Ebay Time Issue

[zljones]

Yup I notice the flutter for years now. As a sniper bidder I have always had to take this into account, so I snipe within 10-15 seconds before the auction ends, just to be safe.

[wazoo]

Yup. It causes my bidding to be all messed up and i dont have the same advantage.

[ngrow9]

Originally Posted by zljones

Yup I notice the flutter for years now. As a sniper bidder I have always had to take this into account, so I snipe within 10-15 seconds before the auction ends, just to be safe.

Not to completely side-track the thread, but I've always wondered what the point of snipe bidding is. It seems to me that if you set a max price you are willing to pay at the outset, then there is little benefit to snipe bidding at the end. But I may be missing something. Thoughts?

[Deertick]

I have always found that showing interest early tends to stir the competitive juices, increasing the odds of a bidding war. Placing max proxy does two things. One is that you open yourself up to shilling. The other is it invites the "pickers", legit bidders who try and find what your max is so they can bid accordingly. These are the guys who will make 20 bids in $1.50 increments.

Now if you bid your max too early, you will notice someone else will do the same, be outbid and increase their max. If you are able to be the last one in, it leaves them no chance to rebid. Thus you save money. And win the item.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Deertick

If you are able to be the last one in, it leaves them no chance to rebid. Thus you save money. And win the item.

Exactly.

A last second bid at your max either wins the item or doesn't. You don't have time to increase your own max, and anybody who you have outbid has no time to bid again.

I only bid early on items that I know will go for more than the early bids as a way of "marking" that as an item that I have particular interest in.

As an example I collect scored scorecards. If a guy has 10 of them in separate auctions, but one of them is Mantle homerun game, or a Koufax game, or something similar, I may bid on that one while putting all of them on my watch list.

Doug

[zljones]

Originally Posted by ngrow9

Not to completely side-track the thread, but I've always wondered what the point of snipe bidding is. It seems to me that if you set a max price you are willing to pay at the outset, then there is little benefit to snipe bidding at the end. But I may be missing something. Thoughts?

Exactly what Jim said in the thread below yours. He hit the nail on the head. I do not want to increase the demand.

[ngrow9]

Makes sense, thanks for the responses.