Ever lose out on that auction you just HAD to have?

[TI99Kitty]

Wish the forbid those snipping tools. Would make it much fairer. I don't want to get outbid by a computer.

 

I agree. If I can't be home/awake when an auction is ending, I just place my maximum bid before I go to work/sleep and hope for the best. I understand that people don't want to miss out when they can't be there to monitor the auction, but I equate those sniping programs to bots on MMORPGs (and I think they should be just as banned). If you want to play the game, then play the ****ing game, and that applies as much to eBay/auction sites as it does to online games.

[the.golden.ax]

The Vectrex kiosk that went for $700ish. I had a bid of $1860 entered and hit the button with something like 10 seconds left. It said it was already over.

 

AX

[SoulBlazer]

Because of sniping, there is no point in bidding until the last minute in my opinion...

 

That's exactly right. Makes no sense to falsely inflate the "value" of something bidding against yourself in the early stages. I wish more people grasped this concept. Prices would be a lot more down to earth and you'd have less buyers flaking out of deals.

 

Not everyone can snipe, though. Sometimes auctions that I have been interested in on EBay end at a time when I am unable to be there, due to being at work or something, so I just put in my max and hope for the best. But the whole sniping thing is one reason I prefer buying and selling on Amazon.

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

Someone outbid me on a sealed Mr.Do´s Castle..........

[jeremysart]

If I bid on something I want early on, and automatically get outbid because someone is sniping, I'll inflate the price nice and high for them and just giggle about it.

[98PaceCar]

For those that think that sniping is how people win auctions, you either don't understand how ebay works or don't understand what sniping is.

 

For example, let's take an uber rare combat cart. The seller starts bidding at $20.00.

 

Bidder 1 comes along the first day and puts an initial bid of $20.00 on it and is now winning it at $20.00.

 

Bidder 2 decides he really wants this cart and bids $40.00 on the second day. He is now winning at $20.00 + the auction increment. We'll call it a dollar increment, so he is winning at $21.00.

 

Bidder 3 is going to use a sniping tool, so he puts in a snipe for $35.00 set to fire in the last 10 seconds of the auction. At this point, the auction is still being won by bidder 2 for $21.00 as bidder 3 has not actually placed a bid.

 

Bidder 4 comes in and bids $30.00 on the final day. Bidder 2 is still winning at $31.00.

 

In the last 10 seconds, the snipe for bidder 3 fires and bids $35.00. Bidder 2 is still over this so the bid becomes the max for the sniper + the increment, so bidder 2 wins for $36.00. The same scenario will play out if bidder 3 manually places his snipe. The method of placing the bid does not matter.

 

The reason you are losing to snipers is their max bids are higher than yours. The time of the bid has little to do with winning or losing. Bid your max and if you win, great. If not, someone valued the item higher than you.

 

If I bid on something I want early on, and automatically get outbid because someone is sniping, I'll inflate the price nice and high for them and just giggle about it.

 

This isn't sniping. You were automatically outbid because the existing max bid is higher than yours. But this is the reason why sniping can be a good idea. If you tip your hand early, people will do this to you. Some just trying to win the item, some trying to artificially inflate the price.

[TI99Kitty]

If I bid on something I want early on, and automatically get outbid because someone is sniping, I'll inflate the price nice and high for them and just giggle about it.

 

It's nice to fantasize about, but I'm afraid I'd wind up winning the auction, and not have the money to pay for it. It would be just my luck that the person I'm bidding against would decide that they can't afford to raise their maximum bid, and I'd be stuck having to figure out where I'm going to get the money to pay for the auction.

[RickHarrisMaine]

Then on the flip side is the auction you make sure you win for something you have no real need of....

 

like the boxed 32x I just won, that likely still doesn't have a power supply or the all-important 32x to Genesis cable.....$32 shipped.......

 

I'm such a weiner sometimes....

[Jess Ragan]

Lately, I've been doing a better job of sniping than being sniped. Got a copy of Fable II for $10.50 at the last minute, whoo!

 

I very nearly lost a copy of King of Fighters XII (I know, but gimme a break, I'm a long time fan of the series) about a week ago. The guy was selling a Japanese version of the game with a free folder. Evidently people thought he was just selling the folder, so nobody bid on it. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about it and didn't bid until the auction ended! Luckily the guy was really understanding and reposted the item as a one day auction at my request. This time, I did bid, and won the item shortly afterward.

[Rev]

my secret to winning auctions is this:

 

if i REALLY want an item i make sure i am at the computor as the acution is ending,this is the only way to insure it.

 

about 10 minutes before the auction is ending a place a bid so that i am winning it so far.

 

then about a minute before it ends i am still refreshing it to get the current price.

 

 

lets say i am winning it at 30.00 and there is 30 seconds left in the auction.i know other people are probably watching it and refreshing it like me.

 

then at the very last 5 seconds before it ends i will shoot in a bid of 100.00 to make sure i have outbid all the people who only bid in 5 or 10 dollar increments.

 

then i may of won the auction for 45 or something.

 

this usually works for me but sometime it goes for waaayay more than i expected and therefore is out of my price range anyway and i will wait for the next one!

[Video]

The reason you are losing to snipers is their max bids are higher than yours. The time of the bid has little to do with winning or losing. Bid your max and if you win, great. If not, someone valued the item higher than you.

 

If I bid on something I want early on, and automatically get outbid because someone is sniping, I'll inflate the price nice and high for them and just giggle about it.

 

This isn't sniping. You were automatically outbid because the existing max bid is higher than yours. But this is the reason why sniping can be a good idea. If you tip your hand early, people will do this to you. Some just trying to win the item, some trying to artificially inflate the price.

 

Exactly. There's no secret to it, the person who wins, will be the one who bid the most at the end of the auction (sniper or not) When it comes down to it, putting in your bid early, might might make you pay marginally more for an item by auction end. But in the end, if your bid is higher than the others, then you're going to win.

 

As for winning and not knowing how to pay, don't think I'll ever have that problem (beyond when Paypal first started and I bid on an auctin and didn't know it was Paypall ONLY) I'd certainly never bid on an Item I can't affford, though I might bid what Ican afford for it and hope for the best.

[Mirage]

All that is true, but it's also a mind-game with the other bidders. Sniping is still a way to possibly (possibly) get a lower price on an auction and it's also a good way to increase your chances of winning. Lulls any other bidders into a sense of safety (especially if they're newbies), and they might not see it coming... or not be able to react quickly enough if they haven't put in as high of a bid as they would like, or decide to do in the heat of the moment. Sniping certainly does win auctions... sometimes... but it's absolutely no guarantee and obviously the highest bid will always win no matter when it was placed... obviously.

[atarilovesyou]

If I bid on something I want early on, and automatically get outbid because someone is sniping, I'll inflate the price nice and high for them and just giggle about it.

 

 

This is actually a not-so-smart way to be vindictive...if only because, who knows? You just might 'inflate' the price that one dollar higher than the max bid, and now you're 'stuck' with the item that you couldn't afford in the first place.

 

I always bid in the last minute...that's the best way to do it, and I don't see anything wrong with that. I've tried the technique and have still lost...somebody obviously wanted it (and valued it) more than I did. But to bid your max amount early on when it isn't anywhere near the amount is kinda foolish, IMO. I only do that if I can't be at the computer for the last few minutes.

 

What I DON'T like seeing is an item I've tried to bid on, get outbid on in the last minute, yet the next day the seller contacts me with a 'second chance' offer for my old max bid. I find that move slimy, if only because you see that same item sit there for the next two weeks...this happened to me too many times to count. Or when you see the same item be relisted over and over again...using the same photo, the same "only one left!" description. Most times I think the seller just didn't get their max bid, but who really knows.

 

Ebay works fine for me, most the time. The only real 'rule' I've accepted is that if you wait, eventually you're going to find that something you want sooner or later. The price might not be the greatest, but you'll get another chance.

 

...of course, that doesn't include mint Vectrex systems for under 100 USD...lol.

[atarilovesyou]

Yep, a few years ago, was a very rare CGW magazine. Haven't seen it since (and hadn't seen it previously). Went for a couple hundred dollars IIRC>

 

 

 

~telengard

 

 

...CGW?...which magazine is that? There's actually rares? I never thought old games mags had any real resale value. Which issue? I do remember some old issues of Creative Computing from my childhood that I wish I still had, but I don't know how much I'd want to pay for them.

[SnapCraft]

Some thoughts:

 

1) Some of us have done this very thing to others on this board, and vice versa. It's good to know your enemies.

 

2) What about missing the auction all together? That could be worse than getting sniped. Polar Rescue for the 'trex went for about $25 earlier today. I'm still puking on missing that one.

 

3) Practice what you preach. We all snipe. All is fair. What I love (if it's an auction I'm not particularly interested in) is when the price really sky-rockets in the last minute. Let's say a mint Coleco Adam is still hanging at $57 with 3 minutes to go. You know about 500 (?) people are watching it end with 20 (?) serious snipers (some don't hit the "send" button). Then all of the sudden, the auction ends at $603.

 

4) Even today, classic gaming is still an exclusive club. There aren't that many of us. Ultimately, we could "call" an item for so-and-so and it's hands-off to everyone else. We could get systems for dirt cheap every time. I'm dreaming, of course.

[Jess Ragan]

Anyone do the douchey thing and bid a penny over what you would normally bid? You know, type in $10.01 instead of just $10.00. It'll throw off other bidders and give you a psychological advantage in a bidding war, especially at the last minute.

[jeremysart]

Lately, I've been doing a better job of sniping than being sniped. Got a copy of Fable II for $10.50 at the last minute, whoo!

 

I very nearly lost a copy of King of Fighters XII (I know, but gimme a break, I'm a long time fan of the series) about a week ago. The guy was selling a Japanese version of the game with a free folder. Evidently people thought he was just selling the folder, so nobody bid on it. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about it and didn't bid until the auction ended! Luckily the guy was really understanding and reposted the item as a one day auction at my request. This time, I did bid, and won the item shortly afterward.

 

Youll enjoy it, Fable II rocks. I was lucky enough to get it for $15 sealed at the trade center. A vendor actually left their kid to sell.. I wasn't going to refuse the offer

[jeremysart]

Anyone do the douchey thing and bid a penny over what you would normally bid? You know, type in $10.01 instead of just $10.00. It'll throw off other bidders and give you a psychological advantage in a bidding war, especially at the last minute.

 

Ive been a douche then, lol

[VectorGamer]

Anyone do the douchey thing and bid a penny over what you would normally bid? You know, type in $10.01 instead of just $10.00. It'll throw off other bidders and give you a psychological advantage in a bidding war, especially at the last minute.

 

Ive been a douche then, lol

 

That's what I said in a previous post - put in a bid of like $10.37 instead of being a Captain Obvious...

[tz101]

Anyone do the douchey thing and bid a penny over what you would normally bid? You know, type in $10.01 instead of just $10.00. It'll throw off other bidders and give you a psychological advantage in a bidding war, especially at the last minute.

 

That's how I won my NES Arkanoid controller. I estimated a "breaking point" in my mind at which I guessed most reasonable bidders would throw in the proverbial towel. Then I bid 2¢ past that amount. Presto, I got my much sought after Arkanoid controller after the main competition topped out at the whole dollar amount I had guessed. All a guessing game though, even using that tactic.

[ls650]

Anyone who complains about sniping hasn't thought it through: it's only silent bidding. If you lose to a sniper it's because he/she had a higher max bid than your max bid.

[DaytonaUSA]

Anyone who complains about sniping hasn't thought it through: it's only silent bidding. If you lose to a sniper it's because he/she had a higher max bid than your max bid.

 

Agreed. Snipers are pretty much gone since they installed the high max bid. As soon as I bid on something and I'm ahead, I immediately bid my max big afterwords. That way if it goes over.. fine I lost the auction, but didn't spend more money than I wanted. If I get it though, great.

 

Now, I will say, when someone wins and it was only $1 above my max bid, and I didn't catch it because I wasn't at my computer (which happened recently) that does suck. However, I guess it stopped me from potentially getting into an addicting, pricey bid war.

[AtariLeaf]

If its something I really want, I don't lose. Period. I can't think of an auction I've lost recently where I've really wanted the item. (Probably have but I can't recall it) I pony up the dough, thats it. I do the research - look for similar items and where they finish at, average it out and mentally prepare to pay $10, $20, etc more than that average if I really want it. If I don't really want it I bid lower and hope - sometimes I win and sometimes I don't. In those cases where I lose its no big deal because I know going in that I'm taking a chance bidding lower.

 

I also do the crazy number bidding - $50.71, $103.28, stuff like that.

 

The last auction I won was for 12 Tandy coco carts. Mostly dirt common stuff. It was only at $8 in the last minute, I bid over $40, just in case, but won it at $11 and change.

[AtariLeaf]

Anyone who complains about sniping hasn't thought it through: it's only silent bidding. If you lose to a sniper it's because he/she had a higher max bid than your max bid.

 

Agreed. Snipers are pretty much gone since they installed the high max bid. As soon as I bid on something and I'm ahead, I immediately bid my max big afterwords. That way if it goes over.. fine I lost the auction, but didn't spend more money than I wanted. If I get it though, great.

 

Now, I will say, when someone wins and it was only $1 above my max bid, and I didn't catch it because I wasn't at my computer (which happened recently) that does suck. However, I guess it stopped me from potentially getting into an addicting, pricey bid war.

 

But that doesn't mean the higher bidder only bid $1 more. He could have bid $50 more but the winning bid only needs to be the next highest increment.

[+thegoldenband]

Part of the motivation behind sniping is that an item attracts more attention if it's got a few bids on it. It's partly psychological, in that you click on an attractive item with no bids and often find out there's a reason for it: the seller has lousy feedback, the item is damaged, shipping is outrageous, etc. Similarly, you see an item with 12 bids, and you think, "Why bother? It'll get too rich for my blood." But if something has one or two bids, it suggests that it's desirable, but still attainable.

 

Also, sometimes the seller hasn't done a good job of advertising his/her wares, as in cases where they don't list the individual titles in a lot of carts, and an eagle-eye spots a rarity tucked away in one of the pictures. Other times the important information is only in the description (which many people don't bother to search), or someone misspells something. If an unimpressive-looking item starts attracting bids, perhaps people are more likely to figure out that something's up.

 

Of course none of these will fend off a determined bidder who carefully checks every listing, but nothing but a big bankroll will do that anyway. I think snipers play off the difficulty people have in switching from the "I can get this for cheap, nice!" mindset to the "This is the most I'm willing to pay" mindset. People will buy something they feel ambivalent about if they feel like they're getting a really good deal on it. But when other people outbid you, it paradoxically encourages you to bid more, not just because you want to "win" but because it subconsciously convinces you that the item is worth more.

Edited December 20, 2009 by thegoldenband