Slightly OT: Snipe issues on eBay

[itjclarke]

eBay should just do this in house as an added feature.

Adding- that being said, bidding would probably devolve into 10-15 last second snipes... Though I expect it will eventually do so anyway, as more people discover sniping services. There have gotta be other combos that can help keep auctions alive, like the Japanese example given, or AH type extended bidding, possibly larger bid increments that would incentivize locking in the price you want early.

[bobbyw8469]

I'm calling Ebay tonight about it. So far, to my knowledge, they haven't acknowledged any outage.

[bobbyw8469]

Hold time has been around one hour now.

[bobbyw8469]

Well...that was interesting. Not sure what to make of that. I do hope that Ebay has their glitch fixed, and will allow the snipers to start bidding again. I know several members hate them, but I for one, welcome them with open arms!

[ATP]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Well...that was interesting. Not sure what to make of that. I do hope that Ebay has their glitch fixed, and will allow the snipers to start bidding again. I know several members hate them, but I for one, welcome them with open arms!

Hi Bobby, would be curious to hear if eBay had any comments about this when you spoke to them. I would assume it is just security/password related, but I have learned not to assume too much regarding that. I can't imagine they would intentionally not want bids to come in, as it takes money out of their pocket as well...unless like I mentioned earlier it has something to do with an upcoming, in house snipe service of some kind.

[bobbyw8469]

Well...Ebay recommended that I just give the guy his money back, and get my FVF's back. They said he can't neg me cause he will have been refunded. Seems odd to me.

[bobbyw8469]

Here is a story with a moral related to this incident:

Along time ago, I used to hang with a pretty interesting crowd. Bookies and gamblers. If you have ever seen the movie A Bronx Tale, that is really close to the crowd. We even had our own version of Eddie Mush. You could have made a small fortune just betting against the man.

Anyway, one of the gamblers was named Big Frank. Not because of his size of his stature, but the size of his bets. He would routinely play between $500-$2,000 per game, and bet the games he did. A lot. He didn't just pick one or two. He would bet the board. Maybe skip a game here or there, but it was not unusual for him to be 30-50 games per day.

One day Frank bet a total on a baseball game. For those of you who don't know about sports betting, not only can you pick which side to win, you can also pick whether the total runs score will be over or under a certain total. For this particular game, the total was 11. Big Frank bet the over for a dime or more. I don't remember the exact number, but it was big.

The score was tied 4-4 in extra innings, with the home team batting. I believe if the home team won, they were in the wildcard game for the playoffs. Anyway, the bases were loaded, two outs, bottom of the 13th or so. The guy at the plate hits a grand slam!!!! Game over. Big Frank wins the over, 8-4 with a total of 12. Or so he thought. Fans jumped onto the field to give the players hive fives and pat their backs as they were rounding the bases. The ump made a ruling. Players out. Instead of the home team winning 8-4, the final official score was 5-4. They only let the batters run count. Big Frank was livid!

When it came time to settle up, Big Frank told the bookie "I won this bet. I don't care what the ruling is. I am not going to pay you, you are going to pay me!" The bookie paid Big Frank that amount that was wagered on that game.

This incident about the failed snipes made me think of that story.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Well...Ebay recommended that I just give the guy his money back, and get my FVF's back. They said he can't neg me cause he will have been refunded. Seems odd to me.

Not only is that odd, but it is completely inaccurate, at least as far as anything "automatic" that would happen. I suppose an eBay rep could divinely intervene to make those events come about, but that is definitely not standard operating procedure.

Standard would be you refund his payment, submit to have the transaction cancelled (to get the FVF's back), he denies the request saying he still wants the card, and then whether you complete the transaction or not, he leaves you a neg.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Well...Ebay recommended that I just give the guy his money back, and get my FVF's back. They said he can't neg me cause he will have been refunded. Seems odd to me.

Yeah, I wouldn't believe a word that CS operator, or just about any Ebay CS person at this point.

That whole outfit is drowning in their own stupidity right about now.

[chernieto]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Well...Ebay recommended that I just give the guy his money back, and get my FVF's back. They said he can't neg me cause he will have been refunded. Seems odd to me.

I hate to ask, but curiosity is getting the better of me: Did you cancel the transaction?
Thanks
Paul C.