Ebay bidding days before

dirtychinchilla · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:19

Raymond Lin said:
It's not difficult to understand is it?

Apparently it is. Half the people on here seem to be happy to pay a higher price, despite the fact that the sniper will get you a lower price!!

chipperhead · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:25

The less people who snipe the better for us that do.

So to all those saying sniping is pointless, you are indeed correct.
We don't understand the way ebay works with autobidding etc and it makes absolutely no difference to the final price.

And to say you not bothered about winning an auction as cheaply as possible, that could be the difference between winning it or not, not just paying a couple of extra quid.

davido_labido · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:29

tbh, i cant remember the last time i bought anything from ebay that wasnt buy it now anyways

XE11 · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:30

Raymond Lin said:
You don't wait until the last minute.

You wait until the last second (or less than 5 seconds).

depends on the connection sir! i remember i was bidding for a sony 70-400mm in the gym through 3G connection, i tested it with a few tester bids, the delays was up to 30 seconds, lol. i ended up bidding 40 seconds before it ended. (managed to win at the end

)

chipperhead · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:37

davido_labido said:
tbh, i cant remember the last time i bought anything from ebay that wasnt buy it now anyways

To be fair nearly everything I sell on ebay now I use buy it now.
If there's no rush to sell it, stick it on for a high price and forget about it.
Could be a few weeks or a month or two but they nearly always sell.

kthula666 · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:38

+1 Sniper, 2 second shot

Catanonia · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:41

MooMoo444 said:
Imagine when ebay changes so whenever a bid is placed, the auction time is extended by 1 hour.

Like real auctions instead of Dutch ones, and of course that would be the end of snipers.

The problem with Ebay is that it uses the Dutch auction system but with the slight and significant change that you can bid at any time including at the very end.

Think of the Scottish house market. Closed bids and the highest wins by a certain time. Works nice, however imagine if you could see what the other bidders had in thier envelopes without them knowing or seeing your bid. You would have a distinct advantage. This is the problem with ebay and why sniping is common to take advantage of that fact.

joelk2 · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:42

im with others.

if i find an item i want i put in my max bid. thats it. i either win or i dont. that was the maximum i was prepared to pay for the item.

Raymond Lin · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:52

joelk2 said:
im with others.

if i find an item i want i put in my max bid. thats it. i either win or i dont. that was the maximum i was prepared to pay for the item.

Lets say I want these speakers

They used to retail at £1,500.

They normally go for £600 on eBay.

It is at 99p.

I would much rather put in a sniper bid at £600 than a maximum bid of £600.

If there are no other bidders then it makes no difference, if there is one other guy who really wants it. He sees no bid….he'll put £500 on.

Then he gets an email to tell him he has been outbid, so he puts £525 on.

Then he gets an email to tell him he has been outbid, so he puts £550 on…and so on. Until he outbids you.

If you had put in a maximum bid at £600 in day one, you would lose the item.

If you had put in a snip bid in with 2 seconds to go, you would have got the item at a little over £500.

You might also have got the item somewhere between £500 to £600 if the other bidder decides to no bid anymore. But you won't get it at the cheapest price possible. The sniper tool not only allow you to sneak in a bid in the last minute, but it also maximise your chance of getting an item at the lowest price possible.

I mean if you don't mind always paying at your maximum bid then bid as normal, but you are just wasting your money with bidding wars against people who doesn't understand eBay and or just like to bid like crazy.

Catanonia · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:54

Raymond Lin said:
Lets say I want these speakers
snip

And the above reason is why we see so many threads on "why do people pay so much for items on ebay" in these forums.
Stupid bidding wars because ebay does not impliment a proper auction system. Sniping can help you avoid this scenerio "sometimes"

davido_labido · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:55

but... if that bidder was willing to pay £1000 to start with... and put his maximum bid at £1000

then he would still outbid you when you tried to snipe him with your £500.

dirtychinchilla · 19 Dec 2013 at 10:57

Yes, but if you pay attention, you can put £1001 and might just beat him with a snipe.

If he did put £500, however, you'd save a lot of money if it came to a bidding war.

davido_labido · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:03

1) why would you put the snipe in at £1001 it would still show the bid as £500 at the 5 secs before the end of the auction, so why so high?

2) if he put £500 then thats what he should be willing to pay, there shouldnt be a bidding war anyway as his maximum is 500, so if you bit 501, you would win. simple.

the thing you dont seem to grasp is MAXIMUM bid should be the MAXIMUM your willing to pay. it doesnt matter when you set it.

pitchfork · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:04

I just put in my max bid.

If I wanted a traditional auction I'd go to a traditional auction, eBay does all the work for you. I don't think bidding last minute makes the slightest bit of different.

dirtychinchilla · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:05

I understand about the maximum, but what if you don't have a maximum? Or you're willing to judge and see how the auction is going before you put in a maximum? The earlier you set it, the higher the chance of someone topping it. If you don't ever put in that maximum, people might bid way under and you come out of it paying much less than you would have?

pitchfork said:
I don't think bidding last minute makes the slightest bit of different.

You're just wrong.

touch · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:12

dirtychinchilla said:
If you don't ever put in that maximum, people might bid way under and you come out of it paying much less than you would have?

This thought process is why snipers work for the rest of us.

As i said earlier:

touch said:
people dont understand the max bid and think that they will get things cheaper by putting a lower bid.

Having a lower max big doesnt mean you get things cheaper. All the other bids are still the same.
If an item finishes at £20 and your max bid was £50, you win it for £20.
If an item finishes at £20 and your max bid was £50,000, you win it for £20.

glenimp617 · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:12

It makes no difference

Can't understand why people leave it till the last 5 seconds to bid....ebay auto increments remember. If you put in £50 with 5 seconds to go, and someone has made an earlier bid of £55 you will loose out.

Enter your maximum bid early and forget about it. If someone enters more, so what.....that's more than your MAXIMUM which you are not prepared to pay.

can't see the problem with it

Catanonia · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:15

Well there are clearly 2 types of people in this thread.

1. Those that understand how the bidding system works in ebay and know how to take advantage of it

2. Those that don't and live in ignorance.

I'm out, play nice.

davido_labido · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:19

but what if you don't have a maximum?

urm.. if you dont set a maximum, then be prepared to lose.... :/

thats my point... if people dont set maximums, then thats up to them, but they wont win

*edit*

oooh, as in you dont really care how much the item costs?

just buy it now then

Jez · 19 Dec 2013 at 11:19

Raymond Lin said:
Lets say I want these speakers

They used to retail at £1,500.

They normally go for £600 on eBay.

It is at 99p.

I would much rather put in a sniper bid at £600 than a maximum bid of £600.

If there are no other bidders then it makes no difference, if there is one other guy who really wants it. He sees no bid….he'll put £500 on.

Then he gets an email to tell him he has been outbid, so he puts £525 on.

Then he gets an email to tell him he has been outbid, so he puts £550 on…and so on. Until he outbids you.

If you had put in a maximum bid at £600 in day one, you would lose the item.

If you had put in a snip bid in with 2 seconds to go, you would have got the item at a little over £500.

You might also have got the item somewhere between £500 to £600 if the other bidder decides to no bid anymore. But you won't get it at the cheapest price possible. The sniper tool not only allow you to sneak in a bid in the last minute, but it also maximise your chance of getting an item at the lowest price possible.

I mean if you don't mind always paying at your maximum bid then bid as normal, but you are just wasting your money with bidding wars against people who doesn't understand eBay and or just like to bid like crazy.

This sums up how ebay bidding works.

Bidding early is a stupid way to use ebay, I am just glad that there are so many people who for some reason cannot fathom how the system works, as it drives up the prices of anything I am flogging.