posted on May 12, 2001 07:45:56 PM new
I just sniped & won an auction a few minutes ago. A few minutes after it ended, I received a nasty email from the runner up bidder, telling me about making "his baby cry" and about myself being "about a weasley as a bidder could get"
I calmly and politely replied that I could not see why I was a "weasel", as he could've done the same thing to me. Then I pointed him to about 3 or 4 auctions w/ the same item, and told him to just think of it as learning something new today (IE snipers and a higher proxy bid)
Then he got really nasty, calling me a weasel again, and among other things: "if you wanted you would have placed a bid before 3 seconds! I learned something today! Not to do business with people like you!! If you want to pay XX.50 you should have bid XX.5 three days ago! You're bidding scum!"
Since mi ID is my real eBay ID, and anyone can find the auction, I already invited the user with a CC: the Mod Squad.
By the way, I already forwarded the eMails to safeharbor, for harassment and misuse of eBay's email forwarding system.
posted on May 12, 2001 08:01:42 PM new
Well, if you are, then so am I
I *always* look through the "items ending first" to find quick hits on items that either haven't been bid on at all, or still sitting at low prices. In fact, when I *do* look through "newly listed items", I *might* add something to my "watch list", but I won't buy it unless I can "buy it now". I don't have the patience to sit and wait for 6 days to find out if I win or not when I might see something 10 minutes from now that I can pick up for half the price...drove me CRAZY the one and only time I did that!
Anyways, kindly tell your new email buddy to tell his "baby" that Daddy obviously didn't love them enough to have made a higher max bid in the first place [chuckle]
posted on May 12, 2001 08:15:49 PM new
PLEASE Snipe my auctions !!!!!
If I REALLY ,REALLY, REALLY want a item I bid my max by proxy at least 24 hours ahead of auction closing in case ebay burp's
Otherwise I snipe maybe I should change my ebay ID to weasel555 ?
I just love to see a item sit dormet all week with a newbee thinking they are getting the buy of the week untill I come in with 8 sec or so left.....
posted on May 12, 2001 09:43:05 PM new
preacher4u: Silly you, you must have overpaid for that item!
Who can snipe today anyway, that is, unless, you bid on one of my auctions. All the others are fixed price fairy land!
Checked an auction the other day for a glass item. Item books for approx. $55. Normally brings $25 to $35 on eBay. Seller started auction at $60 and stated "... the best part of our auctions, is that we never use a reserve!"Changed slightly to protect the guilty.
I really should not complain, because sellers like that enable me to be in the black.
posted on May 13, 2001 06:24:42 AM new
Preacher -
YOU ARE A WEASEL AND A BOTTOM SUCKING POND SCAVENGER! You made a BABY cry, for pete's sake! Shame on you!
Three seconds is a pretty good snipe ... do you do it manually or use a sniping service?
posted on May 13, 2001 08:26:52 AM new
You obviously made a baby cry. I'm just amazed that babies are capable of writing emails these days.
I snipe bid on everything I go for. It's actually built into my management software so I guess not only am I a weasel, I'm an automated weasel. Maybe I should change my name to Weasel-Matic. Nah, sounds too much like a Ronco Product.
posted on May 13, 2001 08:54:41 AM new
Sly as a weasel! Honestly, I don't understand how "sniping" received such a negative connotation. Pure and simple logic tells you that whomever had the highest max wins the auction regardless of when they placed their max bid. It's the most fun part of bidding on auctions anyway. Go for the kill, I say!
PS...Joe - excellent! I bow to you for I am not worthy...
posted on May 13, 2001 09:37:25 AM new
No, you are a snake.
I will accept criticism of sniping from any buyer who goes to a huge well-stocked yard sale, sees the underpriced buy of the year sitting on a table, picks it up, waves it around (equivalent of bidding long before an auction ends), and yells to everyone else "OH Yoo-hoo! Anybody else here want a Frammitz 1920 mint widget for 50c? Come get it right now or I'll buy it!" (Equivalent of entering only the lowest bid increment when you DO bid way early.)
posted on May 13, 2001 09:51:50 AM new
Really a bit silly from both ends here.... I feel sniping is unsportsmanlike, albeit a practise that one has to learn to get items on ebay. Sniping has little to do with who bids the most... if snipers felt that way, then they would put their bid in early as well. Snipers know they have the advantage of a surpise attack and a ticking clock. Personally I would like to see a 1 minute addition to auction ending times for snipe bids. That will give time for true prices to be realized on auctions, rather than no bids for 6 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes, followed by a flurry of activity. Those with slow computers, bad connectivity, and downed services are out of the game of sniping, so it really comes down to who has the biggest and best equipment when it comes to snipe bids. I had a bidder once write me in a fury because her sniping service didn't place her bid in time!!!! Now that is sour grapes!
Don't miss that "yoo-hoo" effect I commented on. It's not just the pricing, I agree; the fact that Ebay allows bidder activity to be searched provides a major boost to the need to snipe. Doesn't matter if you use a different ID... anyone who gets noticed as making very savvy buying decisions in collectible areas.... serious collectors or resellers, either one... will wind up having their knowledge and experience in effect stolen from them by leeches who follow them around through the search function.
You can't be followed like that if you snipe.
Knowledge is power; don't let the competition know what you're interested in, unless it's to throw out a few silly red herrings.
posted on May 13, 2001 10:20:59 AM new
preacher4u:
>if you can call 10 seconds a snipe!
Barely. A snipe is when you bid and don't leave anyone time to react to *your* bid. I can watch bids right up to about 10 or 12 seconds, and *set up* and place a bid.
Edited to add: A snipe only *works* when the high proxie bidder didn't bid his max. These are the cry babies.
[ edited by Microbes on May 13, 2001 10:23 AM ]
I don't buy anything on Ebay with the attitude "hey, I want to pay more than anyone else for this". In reality, I want to pay as little as possible for EVERYTHING I buy! Why wouldn't you? Does YOUR money grow on trees? Mine sure doesn't.
If I considered wasting money a sport, then I would not go to Ebay, I would go to Vegas.
posted on May 13, 2001 12:25:20 PM new
Preacher4U
Congrats...you have gotten the official "weasel" letter.
I have gotten the official "scumbag" and "creep" letter for sniping.
My reply:
Boo-freakin'-hoo!
heheheh
I actually won an auction with one marker bid placed 5 days before EOA. Stunned I was!
Annual Sniper Appreciation Day should be enacted on Ebay! Without our love and support many items would just not sell!
posted on May 13, 2001 12:27:19 PM newThose with slow computers, bad connectivity, and downed services are out of the game of sniping, so it really comes down to who has the biggest and best equipment when it comes to snipe bids.
Huh?
Downed services & bad connectivity, perhaps, but the rest of what you stated is pure hogwash.
I know a sniper who used to perform 0 second snipes from up in a plane. He used his laptop that was connected at less than 4800 baud.
Sniping has nothing to do with "who has the biggest and best equipment".
Sniping is simply a matter of timing, and even IF an extended auction format was introduced [which it won't be] you'd still hear the distant sound of wailing from the cry babies who lost out to a higher bid.
I hear the same thing at RL auctions all the time.
posted on May 13, 2001 01:56:39 PM new
preacher4u,
I hope your whiney, childish, outbid sore loser is reading this. For his information, ebay actually has a section in their bidding guide about sniping. Maybe mr. sore loser needs to learn about how the auctions work before he bids.
