Hate last minute bidders on ebay.

[Supremo_Lagarto]

Hey, I'm a last minute bidder!

Don't hate.

[BlueBMW]

I'll be honest, I toss in the max I'm willing to pay when there are about 8 seconds left.  If I get it, I get it, if someone bid higher, they can have it.

[vestcoat]

I understand what you guys are saying, but if an item has less than 15 seconds on it, then I know for a fact that its the seller not wanting to sell it for that price I was willing to bid for. At any rate, going to avoid ebay like a plague now.

I've been buying and selling on ebay since '98 and the thought of sellers sniping their own auctions has never seemed very practical.  Neither have I seen much evidence to suggest it happens.  Maybe it used to be more common, but all of the jerks who don't know their games' worth just use BIN/BO these days.  

Seriously, a lot of people snipe.  Like Dan said, probably 25% of all bids on ebay happen in the last couple minutes.  A lot of sellers may gouge prices, but most people are still honest.  Also, judging from what my mom recently went through to get signed up, creating two accounts looks like it would be a pain in the butt these days.   Sellers who don't go the BIN route and are willing to wait seven days for an auction probably just want to sell their crap and get paid, not milk every last cent from the market.

For those just tuning in, here's a summary of sniping habits thus far:
*Supremo_Lagarto bids with <60 seconds left
*The item's seller bids with 15 seconds left
*BlueBMW bids with 8 seconds left
*vestcoat bids with 5 seconds left

Clearly, the secret to success is bidding with 4 seconds left!

[roflmao]

Well if we're keeping a record, I typically wait until there are 6 seconds left.

[BlueBMW]

My trouble is that I'm usually bidding from my Phone and there can be a bit of lag.  Now if I'm on my computer... I hit it around 3-4 seconds.

[Supremo_Lagarto]

Bid shelling is something else entirely. I despise sellers who do that. One way to minimize bid shelling it is to NEVER add an item to a watch list. Many sellers will start to bid against their own item using a shell once they notice it has watchers.  Just bookmark it in your browser.

I understand what you guys are saying, but if an item has less than 15 seconds on it, then I know for a fact that its the seller not wanting to sell it for that price I was willing to bid for. At any rate, going to avoid ebay like a plague now.

I've been buying and selling on ebay since '98 and the thought of sellers sniping their own auctions has never seemed very practical.  Neither have I seen much evidence to suggest it happens.  Maybe it used to be more common, but all of the jerks who don't know their games' worth just use BIN/BO these days.  

Seriously, a lot of people snipe.  Like Dan said, probably 25% of all bids on ebay happen in the last couple minutes.  A lot of sellers may gouge prices, but most people are still honest.  Also, judging from what my mom recently went through to get signed up, creating two accounts looks like it would be a pain in the butt these days.   Sellers who don't go the BIN route and are willing to wait seven days for an auction probably just want to sell their crap and get paid, not milk every last cent from the market.

For those just tuning in, here's a summary of sniping habits thus far:
*Supremo_Lagarto bids with <60 seconds left
*The item's seller bids with 15 seconds left
*BlueBMW bids with 8 seconds left
*vestcoat bids with 5 seconds left

Clearly, the secret to success is bidding with 4 seconds left!

Actually, if I suspect bid shelling I will keep bidding until the item's price is much higher than I would ever pay. That way the seller gets to pay a larger fee for winning his own item from himself. That doesn't mean I back out of the transaction if I win, it just means that the seller thinks I'm REALLY, REALLY interested and will hang himself.

[Jibbajaba]

I use eSnipe, and it places the bid with like 6 seconds left.  That was I can set it up as soon as I see the item.  I just type in the maximum that I'm willing to pay, and everything else is taken care of.  Usually I get outbid, but sometimes I score some great deals.  I've been able to purchase quite a few of my TurboGrafx games that way, for a lot less than the usual going rate.  Especially if the auction ends in the middle of a work day.

So I'm sorry that you don't like last minute bids, but that's how the game is played these days.

Chris

[SignOfZeta]

You people are f*cking stupid. Just put the max you will pay, it doesn't matter when, then wait for the email to come telling you won or lost. It really is that simple. Anyone who can't understand this super simple concept is probably the kind of guy who plays with the refrigerator for hours on end trying to figure out how if and when the light goes out.

WTF people...

If you are willing to pay $20, enter a $20 bid. If you are willing to pay $20.32, enter $20.32. If you are willing to pay $3 million, enter a $3 million bid. The process is fully automated.

Some on. Seriously.

[BlueBMW]

I think the advantage to bidding right near the end of an auction leaves little time for an incremental bidder to react.  If everyone just put one max bid in, it wouldn't matter when the bids came in.  But since there are many reactionary bidders out there, sniping works.

[nat]

I'm with Zeta here, although I've sniped before in unusual circumstances.

I know far in advance the maximum I will pay for an item, and it doesn't make much sense to wait until the very end to throw my bid into the mix. The reactionary bidders are there either way, and they are extremely stupid. It apparently doesn't occur to them that engaging in back-and-forth bidding wars only helps in quadrupling the price they'll get to pay for the item if they end up winning. I don't see much point in sniping usually, since I'm not going to increase my ceiling on an item based on what the meathead mouth-breathers have bid the item up to.

[roflmao]

My thinking is in alignment w/ BlueBMW.  If someone were to bid early the max they are willing to pay, someone is often bound to come along and bid one increment higher. But if you put off to the last minute to make your maximum bid without giving an opportunity for a higher bid, you're truly letting the chips fall where they may.

[Supremo_Lagarto]

You people are f*cking stupid.

Oh wow.  I think I'm in the wrong forums.

[Edmond Dantes]

I don't understand the anti-eBay sentiments.  Yes, sometimes its annoying and you feel gypped when you didn't get an item for a good price (or at all, rather), but well...

Honestly, my biggest issue was I never heard of eSnipe, so I always thought you literally had to be present to bid on things.  This led to so many times where I missed an item I actually wanted to bid on, for no other reason than because I wasn't home.

[Bernie]

This is not true at all.  I have waited till the last few seconds to win certain items before on Ebay.  Do I like to do it, not really.  Its a pain, but if I really want something, I take the time to try and get it.  I have found, like others here, that bidding early half of the time means you gonna lose out.    Now, I will put in an initial bid before doing that tho.  I go back in the last few seconds to put in some insurance if I feel its needed.

I understand what you guys are saying, but if an item has less than 15 seconds on it, then I know for a fact that its the seller not wanting to sell it for that price I was willing to bid for. At any rate, going to avoid ebay like a plague now.

As far as calling people "f*cking stupid"  for the way they choose to use ebay; well thats just lame.  Maybe if someone cant understand that by entering the max you are willing to pay, that another bidder will just continue to bid until they are the highest bidder, even if only by a few cents, then that someone should inspect their own intelligence level.    Calling people stupid for the way they choose to try and bid on something is just not cool.  I believe we are all aware of how much these games are worth, and what the max bid we are willing to put in during the last few seconds.

[DragonmasterDan]

I think the advantage to bidding right near the end of an auction leaves little time for an incremental bidder to react.  If everyone just put one max bid in, it wouldn't matter when the bids came in.  But since there are many reactionary bidders out there, sniping works.

Exactly, this is the reason people snipe. I'll snipe if it's something I really want. If it's something I want, but am not as determined to get. I'll place my max bid a ways before and if I win, I win. If I lose then it was more than I wanted to pay.