Ebay sniping

Greebo · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:14

jas72 said:
If everyone uses them then what's the point?

1. Not everybody uses them
2. An item would still sell cheaper even if everybody was sniping them

Most people when the bid on Ebay don;t ever put their highest bid in at first. They put a reasonable one in and if that is winning they leave it at that. Then if a snipe bid wins it with 2 seconds to go, they don;t have chance to get another bid in even if they were prepared to go higher. My gf used to loose items that she would have gladly paid more for than the final snipe bid.

You also get people doing bidding fever and if you were bidding as normal, they would keep out bidding you. I have seen two people do that and pay more for an item I was selling than what you could have bought it new.

So if everybody was sniping, you do tend to still put lower bids in than what you would be truthfully prepared to go to and there is no temptation to just put another bid in just to see if you win. You make you best shot and hope that you get lucky. So buyers would generally pay less, and sellers would loose out.

Burnsy2023 · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:16

malc30 said:
Sniping is an art. Don't take the fun/skill out of it by using a service.

I never was any good at art

Trifid · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:21

I don't get why people don't just place their bid on an item, forget about it and come back to see if you won it. If you lose it you haven't spent any more than you are willing to pay. :/

I prefer BIN items.

4T5 · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:24

^^ That is boring & you are missing out on the fun, That would be like backing a horse & not watching it run, Boring & pointless if you ask me.

Never settle on one item & sweat over it as no one item is worth any stress or hassle, Bid on loads & get involved in the sniping like a game it's great fun & as good as gambling.

dazz25 · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:26

+1 for http://www.justsnipe.com/

Used it for years and never had any problems!

megakid · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:29

If you don't mind keeping your computer on, I use JBidwatcher - never let me down. Completely free.

http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

Burnsy2023 · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:32

dazz25 said:
+1 for http://www.justsnipe.com/

Used it for years and never had any problems!

Ironically, the sniping is for a server upgrade

Greebo · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:36

Trifid said:
I don't get why people don't just place their bid on an item, forget about it and come back to see if you won it. If you lose it you haven't spent any more than you are willing to pay. :/

I prefer BIN items.

As I have already said, people don't do that. My gf will bid £10 on an item currently at £5 and is happy she is highest bidder. Is prepared to pay £50 and used to get mad that somebody sniped it either with a program or manually for £15 with two seconds to go or she forgot when it was finishing and logged in too late. I gave up having the rows with her and just gave her the link to the sniping program.

Trifid · 12 Feb 2009 at 17:40

Greebo said:
As I have already said, people don't do that. My gf will bid £10 on an item currently at £5 and is happy she is highest bidder. Is prepared to pay £50 and used to get mad that somebody sniped it either with a program or manually for £15 with two seconds to go or she forgot when it was finishing and logged in too late. I gave up having the rows with her and just gave her the link to the sniping program.

So put £50 on it, she will then outbid the other person if they have put less on it.

Perhaps it is boring and don't really like the gambling thing, I easily get competitive with money and would place more than I am willing to pay for something.

V4NT0M · 12 Feb 2009 at 18:02

Bidnapper is good.

A[L]C · 12 Feb 2009 at 18:07

I use goofbay

CliffyBiro · 12 Feb 2009 at 18:13

Be careful, or you could end up with one of these:

titchard · 12 Feb 2009 at 18:27

Trifid said:
So put £50 on it, she will then outbid the other person if they have put less on it.

Perhaps it is boring and don't really like the gambling thing, I easily get competitive with money and would place more than I am willing to pay for something.

Sounds like he already repeatedly told her that and she won't listen!

Rich

Steve2000 · 12 Feb 2009 at 18:35

A[L]C;13484941 said:
I use goofbay

+1 this is a good 'un.

alastair84 · 12 Feb 2009 at 19:02

i don't understand. ebay automatically gives the item to the earliest highest bid. so whats the point in sniping? say you setup a snipe at £50, and the item is currently bid at £30, then in the last few seconds, it goes to £40 and your snipe comes in and bids £41, someone who already entered a bid for £50 using the normal ebay bidding method early on would win it?
am i right?

Chojin · 12 Feb 2009 at 19:08

alastair84 said:
i don't understand. ebay automatically gives the item to the earliest highest bid. so whats the point in sniping? say you setup a snipe at £50, and the item is currently bid at £30, then in the last few seconds, it goes to £40 and your snipe comes in and bids £41, someone who already entered a bid for £50 using the normal ebay bidding method early on would win it?
am i right?

Two words: shill bidding.

alastair84 · 12 Feb 2009 at 19:18

explain

SB118 · 12 Feb 2009 at 19:33

alastair84 said:
i don't understand. ebay automatically gives the item to the earliest highest bid. so whats the point in sniping? say you setup a snipe at £50, and the item is currently bid at £30, then in the last few seconds, it goes to £40 and your snipe comes in and bids £41, someone who already entered a bid for £50 using the normal ebay bidding method early on would win it?
am i right?

Spot on.

I do all my sniping in person

SB118 · 12 Feb 2009 at 19:33

Chojin said:
Two words: shill bidding.

huh?

Steve2000 · 12 Feb 2009 at 19:33

alastair84 said:
explain

It will stop people bidding on their own items to raise the price, as you won't have bid until the end.