posted on October 7, 2000 07:56:47 PM
As a buyer AND a seller I love sniping. As a seller - I love getting those last second bids. As a buyer I love sniping an item at the last second. I have a link to E-snipe on my auctions. I honestly don't know how anyone can NOT love sniping.
____________________________________
The only place you'll find success before work is in the dictionary.
posted on October 7, 2000 08:03:26 PM
I agree with you VALERIE47! Sniping is a blast! Nothing like the 'ol adrenaline kickin' in as the timer goes 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!!!!!!! The only problem is that i hope i do not get a case of "pavlovs theory" and start clicking my right index finger everytime i hear a buzzer sound!!! LMAO!
posted on October 7, 2000 09:23:06 PM
Personally, I think sniping is OK. But...
There are lots of people who hate it. I had a lady email me after an auction because I won it with 2 seconds left...she was sssssoooooo angry that she didn't win the auction! She accusing me of cheating and all this other stuff...demanded that the seller void the auction and repost the item...and even turned the seller and myself in to eBay! Of course nothing ever came out of that.
The funniest thing was that I didn't mean to snipe. I forgot about the auction ending and rushed to get my last bid in, and it happened to be just like a snipe.
posted on October 8, 2000 12:17:20 AM
Sniping is the only way I bid. I put the max amount I am willing to pay on esnipe and forget about the auction. If I win, great. If not, I did bid the max I was willing to pay. I avoid the last minute doubts as to whether I am willing to pay a dollar more and wondering if someone will see my max bid days before the auction ends and snipe ME at the last moment.
posted on October 8, 2000 12:36:00 AM
It's great to snipe, how could you not love it. Don't tust esnipe if you REALLY want something though. One time when I used it
for something I just had to have it didn't work. The auction closed with no bids at all. I should have emailed the seller, but didn't & now I can't even remember what it was that I wanted so badly !!!
posted on October 8, 2000 12:58:26 AMYou wanna hear a sad story?
First of all, you have to know that I live and die on Ebay by sniping. It's not just fun (big fun) but also, I believe, a money saver.
I collect a certain type of item and early editions of this item are very hard to find---I mean these early ones come up once in a blue moon on Ebay AND they're really hard to find in the traditional way (stores, dealers, etc.).
I run searches on these things weekly, usually to no avail. They almost never come up, but I do it anyway--just in case.
About 2 months ago I found the mother load of this item's old editions. I do mean the mother load. Dozens and dozens of editions of these items that hardly ever even come up individually!
I got nervous just contemplating what was in front of me! I knew these would be hard as hell to win many of, but I was bound and determined to get as many as I could with semi-substantial bids on EVERY ONE OF THEM.
However, unfortunately, and I do mean unfortuately, the seller had so many to list that he used Mr. Lister. This meant that ALL 35+ auctions expired within 30 seconds of each other. Now this was a dilemna.
Do I bid early and let all of the bids be run up on me and lose many anyway OR do I enlist the help of e-snipe and ACE them ALL right in front of all the other collectors (and boy won't THEY be mad)?
Well, I used e-snipe. It took a while, but I entered every last item, bid and buffer time---ALL custom made to fit this BONANZA of prizes that awaited me! I was real nervous as the final day of these auctions approached!
I intended on being there in the last few minutes---just in case something went wrong with e-snipe then I could be assured of getting the ones I wanted most.
Tick, tick, tick. The time was starting to wind down. Tick, tick, tick. I knew that if Ebay went down I'd really be screwed, but I figured luck was on MY side.
Tick, tick, tick. I even ran bogus bids lumped together through e-snipe (on reserve auctions I knew I wouldn't hit) just to make sure e-snipe was running smoothly.
Tick, tick, tick. Uh oh.... e-snipe's running a little slow! What do I do? I stick with it, that's what.
Tick, tick, tick. E-snipe seems to be O.K.
Tick, tick, tick. 10 minutes left in the auctions. Do I start entering manual bids, tipping off other bidders to my interest?
No, stick with it.
8 minutes, e-snipe a little slow. Do I enter bids? No, it's now a little too late to start, as I'll not be able to enter many at this point anyway.
7 minutes, tick, tick, tick. E-snipe O.K. Coming in at normal speed.
NOTHING. THe site won't even come up! I started to panic!
5 minutes---NOTHING AT ALL!
4 minutes----It's GONE! I have to completely bail on e-snipe!
I frantically pull up the general list of these items. Oh, you should've seen ALL of these items, rare items, with 2 minutes next to each of their titles.
I felt light headed. I couldn't believe I let this happen. Suddenly everything was happening in slow motion.
I was fumbling around, miss-bidding, having to re-enter the same bid again.
Tick, tick, tick.
I was bidding so feverishly that I hardly had a chance to look at the updated wind-down of the clock on each auction page. I did notice when it was at 30 seconds. I knew the end was near.
Finally, I entered what turned out to be my last win. I felt sick. I was disgusted. I had totally panicked and only managed to get 4 of these very rare and hard to find items. I could've had, judging by the prices they went for, another 25 to 30 editions. As collecting goes, this was a MAJOR blunder.
And of the bids I did make, they were completely ridiculous. I bid to make sure I would win, because I knew I wasn't getting any others. Thank god the 2nd highest bidders hadn't gone too crazy.
I still only snipe. ALthough I do make sure I'm present, if possible, when the auction ends. I still use e-snipe. They seem to be a bit more reliable now. Big deal.
LESSON: As everybody knows, if you really want it, bid early. No kidding.
I still feel sick about that miserable experience. Every time I do a search for these same items, I get a knot in my stomach thinking of those items. They were in such great shape they almost looked new. Oooooff.
posted on October 8, 2000 01:17:38 AM
Well, stantman, I am not sure just how much you save anymore. Since eBay instituted that Watch feature of theirs, nearly every potential buyer has gotten the idea to snipe. That being the case, most Sellers now raise up their starting prices so that if they only get one bid: a snipe, then they made their money. No savings for any sniper.
To Snipe or Not to Snipe? Go ahead, but Snipers stop creating threads complaining about how high all of the prices are anymore on eBay!
posted on October 8, 2000 07:15:04 AM
{hand raised} another sniper. Theory being sniped or BE sniped; you enter a good faith high bid and get japped at the end.. I agree.. nothin' like the adrenaline rush.. heart pounding, hands shaking.. counting down the seconds HOPING you get the item. In re the listing items with all auctions ending at once; thought of that with my auctions and stagger 10 to end every 15 mins using the launcher. Hate the idea of my multi bidders missing out on something because they didn't have time to snipe between auctions!
posted on October 8, 2000 07:28:28 AMnearly every potential buyer has gotten the idea to snipe
Not IMHO. I still receive plenty of early bids, bids mid auction, and yes, a few well placed snipes at the end of the auction. Have more bidders started bidding near the end of the auction vs at the beginning, yes, but my stats show this trend started long before the Watch feature was implemented.
One of the resaons I believe is due to the size of the categories vs 2 yrs ago. Most buyers don't have an endless amount of $$$ to spend each month & have found it easier to simply watch the GGG & pick & choose from items that have either low bids, or no bids at all.
Why tie up your weekly/monthly spending $$$ on an auction where you might get outbid in the final moments? Makes sense to me.
On the other hand, you wouldn't hear me complaining if they did away with Watch either.
posted on October 8, 2000 10:36:44 AM
I would be REALLY pissed if they eliminated the watch feature and so would my sellers. It allows you to keep track of auctions that normally you could forget about especially those 10 day auctions. Some items I do a search for have of 900 items .. like I have the time to keep track of them. Sniping plain and simple is the way to go if you really want an item.
posted on October 8, 2000 10:46:00 AM
Snipe bidding is almost--yes I said Almost as good as sex! LOL Hmmm maybe I better re-think that!! Ha!
My philosphy is if ya don't snipe ya better get busy & learn how & if ya do snipe bid, then no doubt in my mind your winning a heck of alot more then the bidder who does not, and chances are your oftentimes buying at a better price then had you placed bid early on.
Hey the thrill of the hunt is fine & dandy but the kill is absolutely awesome!!
posted on October 8, 2000 11:17:49 AM
www.esnipe.com. An automatic sniping program. You may enter the maximum amount you are willing to bid days ahead, and 10 seconds (or a time amount you choose) before the end of the auction, esnipe will place the bid for you. Hopefully it will not be down, I haven't had any missed bids since the site was revamped.
posted on October 8, 2000 11:19:07 AM
[u]http://www.esnipe.com[/u]
Go and look.
I believe that sniping is defintely a good idea, however there are many auctions that cannot be won by sniping. You have to know how much to snipe. If I bid early, I often deliberately set my max to where someone who chose to outbid me would have to pay too much to beat me. If they chose to do so, the seller would be happy indeed and the bidder would pay more than the item is actually worth. A sucker punch.
Many auctions don't need sniping. Very few of mine are sniped but I do get quite a bit of late bidders.
Also sniping is absolutely no guarantee of winning.
posted on October 8, 2000 11:53:16 AM
I don't have a problem with Sniping. As far as I'm concerned as a Seller, is that interested bidders waiting for the last second of my auctions will be stuck in rush-houir traffic or something else. E-snipe would be great if everyone used it -- at least interested bidders would get their bids in. That's why I hate that Watch feature with a passion. With all of the "impovements" made to the Watching system, still far too many interested biddrs forget to come back to bid and snipe. The Watch feature is still the number-one reason eBay's cash flow suffers the way it does and the only solution is to get rid of it entirely.
posted on October 8, 2000 01:46:36 PM
I use to snipe ,but I do not see any reason to anymore. I see no reason to chance missing an item or wasting my time sitting and waiting to bid.
In the last 20 auctions I have bid on I won most of them by just bidding what I want to pay when I first find the auction.
Items on Ebay are selling so cheap in most cases a fair bid will win them no matter when it is placed.
posted on October 8, 2000 01:47:33 PM
tell me if i'm missing something here--
the watch option is nice, but other than having everything listed on one page, is it that much better than a simple bookmark? that's what i have always done.
posted on October 8, 2000 02:12:28 PM
First, Richel...cool little jumping-up-and-down thing..how do you do that? And I used to Hate sniping.... before I found out how to do it myself. I have occasionally placed a low bid just so that the item would not be withdrawn, knowing that I might be out-bid early.This also keeps a poorly placed item from changing description and getting a bigger audience. It is sometimes possible to then snipe it at a
lower price.
posted on October 8, 2000 02:19:20 PM
"but other than having everything listed on one page, is it that much better than a simple bookmark?"
Here is how it is better for me:
1) It shows the current high bid on the auction (if there are any bids on it). I find this to be VERY useful. Using bookmarks I have to check each auction manually to see what its current bid status is. Here I can see them all at a glance.
2) It places the items in chronological order automatically, so I don't have to sort them like I do bookmarks.
3) Since I have My Ebay's bid page as my Home Page in my browser, my bids and watch items are all on the same page and I don't have to go back and forth between my bookmarks and my browser window. (With My Ebay as my home page, the first thing I see when I open my brower is the status of my bids and items I'm watching.)
Violetta
(Not known by this nickname anywhere but here.)
posted on October 8, 2000 02:22:04 PM
In response to previous post by smithkwlh
OOOOOOOOOOPS Sooooooooo sorry thought I HAD read Category -WHEN ACTUALLY YOU SAID DESCRIPTION-MY BOO BOO smithkwlh!!
Sellers can move their items to a different category after a bid has been placed, and placing a bid does not prohibit seller from moving to another category, they can basically move them 24-7 provided ebay is up & humming.
[ edited by getkicksonrte66 on Oct 8, 2000 02:26 PM ]
[ edited by getkicksonrte66 on Oct 8, 2000 02:41 PM ]
posted on October 8, 2000 02:30:31 PM
As a seller I love to see the snipers in them last seconds mostly it keeps the end of the auction interesting even if it was quiet all the time it was listed.
I can honestly say I have never lost out on a sale because a Item was snipe I have seen some wild last second bids double starting prices and I havent been listing that long on ebay.
Its one of the things that keep biders interested in buying ads varity to the way biddding can be done not to mention the challange.
WWW.dman-n-company.com
posted on October 8, 2000 05:04:05 PM
Can someone tell me why you find sniping so exciting? I snipe to win an item as cheap as possible, but I find sniping to be rather tedious.
I get to the item page 2 or 3 minutes before the end, test my connection once or twice, set my timer and then place my bid at the appropriate time. I then refresh the page and see whether I won or not.
I've had several zero-second snipes. I've gotten some sense of pride from those, but no real excitement.
I get more of a sense of excitement when I place a bid before I go to bed for an auction that ends during the middle of the night. When I wake up, I anxiously boot up my computer to see whether I won or not. It's sort of a "Christmas-morning" buzz. Will I get candy or a lump of coal?
uh huh. that's what i thought! 