Thread: On-line auctions and sniping.

Originally Posted by Toolin Around

Sniping is for those who are ignorant enough to think they're being sneaky. There are so many people that think they're sniping that it comes back around to he who pays most wins.

On popular items sniping is a waste of time. On other items you may hear people brag about sniping but in reality not many or no one else wanted the item.

Hello Tool, nice to meet you, guess you've seen my kind before, I snipe and on popular items as well. Sometimes it pans, sometimes it doesn't, check my user history next time you're sniped by me , been involved in these arguments umpteen times before on the community forums over the years, generally turns out the whingers have been sniped or sold things undervalue and won't accept the situation.
There's a lot of heat in some kitchens, if uncomfortable remove thyself knave

auctions go to the highest bidder,
if you bid late or early the auction still goes to the highest bidder.

Hi, have been reading this thread with interest and a counter to gage how many people look at a item has been mentioned.
How and where do you find this counter. I have looked with no luck just cannot find it.Could someone please advise me.

Win, win,win.
For every winner there is a loser, usually the seller.

How can every user of Epay be a winner??


Al :confused:

Originally Posted by echnidna

auctions go to the highest bidder,
if you bid late or early the auction still goes to the highest bidder.

Well that's what I thought and I'm not familiar with this "sniping" terminology.

I pretty much agree that there are elements of all the inputs apply but I have had successes on ebay and other sites where I have got the item for less than or at the maximum I was prepared to pay. The only way you can establish that figure IMHO is to research .

Very rarely do I get on a last minute buying war and even then it is only because the item is somethig I want. eg placed max $60 and won at $62. On another recent one bid $25 - lost - sold at $32 had lost before - bidding on the next offer for the same product -$32 - was offered the product at $25:confused:

And still waiting for the $275 Ryobi A13 to arrive Monday

Originally Posted by schaf

Hi, have been reading this thread with interest and a counter to gage how many people look at a item has been mentioned.
How and where do you find this counter. I have looked with no luck just cannot find it.Could someone please advise me.

I think only the seller can see this for a given item.

There is a counter at the bottom of most listings, it tells how many times that page has been loaded on anyone's browser. I may look at something a dozen times and each one will show as a discrete time the item has been viewed.

There is another piece of info that is available only to the seller: I can tell how many people have placed my item on their personal watch list on their 'my ebay' page. This gives an idea of the degree of interest in the item, but is not a reliable indicator of how many people will bid at the end.

I have an item right now with one bid of 0.99. yet there are 17 people watching it, so in this case I expect a last minute flurry.

Greg

As has been pointed out, Ebay is not an auction.
As has been pointed out, there is some idiots out there.

I see little advantage in driving up the final price, promoting an item in which I am interested, or flagging my interest in an item.

I will only bid on Ebay in the dying seconds of an item.

If this makes me one of the idiots, you'll find me in the corner with the pointy aht with the bif "D" on it, but be careful, there is a bit of a crowd of us.

Originally Posted by echnidna

auctions go to the highest bidder,
if you bid late or early the auction still goes to the highest bidder.

Spot on echnidna.

Sniping is useful when you may not be around to monitor the sale.

There is another option and that is the other bidder(s) may not be aware of sniping and will try to get the sale by sitting and monitoring the progress which sniping is anyway but done using software.

I wouldn't pay for sniping software etc unless I was buying a lot.

Regards
Andrew

Originally Posted by schaf

Hi, have been reading this thread with interest and a counter to gage how many people look at a item has been mentioned.
How and where do you find this counter. I have looked with no luck just cannot find it.Could someone please advise me.

It should be at or near the middle of the page (but that greatly depends on how much information and pictures the seller has included in the page). The counter is usually in a small rectangle with green numbers with a black back ground above the "Shipping, payment details and return policy" header See attached pic

Driver I have bought a fair bit from ebay in various catagories and never worry about sniping etc.I tend to set my limit on an item allow for postage and make that my max. amount, then if I win good if not too bad.
I see many bidding wars and at times you can buy the item new locally for less than the final bid + postage
well thats what I do so now you can decide what you wish to do.
I have lost many auctions by 50 cents but that was 50 cents more than my max bid. I dont have a must win ethic and accept that some people will want an item more than me or must win at any cost.
Pete

Originally Posted by gregoryq

Good morning to you too, tooling around. A word: I posted about the merits of sniping, real or imagined, then you effectively call me ignorant. Kindly watch your manners.

Warm Regards
Greg

Oops! Sorry old chap! Never ment it as an insult, only as to what the word truely means - someone is unaware because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge. It can be a real problem when stating a generalization.

Just to close the case on the counter issue ...

It can be added by the seller if they choose when listing the auction and is the only way to know how many people have viewed the auction.

There is a feature that shows the seller how many people have added the auction to their "watch" list.

Originally Posted by Toolin Around

Oops! Sorry old chap! Never ment it as an insult, only as to what the word truely means - someone is unaware because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge. It can be a real problem when stating a generalization.

Thanks for the important social tip. Often ignorance IS, in fact, bliss. Not in this case, however. As has been amptly pointed out, the highest price AT THE END of the 'auction wins; anything else is irrelevant.

It is not being sneaky, as you put it, to wait until the end of the listing. Waiting simply removes the tit for tat engaged in by neophytes, or attempts to. On poplular items this doesn't work precisely because too many bidders treat ebay like a real auction.