Why the last second bid....................

novakjr · #1 05-18-2011, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NashvilleBaseball

I never put a top bid in and let it sit there for 7-10 days so the seller or even an overactive competitive bidder will run it up to beat me out or take the bid to my high bid, so I can pay more... Perfect example was last week, I bid on a card that I was a bit indifferent on for sale on ebay, so I put a bid in on day 1 of $222 and let it set for 7 days, and wouldn't you know it, on the last day of bidding a bidder with 0 feedback outbids me at $223, then within 12 hours of the auction ending, the seller sends me a 2nd chance offer to buy the item. I reported the seller to Ebay, and didn't buy the card for $222, which was my original high bid. I rarely bid like this, but occassionally will put a soft bid in to track a card or see what happens, and I feel that about 1/3 ro 1/2 the time I put a top bid in early, it is inevitable my bid gets beat or run up to the top. I rarely lose out when I put a last second bid in, and I generally get the card for way less than expected. I have bought thousands of items on ebay, and to me there is only one way to bid on ebay to make sure you don't overpay. That is to bid in the final seconds whether it be sniping or just popping a bid in...

Anyone else think that when it comes to second chance offers, that ebay should automatically assess the second chance to reflect as if the high bid never happened? Basically, if you had the high bid at $20(despite what your max was), and a shill(or bidder who doesn't want the item for some reason) runs you past your max(say up to $40), that a second chance offer should automatically pretend that bid never happened, and return back to that original $20?

Sure, it's not the best for the seller and would decrease the number of second chance offers given, BUT it would eliminate the need for this type of shill bidding.

I got a second chance offer once for my high bid, but I messaged the seller and told him that I'd only pay what the high would've been without that bidder. He bit, and I saved something like $12. Sure, not a big deal, but it's $12 that I shouldn't have had to spend because of the illegitimate bidder.

deadballera · #2 05-18-2011, 10:36 AM

I use AuctionStealer or Gavelsnipe.

Some items I just place a max bid early and some items I use the sniping services.

novakjr · #3 05-18-2011, 10:39 AM

Now as far as the last second bidding goes. It's all about knowing the mindset of the other bidders. Many people don't give a high bid, and once they get outbid will bid again, last second bids often keep your price lower by not giving the other bidder that chance to counter. Sure, I've lost a few items, by coming up short and having to scramble with not enough time left to get in another bid in. BUT, I feel like I've saved alot of money on the items that I have won..

However, if an item is something that I MUST HAVE, it ALWAYS get's my max bid. Need vs. Want is the difference in whether an item brings in a good price or not.

doug.goodman · #4 05-18-2011, 10:54 AM

I only bid in the last few seconds because :

1 - It doesn't give anybody a chance to bid again after my bid is in.

2 - It doesn't give ME a chance to bid again, if I've been outbid.

I bid the most I want to pay, and if I win it great, if I don't oh well.

I never have used a snipe program. If it's not an important enough item for me to be there at the end, than I will sometimes put in a bid as late as I can (like if the auction ends while I'm on a flight), but otherwise I just wait until the next one comes up.

Of course, this whole strategy backfired on that Sandy Koufax first career win scored scorecard last fall when the internet went down at my South American hotel 45 seconds before the auction closed. I was about to bid more than double what the winning bid ended up being.

Oh well.

I did get the scorecard from his second career win.

Doug

glchen · #5 05-18-2011, 11:10 AM

I use Quicksnipe, which is also completely free.

AndyG09 · #6 05-18-2011, 11:16 AM

Gavelsnipe works for me. No cost and error free so far. Only bummer is forgetting to set the snipe. Now that is really frustrating!

John V · #7 05-18-2011, 11:24 AM

I've used Gavelsnipe without a problem. I'm curious, why use a fee-based service?

egbeachley · #8 05-18-2011, 11:41 AM

Why I use a sniping service.

About 8 years ago I bid around $200 for a nice item. It was at $20 or so with 10 minutes remaining. A new bidder bid $30 and was outbid by me, of course. Then he put in $40. Then $50. Then $60 and so on until he was the high bidder at $205 when he stopped and won it.

If I sniped, he would have probably stopped at $30 and I would have won it at the next bid increment (assuming no other bidders).

And the reason you often win at your exact price is because of the bid increments. If you put in a bid of $40.27 and another bid comes in at $40, you win it at $40.27 even though the bid increment is supposed to be $1.

Tabe · #9 05-18-2011, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John V

I've used Gavelsnipe without a problem. I'm curious, why use a fee-based service?

I can't speak for Gavelsnipe but I know with Justsnipe (the one I use), the free version bids with 8 seconds left but the fee-based version bids with about 2-3 seconds left. In other words, the fee-based ones reduce your chances of getting outbid by another sniper.

Tabe

PowderedH2O · #10 05-18-2011, 11:22 AM

I used to bid early and often too. Never again. One night in 1999 or so, I had to go to work, so I bid on a nice autographed item that I felt was worth $150. There was a bid in at $60. So, I bid my $150 and went to work. I was now the high bidder at $65. I got home to check on my auction, and the bidder that I had outbid had bid up in $5 increments all the way to $135. It cost me $70 to place that bid. At the time I was putting myself through college delivering pizzas. I'd have made money by taking the night off and just sniping at the last second.

And I have been on the other end too. I've looked at a card and bid on it in the last couple of minutes. I see that I am outbid and all of a certain I am determined to win it. So, on a card that I put in a $150 max bid, all of a sudden I throw in a $250 max bid, or $300. And sometimes I would win. And overpay. Now, I set the amount on the snipe (I use biddingscheduler.com, btw) and I don't watch the auction. I win some, I lose some. But my bid never gets run up, and I never get caught up in the action and overbid.

Sam

T206Collector · #11 05-18-2011, 11:52 AM

There is absolutely no reason to bid on an item through ebay, either mid-auction or in the final seconds. The only people this makes happy are the sellers. If buyers would all agree to use snipe services exclusively, it would bring the prices down tremendously across the board.

The only proof you need of this phenomena is that ebay does not have its own sniping service. Heck, they haven't even done it with a fee.

In fact, in ebay's definition of "Sniping" they encourage you to put in "the maximum amount you're willing to pay for an item upfront" (see below), which is the opposite of sniping. If there was any money to be made by ebay or the seller through sniping, they would actively encourage it and participate in the market for sniping services.

Why would you ever want to signal to competing bidders or the seller that you are interested in an item with more than 3 seconds left in the auction? It's almost like going to a used car dealer and not trying to negotiate a lower price than sticker because you're comfortable with the asking price. You negotiate with a used car dealer. You snipe with ebay. Failing to do either will cost you money. Plain and simple. Irrefutable.

eBay's Definition of Sniping:
Placing a bid in the closing minutes or seconds of an auction-style listing. Any bid, placed before the listing ends, is allowed on eBay. To protect yourself from being outbid at the last moment, enter the maximum amount you're willing to pay for an item upfront, and eBay will bid automatically for you, making sure you're the high bidder until your maximum is reached. This system is sometimes called proxy bidding.

hangman62 · #12 05-18-2011, 12:01 PM

Id be concerned about this possible bad ebay action - You put an early large bid on a item - $75 with 4 days to go....some yahoo comes in and bids in incrm of $5., till he passed you..and then retracts that last bid- so he now knows your high bid...and he pumped you up to your max . Im guessing it could happen ???

slidekellyslide · #13 05-18-2011, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hangman62

Id be concerned about this possible bad ebay action - You put an early large bid on a item - $75 with 4 days to go....some yahoo comes in and bids in incrm of $5., till he passed you..and then retracts that last bid- so he now knows your high bid...and he pumped you up to your max . Im guessing it could happen ???

I blocked a bidder who did this on two of my auctions about a month ago...I have no idea who it was, and I sure didn't want some joker doing things that look like shill bidding on my auctions. When you see someone with multiple bid retractions like a former poster on this board (Shimikuzowa?) you just know that they're running people up to see their high bid..once they surpass it they retract their bid.

D. Bergin · #14 05-18-2011, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I blocked a bidder who did this on two of my auctions about a month ago...I have no idea who it was, and I sure didn't want some joker doing things that look like shill bidding on my auctions. When you see someone with multiple bid retractions like a former poster on this board (Shimikuzowa?) you just know that they're running people up to see their high bid..once they surpass it they retract their bid.

Yeah, every time I see somebody retract a bid in one of my auctions I always get concerned. #1, because it looks bad, #2, because it always seems to affect the final price negatively.

Shimikuzowa was a particularly bad case. Makes you wonder what peoples motives are sometimes. There was a guy on "The Daily Show" last night that wrote a book about "Psychopaths", and how many people who actually fit this definition are out there. Most are not serial killers but give it away with their behaviors. Many of them are very successful people.

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