To the person who SNEAKED that MICRONAUTS page today.

[thethedew]

I (and the other poeple who bid or had it Watch Listed) was planning to play by the rules. A shame you couldn't.

 

Won't make that mistake again.

Apparently playing by the rules is for S**KERS.

White gloves off forever.

 

Andrew

[g-man]

linky?

[Pete Marino]

Are you serious or joking? not sure?

 

Are these "rules" specific to Mironauts pages?

 

Pretty much everything I want on ebay, I figure what I'm willing to pay and put a snipe up for it....

 

Seasoned collectors are still the ones bidding stuff up during the week?

[thethedew]

linky?

 

Cheerfully.

 

(Assuming the links work)

 

This auction went up this morning, I got my usual Ebay Saved search note:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151008068410?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

 

Dutifully added it to my 'Watch List', added it to my calendar to bid later, as the acution had another 5 days or so.

 

A few hours later, I double-checked, only to find the auction disabled (as above) and 'relisted' as a buy-it-now. (Of course already used)

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICRONAUTS-ORIGINAL-ART-VOL-1-NO-58-PAGE-30-DEFEAT-OF-BARON-KARZA-DONT-MISS-/390555964909?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AVRI&nma=true&si=aP30qERWN8u5EgZq7v20U3b9Ksg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

So, someone emailed the seller, convinced him to throw it into a quickie buy-it-now on the down-low. Since the purchase DID go through Ebay I can't counter. Does the word 'sneak' get filtered by our BB system?

 

Furious.

[stinkininkin]

I (and the other poeple who bid or had it Watch Listed) was planning to play by the rules. A shame you couldn't.

 

Won't make that mistake again. White gloves off forever.

 

Andrew

 

Did you really mean sniping, or did someone make a deal to pull the auction early? These are two totally different things.

 

Scott

 

 

[malvin]

I saw that auction, don't follow that market and didn't think much of it.

 

I think Pete saw that you said snipe, which of course can also mean last second bidding (using those things called computers). Doing that is fair game..

 

what you described.. well, it's almost like having an auction taken down, which has happened to me too..

 

Malvin

[alxjhnsn]

I snipe.

 

I got tired of bidding and having my bids run up and up in small increments.

 

Now, I plug the ebay id into JustSnipe, set my max amount, and win or lose as it happens.

 

Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would bid any other way.

[thethedew]

I (and the other poeple who bid or had it Watch Listed) was planning to play by the rules. A shame you couldn't.

 

Won't make that mistake again. White gloves off forever.

 

Andrew

 

Did you really mean sniping, or did someone make a deal to pull the auction early? These are two totally different things.

 

Scott

 

 

Option 'B', obviously. If I'd lost a proper auction through a snipe, that would merely be a dissapointment. But I didn't know what else to call it in the headline. Gets the point across, though.

[Pete Marino]

I saw that auction, don't follow that market and didn't think much of it.

 

I think Pete saw that you said snipe, which of course can also mean last second bidding (using those things called computers). Doing that is fair game..

 

what you described.. well, it's almost like having an auction taken down, which has happened to me too..

 

Malvin

 

I checked out the links. I see that you mean that it was taken down, and given a BIN....

 

I don't know what the name of that is... getting back doored?

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding... snipe means something very specific to me.

[thethedew]

Sorry for the misunderstanding... snipe means something very specific to me.

 

No problem, Pete.

 

We should have a contest to give the take-down-off-Ebay thing a proper name.

 

My suggestion: let's call it a SNEAK.

 

Andrew

[Dave Aikins]

I'm curious- What would you have valued the page at? How high would you have gone?

 

Were there any bids on the page before it was re-listed? Sometimes I wonder that sellers do this when there aren't any bids out of fear that there won't be a better offer. This might be a side effect of people only bidding at the last moment...

[stinkininkin]

I (and the other poeple who bid or had it Watch Listed) was planning to play by the rules. A shame you couldn't.

 

Won't make that mistake again. White gloves off forever.

 

Andrew

 

Did you really mean sniping, or did someone make a deal to pull the auction early? These are two totally different things.

 

Scott

 

 

Option 'B', obviously. If I'd lost a proper auction through a snipe, that would merely be a dissapointment. But I didn't know what else to call it in the headline. Gets the point across, though.

 

I understand now and sympathize. On the rare occasion that something is on ebay that I am interested in, I succumb to the realities of the world and send the seller a preemptive email requesting that they do not end the auction early, but if they are getting offers that are in the too good to refuse territory that they give me a chance to beat that offer. This happened recently with that great Michael Golden Spiderman page from Marvel Fanfare #1. The seller told me about some offers he received and I told him that I could beat those offers but asked him to let the auction ride because he might be surprised by the final result. He did, and I'm sure we were both surprised by the high ending result. Needless to say I was blown out of the water but at least I got a chance to bid!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=181085012447&afsrc=1

 

Scott

 

[Catwoman_Fan]

Wow, sold for 750! Never would have guessed.

 

I agree, getting SNEAKED really sucks!

[Pete Marino]

Sounds like a page went up to auction, someone wanted it, emailed the buyer with a BIN price offer to close out early, and they reached a deal.

 

Happens all the time. Not sure how the practice is seen by people here but it's pretty common and part of the "game"

 

I agree, but I think it's a dink move if there are bids already.

 

I looked and the seller canceled like 4 bids....

[thethedew]

I'm curious- What would you have valued the page at? How high would you have gone?

 

Were there any bids on the page before it was re-listed? Sometimes I wonder that sellers do this when there aren't any bids out of fear that there won't be a better offer. This might be a side effect of people only bidding at the last moment...

 

There were a couple of minimal bids, and the page was up to about 6 bucks or so, I think. I think those little bids are for people who are compiling their own databases of prices; they don't intend to win, they just want to know what $ the auction ended at, and Ebay sends an automatic email to everyone who loses. Easy, Ebay does most of the work for you.

 

Would I have paid $750? Grudgingly, yes. Would I have paid $850, - it's getting into bend-over territory.

 

My point is: I wasn't given the chance.

Pieces that fall in my wheelhouse come up pretty seldomly.

 

...and just so I'm clear here: ... if it seems like I'm coming across as a precious little niche collector who feels he has a right to something merely because it's made (briefly) for sale... that's not it at all. I have an understanding of Ebay rules and the general gentleman's rules in the hobby. Those were contravened today.

 

But I can play the game like that, too. No problem at all.

[Dave Aikins]

That's a very nice way to contact sellers. I would see no problem sending any further auctions messages like what was said above.

 

 

I've declined people who have wanted me to end auctions on numerous (non-art) ebay sales, and have never regretted it. Other times, I've accepted changing auctions to "buy-it-nows", especially when I know the item is a stinker- but that's usually for things that have been on ebay for a couple of weeks and haven't sold. But, I tend to start auctions at the lowest price I want for an item...

 

Personally, I think part of the fun in selling in an auction situation is seeing the last minute of bids...

[AKA Rick]

I think those who watch inherit the risk of losing out due to technology failing, being absent minded and forgetting, or allowing others to sneak in communicated offers to the seller to take the auction down (with no bids).

 

I may be wrong, but I thought and think if there is a bid on an item, the seller can't close the auction or end it early:

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html

 

Lesson learned I think should be, if you're going to snipe, and there's no bids on an item, and you're willing to at least pay the minimum starting bid price... JUST PLACE A BID it's not only a placeholder, but is both preventative measures against the seller ending the auction as well as if for some reason, you forget about it, at least you're reminded about it when you're outbid or if not, and you're the only one interested, you win it.

 

I know some buyers do that to wipe out the "buy it now" option, so if you're a seller, it may be strategic to not do those silly "$0.01" penny auctions and then a Buy It Now, just set the Buy It Now close enough to what you'd ideally like and the opening bid at what you're willing to take and let nature take it's course by the laws of supply and demand of a potential bidding war.

 

This "bid now" strategy does not apply if your motives are:

 

1) You think the seller is asking too much, and you are hoping nobody bids (including yourself) and then the seller will relist it for lower or take a lower offer.

 

2) You don't want to create a perceived demand for the item hinting at any interest, hoping all other watchers are thinking #1) above will occur and can get it for cheaper later

 

Otherwise, those who assume the risk of sniping also assume the penalty of the tactics. I've had my computer freeze and lost a good page for a cheap price because I was being a "penny wise, pound foolish" cheapskate trying my best to pay the least amount and subsequently losing out.

 

There's strategies some people use in listing. Some like to list when an auction closes when the most domestic people are available (awake) to bid and snipe.

 

Others like to list where an auction ends at the overnights (2am to 6am), hoping that interested bidders will have an action attitude of "I'm not waking up to bid on this, so I'm going to roll the dice, put forth my best highest bid I'm willing to pay and hope for the best" and be at peace with that.

 

So, my recommendation is just place the opening bid and commit to the piece, it's the lowest you're able to pay if you want the piece anyway, then from there you go into snipe mode after if that's your winning strategy.

 

 

[Dave Aikins]

A seller can end an auction with no problem. They can claim it as "no longer available" or "listed incorrectly" or...

 

Ebay does has provisions that are meant more for things that yer kid breaks half-way through an auction, or something you spill coffee on, or realize isn't what you thought it was...

 

I'm not a fan for canceling auctions when there are already bids on an item. That's totally bad form.

 

You want to pay ?$ for an item, fine. Bid on it and wait like the rest, ya mort.

[Pete Marino]

If you end an auction early on ebay. There's now a "penalty" which is you have to pay the FVF's that would have been assessed to the auction, if there are bids.

 

No real penalty though, if you've only been run up to $6.

[thethedew]

You want to pay ?$ for an item, fine. Bid on it and wait like the rest, ya mort.

 

Well, relieved to hear you've never sniped, Dave.

 

And it wasn't the Donnelly's, I've confirmed that already.