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Is ebay about to end all sniping?

Started by dekeuk,

322 posts in this topic

Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted
The way I see it, if ebay tries to get rid of sniping, it will only hurt the prices realized on big ticket items. It will affect the amount I'm willing to bid or even if I bid at all.

 

Manual snipe. :whistle:

Most auctions don't end until 11 or 12 Eastern time. Unless greggy is keeping awake, I usually have fallen asleep and have forgetten all about the auction. :(

 

He he he

I can get more stuff then. :cloud9:

 

The old days of eBay had more great deals before the damn sniping began

:eek:

Yet, you whine like a little baby when the junk you're selling sells at a low price. Can't have it both ways.

Yes I can! :sumo:

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greggy

greggy

Posted
Posted
The way I see it, if ebay tries to get rid of sniping, it will only hurt the prices realized on big ticket items. It will affect the amount I'm willing to bid or even if I bid at all.

 

Manual snipe. :whistle:

Most auctions don't end until 11 or 12 Eastern time. Unless greggy is keeping awake, I usually have fallen asleep and have forgetten all about the auction. :(

 

He he he

I can get more stuff then. :cloud9:

 

The old days of eBay had more great deals before the damn sniping began

:eek:

Yet, you whine like a little baby when the junk you're selling sells at a low price. Can't have it both ways.

Yes I can! :sumo:

No
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awe4one

awe4one

Posted
Posted

Wow...there are some impassioned views on both sides... :insane:

 

Regardless, it's a good business move for eBay should they implement it. Looks like people will have to work a little harder on winning. And for all those saying you'll use eBay even less if they do implement it...well you'll be back, your comics jones won't let you stay away...

 

Jim

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Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted

Dear Greggy and Aces,

 

Shut the hell up!

 

Sincerely,

ShoNuff

#5

lol

 

Is that all you got? :banana:

I probably don't even have that much... :whatev:

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DrWatson

DrWatson

Posted
Posted

Dear Greggy and Aces,

 

Shut the hell up!

 

Sincerely,

ShoNuff

#5

lol

 

Is that all you got? :banana:

What else does he need? (shrug)

It's old school...you wouldn't understand. :gossip:

I understand more than you think I do. How was the vacation? :grin:

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ShoNuff-migration

ShoNuff-migration

Posted
Posted

Dear Greggy and Aces,

 

Shut the hell up!

 

Sincerely,

ShoNuff

#5

lol

 

Is that all you got? :banana:

What else does he need? (shrug)

It's old school...you wouldn't understand. :gossip:

I understand more than you think I do. How was the vacation? :grin:

Prove it!

 

And vacation was good. (thumbs u

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JohnT

JohnT

Posted
Posted

Interesting thread.

 

First of all, sniping is a way of life because bidders aren't looking to pay value for items, they're looking for deals. So what you have is a bunch of people sitting out there on the hunt for last second steals. To be competitive you have to learn how to win in this environment, and the best way to beat a snipe--actually the only way other than paying full price--is with a snipe. You can't just put a significantly undervalued bid out there and expect it to stand up.

 

Not all auctions follow this formula, of course. Sometimes people really want something and are willing to go above "market," and you get a real bidding war going. But the average Ebay auction is for relatively common items that you can get the next time around if you lose.

 

I also agree with Greggy's point (I think it was Greggy) that if you are watching a bunch of items you can't necessarily afford to put bids on all of them, because you can't afford to win all of them. In that case it makes sense to wait and bid after you've found out if you've won earlier auctions. That's a big reason why my bidding pattern ends up being a series of snipes.

 

A final note: I don't think it makes business sense for Ebay to outlaw automated sniping but allow manual sniping. Seems like that would just lower prices. You still have people waiting for the last second, but there will be fewer of them, and thus lower prices. Works for me! :acclaim:

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awe4one

awe4one

Posted
Posted
A final note: I don't think it makes business sense for Ebay to outlaw automated sniping but allow manual sniping. Seems like that would just lower prices. You still have people waiting for the last second, but there will be fewer of them, and thus lower prices. Works for me! :acclaim:

 

I don't think the intent would be to bolster prices but increase their website hits...thus boosting their ad revenue...

 

Doing away with snipes could conceivably accomplish this...

 

Jim

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duncan36

duncan36

Posted
Posted

In the early days I never used to snipe. But I dont care what people say shills love to chip away at your bids rather than snipe. Chipping gives them more information also, if they over-chip at someones bid and become the high bidder, then the other bidder comes over the top. They're like, 'this guy really wants this, I've got more room to chip here '.

At some point it got so ridiculous that every 3rd auction I lost the people were asking me to buy the item at the highest price I bid. Yeah sure buddy, the checks in the mail.

 

Sniping is a necessary evil because it puts the question mark in the sellers head rather than the buyers. People dont bid much early so they may shill but it will be a shill for the minimum price they could live with selling it for. Whereas without sniping they will happily chip at your bids all week long if they think they can get away with it.

 

Really what eBay should focus on more than their fee structure and this no-snipe garbage is real auction security. Really deal with the shills. Really deal with the cheats, really deal with the overgraders. These are real transactions, with real people involved, with real money involved. eBay perpetuates the notion that bidding on eBay is in some alternate candyland universe with its mismanagement.

 

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

Posted
Posted
Why does it matter to you when people bid? If it's the most that they want to pay, why would sniping be chating? If you bid your highest and you get outbid, do you just stop bidding?. If yes, why should it matter to you that you get outbid at the end? Or, why not just be honest and say that you didn't bid the highest you're willing to go but want an opportunity to go higher.

 

I can't believe all of the whiners here about condemning sniping programs. It's a convenience for me; I do not plan on getting emotionally involved in a bidding war; I set it and forget it. If everyone else wants a chance to put in other cheap bid...that's their problem. I also agree that showing your hand too early is not a best practice...shills will be around to increase the price.

 

If eBay implements this I will consider it one more nail in the coffin. To be honest I didn't know that they have started to implement this on other sites.

 

To those that have asked, there is no snipe program for Heritage or ComicLink..although one could probably build a program easily to submit a bid. I also believe that consignment sites will become even more popular if this occurs...this trend is happening already.

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1Cool

1Cool

Posted
Posted

What would be the harm in extending an auction by 5 minutes if a bid comes in during the last 5 minutes of an auction. that would allow other to raise their amount to beat the highest bis - just like a real auction. Would there be any negatives to this approach. An auction may be extended by an hour at most but eventually the 5 minutes would expire and the item sould be sold. I would be in favor of this approach if e-bay implemented it. I do see shill bidders having a field day but that is part of an auction. Bid up to where you are comfortable and forget it.

 

I do see sniping as being unfair to the beginner/naive bidder since they may not know about this process.

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