topic Re: Fed up with last second bids in Buying

Fed up with last second bids

dercoggins — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 23:48:33 GMT

I getting outbid 4 seconds before the end of an auction, when there has been no other prior bids. These bids are made by anonymous bidders, obviously professionals as they have 30 or so going at the same time. It's no fun any more - eBay must be losing buyers in droves - it's just becoming a commercial marketplace. There needs to be some changes made somehow - of course you can't contact anyone in eBay to complain directly. David

Re: Fed up with last second bids

zanadoo_56 — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:46:22 GMT

Anyone can use a snipe service to place bids - they are very useful when an auction ends at some godforsaken hour (or during work). I use Gixen - and I'm not a 'professional'.

If your maximum bid is high enough you can beat them, but if you only place bids by low increments then your chances of winning aren't as good. It's the highest bid that wins.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

phorum_junkie* — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:02:56 GMT

You don't need to be a 'professional' to snipe at the last minute, it can be done manually quite easily but why bother when you can use a snipe program. Highest bid wins whatever time it is placed so if you lose somebody else was prepared to pay more than you regardless of when they placed their bid.

The only time when a bid is placed matters is if the snipe bid and your max bid are the same, if you have placed a proxy bid earlier you will win.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

syrupsmummy — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:36:57 GMT

When I am really keen on an item I snipe it with my maximum bid manually when less than 10 seconds left. I'm not professional and I don't bid on auction so often. I like to buy items as cheap as possible and it's not wise to keep bidding earlier because it get the price up.

Sniping at the last seconds doesn't mean I can win. If previous bidder's maximum bid is higher than my maximum bid I will lose at the end. You just need to put your maximum bid as the maximum price you would pay. And if you are outbidded someone else was willing to pay more.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

songqi13 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:42:42 GMT

this good for seller business when get higher prices

Re: Fed up with last second bids

dercoggins — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:45:05 GMT

Oh yes, good for sellers. Thanks for the replies. I guess if I want to win anything I'll just have to join the snipers.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

lyndal1838 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:59:16 GMT

You do not have to snipe to win...you just have to have the highest amount. But it does help if you place that bid at the end of the auction so nibble bidders do not have the time to try and outbid you.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

extra-keen — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 01:43:07 GMT

My technique is to just place a bid at the highest price I am willing to pay for that item. If I win, I win, if not move on. Still fun and sometimes I get a bargain. And so do my customers sometimes when they bid on my items I hope.:-)

Re: Fed up with last second bids

peternt2001 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 05:19:58 GMT

I getting p-ed off with being outbid 4 seconds before the end of an auction, when there has been no other prior bids. These bids are made by anonymous bidders, obviously professionals as they have 30 or so going at the same time. It's no fun any more - eBay must be losing buyers in droves - it's just becoming a commercial marketplace. There needs to be some changes made somehow - of course you can't contact anyone in eBay to complain directly. David

You arent being beaten by snipers, you are being beaten by people who are prepared to pay more than you. If your bid was the highest you would win.

i only buy on ebay and i dont use a snipping tool, auctions i am interested in that finish when i am at home, i will wait until the last 10 seconds to place my bid. Those that i am not home for i will place what i am prepared to pay as my bid and leave it at that.

You sound like you are in the trap that i was in when i first started on ebay, getting into nibble bidding trying to top the last bids by a little increment. All that does is push the price up and potentially gets you into a situation where you end up paying more for an item than you were prepared too.

When you are interested in an item, work out what YOU are prepared to pay for it and bid that amount, dont try and work out what others are prepared to pay and try and out bid them

Re: Fed up with last second bids

leader-of-the-band — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 05:35:14 GMT

Oh yes, good for sellers.

just remember, it is sellers that pay eBay fees, not buyers! Are you begrudging sellers getting a fair price for their items by attracting more than one bidder? Or do you just want to get the items you bid on at the opening bid amount?

Re: Fed up with last second bids

thegrump179 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 05:58:09 GMT

I guess I am one of those irratating bidders. My theory is to come up with the max bid I am willing to pay. Knowing there are others out there doing the same thing. Wait till the last 5 seconds ( it's all manual ) and hit bid. That stops me and another bidder getting into an auction frenzy. I have placed my max bid and I can not go any higher because the auction is finished. You can do the same.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

purple.cow — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 06:12:20 GMT

I getting p-ed off with being outbid 4 seconds before the end of an auction, when there has been no other prior bids. These bids are made by anonymous bidders, obviously professionals as they have 30 or so going at the same time. It's no fun any more - eBay must be losing buyers in droves - it's just becoming a commercial marketplace. There needs to be some changes made somehow - of course you can't contact anyone in eBay to complain directly. David

Them's the Ebay bidder breaks :^O

Re: Fed up with last second bids

leader-of-the-band — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 06:18:29 GMT

I guess I am one of those irratating bidders. My theory is to come up with the max bid I am willing to pay. Knowing there are others out there doing the same thing. Wait till the last 5 seconds ( it's all manual ) and hit bid. That stops me and another bidder getting into an auction frenzy. I have placed my max bid and I can not go any higher because the auction is finished. You can do the same.

excellent advice grump!

der, remember, bid your maximum . . . . . generally, if it is the highest you will win . . . . . if it is not the highest you will not win.

Don't whinge if you do not win because someone else bids higher in the last seconds. If they had bid with five minutes to go and you would have bid again then you have not bid your highest. Don't bid the opening bid amount and expect to get it at that price because you are the only bidder until there are seconds to go.

Don't join the last seconds snipers you despise so much . . . . bid your maximum with 3 minutes to go. If their snipe bid is below that amount then their snipe will not win.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

nicnacs_4u — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 06:21:35 GMT

Them's the Ebay bidder breaks :^O

Hey Moo how`s your depression?,r u all okay now??

Re: Fed up with last second bids

purple.cow — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 06:24:59 GMT

Wrong message board, wrong time to discuss such topics unless you want to see them removed by the mods.

Thanks for asking though.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

lynnie3024 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 06:26:24 GMT

I cannot believe someone who has been an ebay member for over 13 years does not bid in the last few seconds....btw ALL bidders are anonymous...only you can see your name and others can only see theirs.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

***super_nova*** — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 07:42:54 GMT

There needs to be some changes made somehow - of course you can't contact anyone in eBay to complain directly. David

NO, there do not! And of-course, very successfully run multi billion company does not want to listen to such complaints. 🙂

Re: Fed up with last second bids

cjm2589 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 08:15:29 GMT

There needs to be some changes made somehow - of course you can't contact anyone in eBay to complain directly. David

David, eBay are not going to make changes that stop members from bidding while an auction is still 'live', including in the last 4 seconds. There is a format for "first bidder wins", it is called Buy-It-Now.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

dercoggins — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:54:31 GMT

Thanks for the comments - all very interesting points. Yes, I should put my maximum bid up first, but with sniping I don't get the chance to go "just one dollar more" and take the item. Yes, I have been a member for 13 years, and in the early days it was exciting getting in at the last seconds. No point now. I guess it's part of the "win however you can" society. If real life auctions allowed the same sort of bidding, they would very likely cease to exist.

Re: Fed up with last second bids

***super_nova*** — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:14:57 GMT

with sniping I don't get the chance to go "just one dollar more" and take the item.

There is no reason to believe that if you would get the chance to go just $1 more that you would win the item. My last auction I won for about $15 with my snipe 3 seconds before end, my actual bid was $45. That means that the person who I outbid had only $14.50 as their highest bid. It is unlikely they would have wanted to pay as much as my highest bid was. If they did, it their fault they did not bid what they would want to pay. As others said, it is the highest bid that wins.