Ebay question

[u12armresl]

I was noticing the most recent one pocket book on Ebay (Bob J WAS winning it at one time) and I wondered how many people would support a change in Ebay rules which stated if there was bidding activity in the last 30 sec, 1 min, etc then the auction continued. While I didn't bid on that book I noticed the winner and next highest bid picked it up in the last 30 sec.

Everyone knows about sniping now and so many people do it that you seem in the minority if you don't. This system works on other auction sites and it generates more money for the owner and allows people who have slow connections, don't have the software to snipe, etc to be in the mix.

 

[gman_tx]

That's why you should put in the maximum amount that you are willing to bid. If someone tries to snipe it at the last 30 seconds your bid is covered. If they beat you out it could only be because they went to an amount higher than you were willing to spend anyway. There are many things that ebay does wrong but I think that the way they keep the your bid value is something that they actually do right.

 

[PaulL]

Hi, new to the forums here and just thought I'd chime in as this just came up for me recently. I was trying to snag a cue on ebay and I waited until about the last 30 seconds (mostly due to circumstance) to bid on it. I put the bid in, got outbid once, and then got another bid in with just a couple seconds to spare. I don't usually do that, and I don't use any kind of software or anything, but I'm almost positive that I would have paid MUCH more had the bidding continued. So in this case it was nice for me, but I do think it would be a good thing if the auctions continued until no more bids came in in a certain time period, say 10 minutes or so. Just my .02.

And Ken_4fun, sorry again about the snipe!

 

[poolpro]

That's why you should put in the maximum amount that you are willing to bid. If someone tries to snipe it at the last 30 seconds your bid is covered. If they beat you out it could only be because they went to an amount higher than you were willing to spend anyway. There are many things that ebay does wrong but I think that the way they keep the your bid value is something that they actually do right.

Totally agree!!!! Okay, suppose we change it like you say, what happens if the auction is extended for another five minutes, and more activity starts at the end of that extension? Do we extend it on and on and on? NOOOOOO!

The max bid is a good system. If you only want to pay $100, bid $100. You really can't lose. You either get the item for your max ( or less) or someone else was willing to pay more. The amount of time does not change that. If sombody waits till the last 30 sec and bids $120 waht diff does that make? The problem is that people who may be willing to spend $100 do not want to bid that $100 if the bidding is only at $40.

If you are honest with yourself and you put in what is truly the max you would be willing to pay, you cannot lose. If you woud pay $100 for an item, but would pass at $110, put in a bid for $100 and let what happens happen. Whatever others may or may not do is irrelevent.

BTW alot of this comes from peoplke not really understanding the bidding system. Alot of people feel they have been sniped, when in reality it was an automatic bid from another person. That is why you will raise your bid and get outbid instantly and you rebid and instantly get outbid again. Nobody is sniping you, you are just bidding below someone elses max bid.

 

[mantis99]

It makes no sense to me to bid on anything on e-bay until the last 30 seconds. If you do otherwise, all you are doing is driving the bid up. E-bay works because you can get some decent deals. If you add a rule like that on e-bay, prices on many things will get driven up. I would not support a rule change like that. Know what the item is worth to you and put in your max bid. I do not see how anyone can be mad because someone bids at the end. It is just common sense to do it that way.

 

[Russ Chewning]

I was noticing the most recent one pocket book on Ebay (Bob J WAS winning it at one time) and I wondered how many people would support a change in Ebay rules which stated if there was bidding activity in the last 30 sec, 1 min, etc then the auction continued. While I didn't bid on that book I noticed the winner and next highest bid picked it up in the last 30 sec.

Everyone knows about sniping now and so many people do it that you seem in the minority if you don't. This system works on other auction sites and it generates more money for the owner and allows people who have slow connections, don't have the software to snipe, etc to be in the mix.

Nope.. I wouldn't ever support this. EVERYone has sniping software. It is web based, i.e. www.auctionsniper.com . You put your bid in, lead time, etc.

Ebay is supposed to be about getting good stuff at great prices. It's not about letting your emotions get out of control and paying much more than you should for an item. Sniping services ensure that the person who decided up front how much he/she wanted to pay, and that amount was the highest, pays UP TO that amount, and no more.

If you tried to get off cheap bidding low on something, then you deserve to lose the auction.

Bid the max you'd pay for an item. That's it. If you lose, you lose. If you would have upped your bid at the last second, then obviously you tried to get over on the person auctioning the item..

Auction sniping services RULE!

Russ

 

[Johnson]

It makes no sense to me to bid on anything on e-bay until the last 30 seconds. If you do otherwise, all you are doing is driving the bid up.

i completely agree with this but figure that most people don't see it that way, another purpose it serves is it makes it impossible for the seller to have someone else bid u past your max bid then have them retract so that u are at your max bid, if u bid in the last minute or so its impossible for them to do that, this is more common than most people realize, ebay rarely punishes people for it, funny how it's really ebays fault for jacking up all their fees but the more people maxing out bids the more $ ebay makes so it would be dumb for them to monitor it more precisely
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