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Author Topic: Ebay sniping Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 09-18-2005 03:37 AM                        Is sniping with bidding tools or programs allowed on ebay? Or is it just considered unfair? Do you have any experience with bidding tools?  |  IP: Logged Brian Michael Weidemann Expert cat molester Posts: 944 From: Costa Mesa, CA United States Registered: Feb 2004 posted 09-18-2005 05:27 AM                        It's just morally reprehensible and cause for a good spanking, is what it is. I'm sure they have some note about it in their Terms Of Service, but I figure if you want that limited edition Michael Bolton import LP on vinyl THAT badly, you would make yourself available at the auction close to be logged on, to cheat everyone else in REAL TIME, not automatically. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole POINT of proxy bidding so that this isn't necessary? The only people you're sniping would be other snipers, and it's just reduced to a dirty, underhanded, "I saw it first, gimme GIMME, MINE MINE MINE" type of game. Is it THAT important to you to hear Michael Bolton with the hisses, scratches, and pops; the way he was meant to be heard?  |  IP: Logged Fred Georges Master Film Handler Posts: 257 From: Lombard, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2000 posted 09-18-2005 08:01 AM                     I disagree, sniping helps prevent bid creep. Let me explain. I see an item that has a $10.00 start with no reserve. It's worth a max of $100.00 to me so that is what I bid (conventionally) thru ebay. You come along and see that I have bid $10.00 (my reserve of course is hidden) You show an interest & bid $12.00. Bid too low, try again. So you keep bidding up to say $60.00 Bid still too low, try again. You lose interest. Now, I have to pay a minimum (assuming no other bids) of $60.00 when the auction closes. Sniping prevents this. If you see the $10.00 start with no bids showing you might just put in a bid of $20.00 so I've got ya beat and only have to pay say $21.00 for the item. Sniping also alows you to change your mind & cancel up to the last minute without the hassle of a Bid retraction. Anyone who's serious about eBay snipes. It does NOT mean you'll necessarily pay less for an item as the other guy probably is sniping too. I've won some terrific stuff for very little money. I've also paid thru the nose when it turns into a Horse race. Bottom line, the Guy or Gal with the most dough is gonna beat you every time snipe or not. Sniping just keeps the casual user at bay. eBay that is.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 09-18-2005 09:37 AM                        Do you use a program or do you sit there in the last 5 minutes and snipe?  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-18-2005 11:50 AM                        I'm too cheap to buy sniping software. If I want something bad enough I'll be up at 5am or whenever to deal with it. But generally I don't snipe. I just bid my max, just like I'm supposed to, and let the proxy do its thing. If someone else has more money than I've got for the item, so be it. Fixed ending times can hurt the seller when sniping occurs, since the time can run out before the ending sniping frenzy has run its course, thereby depriving him of those last higher bids. Some auction sites, like Yahoo Japan, effectively kill sniping by automatically extending the ending time of the auction by an hour or so after every bid. With floating ending times, he with the most money will win, just as it should be.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-18-2005 12:28 PM                       Auction Sniper.com  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-18-2005 01:24 PM                     The items I really want I bid for at the very end of the auction...within the last few seconds. I bid what I'm willing to pay...if I loose to a higher bid...I wasn't going to pay that much anyway so more power to them. I do not place bids right when I see an item...that just gets you into a stupid little raising war...you bid, $10, come back and find that someone has jacked it up to $50...and so forth. While this helps the seller to an inflated price...as the bidder, it isn't in my best interest. As to the sniping programs...I personally don't like them since it is an automatic version of what I do but in the end, the most money is going to win anyway.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-18-2005 01:52 PM                     Using software to snipe seems unethical to me. Doing it manualy I have no problem with. Sellers should start bidding at or not to far below what they're willing to sell an item for.  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 09-18-2005 03:04 PM                     I am an eBay seller, and have been for years. Most of my items do not get competitive bids (they are my own products and are always on sale) BUT I have no problem with sniping (even when I do sell an item that gets competitive bids). Am I going to attend an auction and complain that someone waited for "bidding fever" to quiet down, waited for the auctioneer to say "going once ... going twice ..." and then spoke up with a higher bid? It's perfectly legitimate. Snipe away!  |  IP: Logged Wolff King Morrow Master Film Handler Posts: 490 From: Denton, TX, USA Registered: Feb 2004 posted 09-18-2005 04:56 PM                        Word to the wise, if you bitch about sniping on the ebay forums, you'll get flamed til you're burnt to a crisp. It's a perfectly acceptable practice, with the old saying from ebay members being "bid what you're willing to pay, not what you're hoping to pay". And the proxy system does work. I've sniped and been outbid by someone's proxy. I had no regrets, because I bid only what I was willing to pay.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-18-2005 06:33 PM                     I've lost several auctions because of people sniping. With only 2 seconds left I was sure I won only to find that someone else sniped . I looked into using a sniping program one time but don't feel comfortable giving someone my ebay username and password. I would agree that if you bid early then you get into a bidding war. I have been as much a perpetrator at that as a victim. I get all amped up and start bidding and then the price is escalated. I used to be able to wait until the last few minutes then bid, but somewhere between then and now I got all impatient. One time I fell asleep and didn't bid and lost the auction. Maybe that is why I started bidding early. I think I will go back to sniping though. It is much cheaper to snipe. Also I think people have their friends bid against you to raise the price when you bid early. I had an acquaintance ask me to do that once and he was a cop! It does suck to lose at the last second because someone has a faster internet connection or used a sniping program though.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Sisemore Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day! Posts: 3061 From: Rockwall TX USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-18-2005 06:50 PM                     quote: Also I think people have their friends bid against you to raise the price when you bid early. I had an acquaintance ask me to do that once and he was a cop! Maybe your cop friend was trying to get you to break the law? That practice is known as 'shill bidding' and is strictly prohibited on Ebay, and IIRC is also a crime in CA and possibly several other states. -Aaron  |  IP: Logged Chris Trainor Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Greenville, RI, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-28-2005 12:41 AM                        I snipe all the time (as some of you know... I get a few nasty emails now and then. <grin>). I like it, and it deals with the guys who keep 'edging up the bid' so to say. If you really want something bad and don't want to put a snipe in, just put in your MAX proxy bid and leave it. If someone wants to pay an extra buck, let them have it. One site that handles last-minute bidding really well is GunBroker. They use eBay's software (licensed) and has a '15-minute' rule enabled. If anyone bids in the last 15min of the auction, it's automatically extended 15min. That way if there are a bunch of people on a frenzy at the end to get an item it gives everyone extra time needed to put those last minute bids in. (and helps the seller quite a bit!) --Chris  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-28-2005 12:48 AM                     quote: Chris Trainor just put in your MAX proxy bid and leave it. If someone wants to pay an extra buck, let them have it. ..of course, the big time BITE on this is that there are bidders out there who purposely fire right next up to that posted MAX proxy bid especially if it's an outrageous MAX bid to secure the item, then walk away leaving you with paying TOO much what you wanted to do in the first place if you're the winner. Seen a few get burned this way.....just have to be cautious on this method. Sniping is so much easier. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 09-28-2005 04:23 AM                        Uh, proxy bidding wouldn't be proxy bidding if the bid was posted and known to all.  |  IP: Logged

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