kinks.

Anyway, Here's my harsh view of Ebay..

I think the biggest problem with Ebay is their "need" to attempt to continue double digit growth. After a period of time a business needs to stop acting like a startup and more like a blue chip. Steady growth, steady profits, halfway decent dividend. 15-16 years is well past that point.
In order to attract 10% more buyers each year they've put policies into place that favor the - For lack of a better term, stupid people. - The ones that have no concept of transit time, actual shipping costs, paying on time, actually reading the description, or looking at the picture. And the sellers they've attracted are the tailenders who would fail at anything because their idea of business is making 1% on something. Sometimes because they think any more is evil profiteering, sometimes because they just don't know any better. Then once the pinch is on they start doing stuff like cancelling auctions if it's not going their way. And that only makes the problem and their behavior worse.

Steve Birmingham
Who did apparently listen to too much of both Black Sabbath and the Kinks

[Jantz]

I've been seeing this also, except the 3 auctions ( 2 different sellers ) that I was watching ended shortly after they were listed. I think someone threw out an offer and the sellers pulled the auction and took the cash.

All 3 auctions were listed Sunday night and by late Monday afternoon they all had ended. Only one of the auctions had a current bid.

I've had auctions end early before, so this is nothing new for me, but never 3 in a 24 hour time span. Ironically, both sellers had multiple auctions running, but only a certain few of their auctions were ended early.


Jantz

[CW]

Originally Posted by ChiefBenderForever

Is gavel snipe and other snipe programs the final straw that will break ebays auction style listings for any good cards out there ?

No, I don't think so. First of all, eBay ruined their system years ago
when they started pushing sellers towards "buy it now" auctions by making
the fee structure favor those types of auctions. Secondly, snipe programs
have been around for a few years now -- I remember using esnipe back
in 2004-2005. Before sniping websites existed, I, and many other astute
collectors were sniping auctions manually with a stopwatch and a quick
mouse finger. No, many things have led to the demise of the auction
style listing, with sniping websites playing a minor role. I blame eBay
themselves for the demise of regular auction listings.

[T206DK]

just had two auctions end this way for me. I don't get it

[sports-rings]

a lot of the "good stuff" is no longer offered on ebay and has moved on to the auction houses. That's why I believe we are seeing so many new start up auction houses in our hobby.

I guess the times are a chagin'.

I still do check ebay everyday, but buy less and less.

And by the way, I hate that ebay is completely clogged with over-priced items that never sell!

[t206hound]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

And by the way, I hate that ebay is completely clogged with over-priced items that never sell!

I agree that there is a ton of overpriced merchandise on ebay. And I'll never understand that. It is SO EASY to determine the market value of most T206 cards (as an example), and the BINs are generally priced WAY ABOVE those prices. Just do a "completed listings" search of T206s BIN only and you'll see hundreds to thousands of unsold cards at ridiculous prices.

Personally, I've sold four BINs in the last ten days (and have a pending offer that I will likely take). All SGC60 commons in the $85-$105 range. Right now the average price of a common player/common back BIN SGC 60 T206 is $184.28... IMHO double the actual value. The median price is $200. These cards will never sell. It can't be worth the seller's time to continue to relist and manage the inventory at these prices. And ebay doesn't see (much) revenue from this practice either.

[uffda51]

As has been pointed out, ebay is not an auction house. They were founded by people who traded pez dispensers.

Any auction house publishes their bid increments, based on meaningful increases, in advance. No one can snipe an auction and win by outbidding the underbidder by a dollar or a penny. Ebay has never taken customer service seriously, nor shill bidding nor bogus items. Patient people can still find bargains there. I just don't have the patience to wade through the debris.

[insidethewrapper]

The sellers on ebay and ebay themselves would make more money if ebay would extend the auction by 1 minute everytime a bid is placed in the last minute similiar to what many of the auction houses currently do. This then would be a "true" auction. Bidders would then have an opportunity after a snipe bid.