To the person who SNEAKED that MICRONAUTS page today.

[vaillant]

@Dave: Sniping does nothing more than automate the bidding process.

It would be the very same if all people were there, ready to bid in the last minutes and seconds.

And you can do that. If you are within the last 10-5 seconds, it is the very same thing to place the bid manually or automatically. What matters is the final amount. You can lose as much as easily with an automated bid.

 

For many people within a different time zone it‘s the only way to bid.

If not for snipe services I would have never been able to bid on rare (e.g. certain GA books) books I cared a lot about.

[Dave Aikins]

I'm not judging at all!

 

I'm just unaware of the 3rd party services.

[vaillant]

Basically you provide your eBay access information (username and password), and a bid is placed on your behalf at a specified time. Which can even be just an hour before, so to speak.

 

In fact, it’s a thing eBay does not encourage, as it prevents the unnecessary frenzy associated with auctions (and they prefer the frenzy, as it results in higher final prices). If each one bid the maximum he is willing to spend, without looking at others (and that’s how sniping works) the auction would go to the person which placed the maximum bid. No "bidding wars".

[Dave Aikins]

I seems to me though, that what's then missing from the automated bidding is that famous "ONE...LAST...BID...." that you fumble to make during that last second.

 

To be honest, bidding at the last second like that tends to be an exercise in frustration and time wasting.

 

Still, it's kinda fun.

[Koa]

Doesn't setting your max bid eliminate the need for a sniper service?

[Dave Aikins]

With ebay, the goal has become trying to get your maximum bid in while leaving no time for anyone to counter bid. So everyone bids with 1-10 seconds left and somehow the computer decides who wins.

Now, if someone puts in a max bid that is really strong, they could obviously still win no matter when the bid is placed. The fear with putting that bid in too early is that people will chip away at it- increase it a little bit here, a little bit there- dip their toe in the water...think about it...come back later...bid again... sleep on it...bid some more...

 

If you put your max bid in with 5 seconds left- BAM- you find out if it was enough or not fairly quickly as the auction is over and no one has a chance to add any bids.

 

it's all very silly, but what in collecting isn't?

[jbud73]

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

 

Given that an inordinate number of OA Auctions have their listings end early, I can only say that Scott's post really seems to be the way to go (on those peices where you just know there is going to be skulduggery). You are asking them to play within the rules and if they are tempted otherwise, allow you to participate in the revised landscape.

 

I will say one thing that I would consider in light of these circumstances. Since the person who BIN'd this for $750 felt the need to take it outside the realm of the free / open market I would have ZERO issue with the following. If you think the BIN is legit, offer them 1,000 or something like that to sell it to you off line. Once the vortex of underhandedness is opened there are no rules IMO; or, I didn't start the bloodbath, but I got out my sword once the chaos ensued.

 

[thethedew]

Wow, sold for 750! Never would have guessed.

 

That's the only saving grace, buyer overpaid by a wide margin. Should have been a $300 page, tops.

[thethedew]

I will say one thing that I would consider in light of these circumstances. Since the person who BIN'd this for $750 felt the need to take it outside the realm of the free / open market I would have ZERO issue with the following. If you think the BIN is legit, offer them 1,000 or something like that to sell it to you off line. Once the vortex of underhandedness is opened there are no rules IMO; or, I didn't start the bloodbath, but I got out my sword once the chaos ensued.

 

I general I might concur except the seller DID sell it through Ebay after all was said & done. If the final deal was completely off-Ebay I'd have no problem considering a counter-offer. But since a true BIN was used the buyer has some recourse against late-arriving offers... right?

 

Ultimately, this could have been worse. Buyer greatly overpaid, wasn't a 'key' page. Learned a lesson while losing out on a 'B' or 'C' page. Highly annoying, but could have been worse.

[Dumur]

Is this another one?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281074308733&afsrc=1

 

I find this fairly common.

[thethedew]

Highly annoying, but could have been worse.

 

It's worse.

 

In the interest of full disclosure - it has just now come to light that I know the person who bought the page. A tremendous surprise. Have done business often enough in the past.

 

So, after my semi-rant all day, I'm guess I find myself in an awkward position. Easy enough to be angry when it's a faceless Ebay someone. Suddenly different when you can put a face on it.

 

While I remain 100% behind my dismay at the tactics used, I think I must acknowledge my lack of discipline in spouting off my mouth before all the facts were in hand. And I walk around thinking I'm a generally smart guy. Another lesson learned today. Sleep may be difficult tonight.

 

Apologies to all. And I mean ALL.

 

Andrew

[mister_not_so_nice]

Could be worse. Like having a "friend" go behind your back, buy art from an artist on your site, have the art shipped to the artist only to be shipped back to the "friend" less than 4 miles away. And then the "friend" uses your watermarked scans in his CAF gallery.

 

THAT is my definition of a d-bag.

 

[vaillant]

With ebay, the goal has become trying to get your maximum bid in while leaving no time for anyone to counter bid. So everyone bids with 1-10 seconds left and somehow the computer decides who wins.

Now, if someone puts in a max bid that is really strong, they could obviously still win no matter when the bid is placed. The fear with putting that bid in too early is that people will chip away at it- increase it a little bit here, a little bit there- dip their toe in the water...think about it...come back later...bid again... sleep on it...bid some more...

 

If you put your max bid in with 5 seconds left- BAM- you find out if it was enough or not fairly quickly as the auction is over and no one has a chance to add any bids.

 

it's all very silly, but what in collecting isn't?

 

Well, bidding in the last seconds or using snipe services mostly leaves the "auction" logic out. That’s why I like it, as I do believe that if you want to purchase something at a certain amount, you should not be prompted to spend more just because other people are willing to spend more.

 

If the maximum price is fixed, then he who actually has bidded more wins.

If one enjoys auctions, that’s fine, but personally I think they are a waste of money, especially if you care about having something and of course you know how much you are willing to spend.

 

Putting a bid early for a desirable collectible just means you’ll start to have an avalanche of unnecessary bids. If I were a seller and I am not willing to sell under a certain price I’d either set a reserve price or sell at a fixed BIN price.

[VintageComics]

Could be worse. Like having a "friend" go behind your back, buy art from an artist on your site, have the art shipped to the artist only to be shipped back to the "friend" less than 4 miles away. And then the "friend" uses your watermarked scans in his CAF gallery.

 

THAT is my definition of a d-bag.

 

 

No. Way.

 

 

[Dave Aikins]

"Putting a bid early for a desirable collectible just means you’ll start to have an avalanche of unnecessary bids. If I were a seller and I am not willing to sell under a certain price I’d either set a reserve price or sell at a fixed BIN price.'

 

I tend to start my ebay auctions at my minimum selling price. Often, I'm only looking for one bid to make me happy. Since ebay doesn't really charge to list an auction, I have nothing to lose.

The argument against that is the lack of the "bidding war", but I really don't care. Plus, I don't like reserves- they totally annoy me. The BIN is fine, but often ebay charges extra for that, and I tend to like my auctions ending at the same general time to keep things all together. Having BIN items means random sales, and that gets a bit messy for me if I'm selling 20-70 items (which I tend to do around Christmas time).

 

 

And Andrew- don't worry, man. We all get our undies in a bunch from time to time.

[vaillant]

"Putting a bid early for a desirable collectible just means you’ll start to have an avalanche of unnecessary bids. If I were a seller and I am not willing to sell under a certain price I’d either set a reserve price or sell at a fixed BIN price.'

 

I tend to start my ebay auctions at my minimum selling price. Often, I'm only looking for one bid to make me happy. Since ebay doesn't really charge to list an auction, I have nothing to lose.

The argument against that is the lack of the "bidding war", but I really don't care. Plus, I don't like reserves- they totally annoy me. The BIN is fine, but often ebay charges extra for that, and I tend to like my auctions ending at the same general time to keep things all together. Having BIN items means random sales, and that gets a bit messy for me if I'm selling 20-70 items (which I tend to do around Christmas time).

 

 

And Andrew- don't worry, man. We all get our undies in a bunch from time to time.

 

As I said, auction vs. non-auction is just a different perspective. I agree that auctions can be nice, but it’s a different way of buying and one can prefer the auction format over the BIN format, or vice-versa.

I have not chosen on purpose: I just found myself buying more and more from BIN listings, especially those which have a "Make an Offer" option.

I agree reserve prices are annoying, and I know eBay charges sellers for that.

 

But again, on eBay I am mostly a (overseas) buyer so I just see what works better for me as I am looking to save as much as I can on shipping. Bidding could be fun if shipping charges were not so high, especially now that First Class costs almost as our (italian) Priority.

[Dr. Balls]

I'm a little late to the game here - the OP is furious that the owner of the artwork sold it outright after listing it as an auction and then cancelling it? I've seen so many other shady tactics used on people that this scenario really shouldn't ellicit any feelings other than disappointment.

 

Bummer for the OP - I feel your pain when you lose out on something you were looking forward to bidding on, or having a shot to buy - especially when it happens behind the scenes.

[vaillant]

Well, a little or more, they are always practices that I don’t see as honest, unless you clearly state in your auction (and many sellers do that) that the object can be pulled at any moment from eBay as it is on sale through other venues.

 

But for an auction… it doesn’t make sense. If you decide to sell it through by means of an auction, then that’s it.