Hate last minute bidders on ebay.

[SignOfZeta]

I think I've figured this sniping thing out. Its a classic Man Versus Self situation.

The reason you can't just bid your max and walk away is that you don't actually know what your max is. You should. You need to know yourself before you can know the world around you.

And here's the real mind f*ck...

Most of the people complaining about snipers are....


...are you ready for this...?


...they themselves are the snipers as well. Its like Blade Runner up in this bitch!

Seriously, three morons bid 32 times in the last 5 minutes of an auction, all three of them complaining that the others are snipers. Like crabs in a f*cking bucket, I tell you.

Figure out what your max bid is. Your max for what you will pay. Maybe its $20, maybe its $22.50, maybe is $225,250, whatever it doesn't matter. Enter the value, walk away, either win or lose. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT ANY OTHER EBAYER DOES. If you truly bid your max, then you were truly outbid, and always would be, regardless of how many people bid what and when.

Its really is that simple. It really really really is.

Anything else is like...that guy you know who is always moving the gear lever in his automatic transmission-equiped car for no apparent reason.

[DragonmasterDan]

I think I've figured this sniping thing out. Its a classic Man Versus Self situation.

The reason you can't just bid your max and walk away is that you don't actually know what your max is. You should. You need to know yourself before you can know the world around you.

And here's the real mind f*ck...

Most of the people complaining about snipers are....


...are you ready for this...?


...they themselves are the snipers as well. Its like Blade Runner up in this bitch!

Seriously, three morons bid 32 times in the last 5 minutes of an auction, all three of them complaining that the others are snipers. Like crabs in a f*cking bucket, I tell you.

Figure out what your max bid is. Your max for what you will pay. Maybe its $20, maybe its $22.50, maybe is $225,250, whatever it doesn't matter. Enter the value, walk away, either win or lose. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT ANY OTHER EBAYER DOES. If you truly bid your max, then you were truly outbid, and always would be, regardless of how many people bid what and when.

Its really is that simple. It really really really is.

Anything else is like...that guy you know who is always moving the gear lever in his automatic transmission-equiped car for no apparent reason.

Yep, people snipe because it limits retaliatory bids to a few second window if they get the high bid. Then people complain about it. I see sniping as part of the system of ebay at this point. I also like the fact that everyone has universally accepted the term "sniping" I started using it 9-10 years ago, I don't know where everyone else picked it up from but it's in wide use now.

[Necromancer]

Seriously, three morons bid 32 times in the last 5 minutes of an auction, all three of them complaining that the others are snipers. Like crabs in a f*cking bucket, I tell you.

If you bid more than once, it's not sniping.  Duh.

Figure out what your max bid is. Your max for what you will pay. Maybe its $20, maybe its $22.50, maybe is $225,250, whatever it doesn't matter. Enter the value, walk away, either win or lose.

That's exactly what I'm doing, the only difference being that nobody else knows that I'm interested in bidding until it's too late to increase their bids.

[SamIAm]

Ebay bidding is a very complex psychological game.

If I bid early, it's only when I'm the first bidder, because I want to establish in other people's minds that there will be competition for the item if they want it. This is to scare them away.

If I bid early, I'll also bid far below my max because I want anyone who outbids me to feel comfortable, like their only competition must not have wanted the item very much. When they take the high bidder spot like this, they are not likely to boost their bid very high, which is beneficial for me if I plan on sniping them.

It's all about creating that false sense of comfort and low-competition in the minds of people who decide to go against you.

Also, I don't think anyone has a clear max for items most of the time. Between the "no-regret price" and the "definite-regret price" is a gray area that can shift around depending on all kinds of circumstantial and emotional factors. The only way it's easy to decide on X amount is either if that's all you've got, or if you're 100% certain you can get the same item from another source for the same price.

EDIT: I do think that Yahoo.jp's 10-minute system is a good idea.

[Sparky]

Well even sparky used ebay way back in the day and are you ready for it?... i am with zeta and nat on this one, Well in the area of bidding your max early that is,
but hey you have to love when zeta goes off on a rant he always some how brings cars into the meaning

Anyway for me, your not fooling anyone that you have found "the game" that everyone else missed and you sitting there with a loaded finger to press at the last second will make all the differnece.

Look, I used to drop my close to max bid anywhere from a day up to 5 minutes, and then to scare off others i would drop my max bid and bid against myself!!! oh yeah......this way they would think i was a crazy bastard and if they bid against me they would be in for a battle to the very end... hahahahaha... i actually did that as i thought i had the answer to ebay, like that even works and sounds ridiculous... everyone thinks they have the trick to ebay so what ever works for ya but when your sick of it the f@ck ebay club will be waiting

hugs

<<edit for my damn spelling>>

[SamIAm]

It's not surprising when it doesn't work. But it's also not surprising when it does.

I suppose it depends on the item. If it's this week's copy of Dracula X or whatever other high-demand, high-supply item, then sniping might not accomplish much. If it's a rare item with a low demand and an unclear market value, however, sniping can potentially spare "the market" (ie bidders) from driving up the price.

Also, I haven't used ebay for years. I live in Japan and buy my stuff from shops in town.

[Edmond Dantes]

I repeat, I am SO jealous of you guys who live in Japan.

I get the feeling I should try to establish contacts with some of you to help further my anime and sixteen-bit gaming habits.

[T2KFreeker]

Gougers and sniping programs are two of the main reasons ebay sucks anymore. People just want too damn much for their stuff. Although, if two people get into a bidding war fair and square, I have much more respect for that. Letting the computer do it for you though, that's cheap. It would be like going to an auction house and doing the same thing. Yeah. like that would ever happen.

[SignOfZeta]

I think eBay is f*cking awesome. Two weeks ago I bought a model kit I've been looking for since 1989 for $20. I'm thrilled.

[BigT]

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.  I'm kind of surprised that Nat, Zeta, and others don't think sniping is effective.  Dorky?  Yes.  Waste of time?  Maybe, but it certainly saves money.

I can't count the number of times I've seen fairly valuable items sitting in auctions for low amounts.  If there aren't many early bidders and the price remains unusually low, people begin to underestimate the item's value and don't expect sudden bid increases.  Every time I bid early and lose an auction, I look at the history and, sure enough, there was some reactionary idiot bidding away in the last two minutes: "$25? Nope...hmmm...$28.99?  Nope.  Golly, let's see here, $31.28??"
 

You people are f*cking stupid.

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

Don't take it personally.  Zeta's a stand-up guy, but he doesn't mince words.  I got into it with him once, but I've since realized he's always right.  This little discussion about hovering over our computers to snipe kids toys on ebay was due for a reality check.

Agreed.  Logically, one has a higher probability of winning an auction if he places his max bid in the final seconds.  This helps to avoid bidding wars, and more importantly, does not reveal any information to the opposition... so they cannot react... some people just want to win the auction, so instead of thinking rationally, they tend to bid and bid simply in order to out-compete the other person... last second bidding helps to avoid that...  If there is an item I really want, I simply place my desired price at the last second... if someone wants to pay more, they will have likely already bid higher and they will win... but, on the other hand, I may get an item for a price that I am comfortable with (or lower) and without participating in a bidding war.

[TheClash603]

I agree with some of the people on here that you should know your price and bid it and not bid more than that.  That's exactly what I do...  however, I do always try to place my bid at the last minute.  If I get outbid, I don't place another bid, but I just like getting my bid in at the end.  I have noticed that I am much more likely to win at my price if I bid this way, rather than if I bid early on.

[Damon Plus]

This is all taking into consideration that you are bidding for a unique item. If you're bidding for 2-3 or whatever, you have to know how many money do you have to spend. If I loose the first one, the money I would've bidded on it will be used in the next games.

[SuperPlay]

I use Yayhoo.Japan since there is no such thing as bid sniping and tool-bidding.

its worth the fees usually

Do people on here normally ship outside of Japan?

[RR1980]

I use Yayhoo.Japan since there is no such thing as bid sniping and tool-bidding.

its worth the fees usually

Do people on here normally ship outside of Japan?

I believe most sellers on Yahoo Japan do not ship outside of Japan so most guys not from Japan would bid with a mail forwarder's address so they will end up having to pay for shipping twice plus service charge by the mail forwarder.

[SamIAm]

That's right. I've even thought about snagging a couple of decent deals from some local shops to offer people around here, but between shipping costs, wanting a little scratch for my troubles, a strong yen and bank/paypal fees, it actually doesn't turn out to be much of a great deal. Something that costs me around $70 would wind up costing you like $120, and that's not with a huge gain for me.