posted on February 1, 2002 12:15:16 AM new
I do a fair amount of buying on eBay. I snipe because I get bid stalked aggressively. I don't sit at my computer to spend my time finding the hidden stuff for my competition. So I snipe.
I have my searches saved and I look at what is new in my searches on a daily basis. When I find an auction I want to bid on, I will log my bid with esnipe.com. Esnipe records the bid and gives me the item number and auction title.
Something new is happening with this process. Three times in the past two weeks I've had bids with different sellers and the seller has changed the auction completely from when it was first listed. I mean a complete change. One auction the quantity went from 8 to 1. The second and third auctions had totally different items than what was originally listed, dramatically different, like the difference between a crystal vase and a toy car. Esnipe shows the original auction title because the item number is still the same, makes the bid and I end up owning something that doesn't interest me remotely.
I have no idea if this is a new scam by sellers or what. Put up something desirable for a low amount, give bidders 24 hours or so to log bids with esnipe or vrane, then switch the auction to some loser piece of garbage from the local garage sale if no bids are recorded on the auction yet.
I now check my esnipe list for the following day, make sure the auctions are still the same.
posted on February 1, 2002 03:45:48 AM new
I'd think you'd want to check items shortly before bidding to see if your bid amount was still valid.
As to your concern about changes, maybe it's time for making a blacklist of sellers... I've never heard of such genuinely underhanded techniques, but that sort of bait and switch should not be legal on eBay.
posted on February 1, 2002 06:04:03 AM new
This is not a scam, as a seller do this often. If I have an item up and in a few days it doesn't have any bids, I will consider putting a new item there and changing the catergory hoping this will sell so I won't lose a listing fee.
I have been known to change an auction up til the 12 hour limit on ebay. If there are no bids. Once there is a bid you can't change anything.
The sellers doing this are abiding within ebay guidelines. Ebay will allow you to even change the starting bid, quanity, whatever as long as there are no bids.
I guess I never thought about snipers getting screwed this way. Guess you need to double check the auction after the 12 hour limit to make sure the seller hasn't revised it.
On the same subject this can be used to your advantage on FLDs. All you need to do is list any and everything you can with one word descriptions, the title and a starting bid. You then have 7 days to revise upload pictures, change the price and make the final auction ready for bids. Last FLD I was still revising and changing these dummy auctions right up to the 12 hour limit. Sure beats trying to do everything on FLD and it will allow you to list hundreds of items that day instead of the normal 40 to 50 if you are doing everything in detail.
Anyway hope this explains to you why sellers change the auction. They don't mean to defraud snipers. They just want to put up something that might sell...remember they can't change it if there is a bid...if there are no bids then they might consider changing it on you.
posted on February 1, 2002 11:53:01 AM new
Thanks for the warning. I snipe, although I only buy about one thing a month, nowadays.
I would think that people are risking their Ebay privileges. Ebay tosses people off if they relist a different item (for free) than the item that didn't sell.
In that case, you list one item for 7 days, another item for 7 days, and you only pay 1 listing fee.
This seems very similiar. You list one item for 6 days, you list another item for 8 days, and you only pay one listing fee.
If Ebay finds out about those sellers, they are in deep doo-doo.
posted on February 1, 2002 01:54:23 PM new
With so many people waiting until the last minute to "snipe" why would you want to change your auction? You never know if someone, or better yet quite a few people, were waiting until the last minute to bid. If you switch out the auction you risk losing bids on that auction, right?
posted on February 1, 2002 06:18:35 PM new
Not always. I use Ruby Lane Counters on my auctions. If it has been going for 3 or 4 days and has NO hits at all it's unlikely to be sniped.
These auctions are the ones sellers change. If I see it's got 145 hits (true with one of my items ) and no bids I know it will be sniped (and it was.)
posted on February 2, 2002 06:39:17 AM new
katmommy - Snipe Bidding or Sniping is the practice of placing a bid in the closing seconds of an auction. This is generally done to avoid giving any competing bidders a chance to respond to your bid, which generally results in a lower total price for the bidder.
doormat - I think you missed part of the reason hotcupoftea was sniping - notice hotcup's statement "I snipe because I get bid stalked aggressively." Placing a low bid early in the auction defeats the purpose in this case as it would call attention to the auction by hotcup's competitors.
