posted on March 28, 2002 03:07:22 AM new
What are the pros and cons of bidders that use sniper programs? Doesnt that defeat the purpose of listing an auction for X days?
posted on March 28, 2002 04:55:53 AM new
Keep in mind that the longer the auction the more people that will see it. Don't get confused and list a 3 day auction thinking that since people will snipe and it isn't beneficial to have a longer auction. It is!!!
Even when you think people will snipe, they may not. I had auctions up last night and of the 30 that closed only 8 were sniped... so you just never know.
Good luck!
There's no danger of developing eyestrain from looking at the bright side of things!
posted on March 28, 2002 05:36:19 AM new
Absolutely love-adore-worship snipers. Just when you think no one is going to bid on an auction that is closing a sniper comes along and the item is GONE!!!!! Renews my faith in mankind.
posted on March 28, 2002 05:55:39 AM new
There really aren't any "cons" of biddERs who snipe. Every biddER helps.
However, we can have a more interesting discussion of the pros and cons of biddING strategies, i.e, bidding early versus bididng late. I think its fairly clear that, in general, the later biddERS bid, the lower the final price will end up.
For those sellers who "love/worship/adore" snipers...how do you feel about early bidders? I would think you would volunteer to make them breakfast in bed or something similar?
After all, its the early proxy bidders who tend to get into bidding wars, who attract other bidders, and so on, who are really helping you out.
As far as whether or not to "allow" sniping programs, you can't really stop them, so don't bother. Unless you change the ebay rules to try and eliminate sniping, dont bother even thinking about restrictions on software.
and no, sniping doesn't eliminate the value of running an auction for x days...the purpose of the X days is to allow bidders to find your auction and then to bid on it (either early or late).
And as always, I will end with my standard observation that snipers have really found a sweet spot for themselves...their bidding strategy results in paying the least amount, and they also have sellers singing their praises. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
posted on March 28, 2002 06:48:08 AM newFor those sellers who "love/worship/adore" snipers...how do you feel about early bidders? I would think you would volunteer to make them breakfast in bed or something similar?
I really like to see the early bidder's. It gives you the feeling that your item is desirable. You slowly watch the price go up,and you can be quite sure these item's will get hit at the end.
As far as the lenth of the auction! Make it long, so the sniper's have time to set their program's!!!
Let's face it any bid is welcome, sooner or later, it don't matter to me. The important thing is just get the bid!
posted on March 28, 2002 07:50:21 AM new
ahdeeandpappy.......You can tell if an auction is being sniped when there is an unusual amount of bidding activity towards the end........like within the last few minutes and alot of times within the last few seconds......the auction bid changes within seconds because others have been watching it and are bidding in the last few seconds.......
posted on March 28, 2002 08:02:42 AM new
Sniping is a very unique ebay activity, and has been with us since the beginning.
Novice bidders usually are caught by surprise by their first loss to a sniper, but most catch on pretty quick.
As a seller, I love early bids, but as a bidder, I know it is often the late bid that wins. Bidding early and often brings a lot of attentiona and "competition" to an auction. On the other hand, an auction with one bid will often discourage snipers who are just looking to buy it for one small incremental increase of 50 cents.
So my strategy is to place the first bid, with $1 proxy, and then place a snipe for whatever the highest amount is I can live with.
Recently I bid an opening bid of $11.00 on an item, and set a snipe of $36.00 for five seconds before auction end.
I lost. The auction was hovering around $15 a minute before the end but someone put in a snipe bid higher than mine and the auction ended at $37.
And it was a good price for the item.
Sometimes, of course, snipers get bargains too. So I always start my auctions at a price I can live with to recoup my basic expenses and hope for several bidders to add the profit.
posted on March 28, 2002 12:18:00 PM new
Due to the setup & format of Ebay sniping is necessary by bidders to pay the lowest possible price. There is no other reason to do it.
If Ebay were set up like a true auction where an item runs till the bidding stops then there would be no need for sniping.
You would also see items going for higher.
Why?
No time limit means more people can get in that final bid. The sniping bidders would not miss that last bid.
As I said before in the current EBAY setup it is what the bidders want.
Most sellers just do not see the potential for how much difference a true auction format can do for the final price.
posted on March 29, 2002 04:06:32 AM new
sweetboo
you mentioned that of your 30 listings 8 were sniped. How can you tell if a listing is sniped?
http://www.willselldealoftheday.com
posted on March 29, 2002 08:21:56 AM new
You can tell if your item has been sniped
if
A) the bidding activity and price go up in the
last few minutes or seconds of an auction
B) the winning bidder places a bid and wins in
the last few minutes/seconds of an auction
I like to use sniping programs on occasion especially when I don't want to physically
be around when an auction ends. If an auction ends at 9:00 and I'm going out to dinner at 8:00 I would have a problem if not for the
sniping program.
posted on March 29, 2002 08:36:43 AM new
A true "snipe" probably occurs in the Last 20 Seconds of the auction. I've seen 4 or 5 snipes in some of my auctions in that period. You want to Bid in a time frame that DOES not allow a casual bidder (watching his/her High Bid) to bid again. BUT some do Not consider it a real snipe unless it falls in the Last 5 seconds of the auction.
posted on April 3, 2002 07:53:58 AM new
The program I use is www.vrane.com It is a free program.
As a seller, never tell your bidders about sniping... I had one bidder a few weeks ago email me and say she was sad because she was leaving town and wouldn't be around when the auction ended to bid. (the thinking of some people never ceases to amaze me) and I told her to put her top $ in now and bid, that way, if it went over, then she can't be too upset because she wouldn't have paid that much to begin with and if it didn't go too high then she would win. Amazing that we have to spell everything out for some bidders. Anyhoo, she won and was thrilled, she thought you should always wait to bid till the end.
Luckily for me, she drove that price right up there
There's no danger of developing eyestrain from looking at the bright side of things!
posted on April 3, 2002 08:03:16 AM new
sweetboo
Thanks for the info. It wouldn't have crossed my mind not to tell a bidder about sniping, thanks again.
posted on April 3, 2002 08:33:19 AM new
Frequently in these endless "sniping" threads someone will mention how a "true" auction would mean higher prices. I totally disagree.
I don't know what categories you buy in but the ones I'm interested in (photo, electronics, computer), usually have bids that EXCEED retail.
Why anyone in their right mind would pay the same or even more than Amazon, etc. is beyond me. I used to think maybe the Internet and online shopping were a secret, but now I attribute it to the newbie factor. There are just oodles of people who get thrilled thinking they are playing an elaborate video game. I bid to get a DEAL that is worth the trade-offs. I ALWAYS snipe because I don't want to be in a bidding war with a bunch of newbies who sit there lusting after the 50 cent diamond widget.
If eBay were to change format, you would see prices rise slightly temporarily, and then the whole thing would collapse with the flight of dedicated eBay buyers. The "real" online auctions added together don't have 1 percent of eBay's activity.
posted on April 3, 2002 09:35:21 AM new
This sniping thread is a bit more interesting than most. There is a bit of an analogy between ebay sniping and a good hot live auction. Experienced bidders don't join the fray of small increments and often don't bid until "going......". I have shouted a good jump bid at that time, surprised everyone who now have to rethink their max. When the dust settles, I often have it. I had a watch in an auction that had painfully crept up to $1200 and was almost done, when a gent in the back who hadn't said a word shouted $1400. He got it. A couple of early bidders playing the 1/2 increment game for 10 minutes said later "where the hell did he come from? I was going to keep bidding but things went so fast, he ended up with it. Anything sound familiar here, Ebayers???
posted on April 3, 2002 10:49:00 AM new
I use esnipe.com.
Sniping does have an effect on FV. The premise is that the unaware bidder doesn't have a chance to bid higher when the higher snipe bid comes in with 7 seconds to go.
However, the bidder can protect their bid if they bid the highest amount they are willing to pay in the first instance- but few do this due to fear of shill bidding.
I've got my best deals with snipes - the other bidders just don't have a chance to outbid me with less than 7 seconds remaining until the auction closes.
posted on April 3, 2002 01:06:17 PM new
"Frequently in these endless "sniping" threads someone will mention how a "true" auction would mean higher prices. I totally disagree.
I don't know what categories you buy in but the ones I'm interested in (photo, electronics, computer), usually have bids that EXCEED retail.
Why anyone in their right mind would pay the same or even more than Amazon, etc. is beyond me. I used to think maybe the Internet and online shopping were a secret, but now I attribute it to the newbie factor. There are just oodles of people who get thrilled thinking they are playing an elaborate video game. I bid to get a DEAL that is worth the trade-offs. I ALWAYS snipe because I don't want to be in a bidding war with a bunch of newbies who sit there lusting after the 50 cent diamond widget"
So, to summarize, in this section, you seem to be agreeing, in general, with the general concepts presented so far - that sniping is used to get a lower price, by avoiding newbie bidding wars, etc. So far so good.
"If eBay were to change format, you would see prices rise slightly temporarily, and then the whole thing would collapse with the flight of dedicated eBay buyers. The "real" online auctions added together don't have 1 percent of eBay's activity"
Now, you make an interesting assertion...that if auctions were extended, droves of dedicated ebay buyers would flee. My question to you: where would they go? And why would they? Right now, the "dedicated ebay buyer", who presumably snipes at the last minute with their maximum bid...would continue to do so, dont you think? If ebay extended auctions, or some other format change, why would that bother them? They still place their max bid and will either win or lose the item at that price. Surely you dont think all these 'dedicated ebay buyers' would all of a sudden go to other auctions, with an inferior selection of items, do you? Would they just "go" to amazon and "hang around", doing nothing, waiting endless months for an item that they want to appear? I think the more likely scenario is that a change in format would perhaps cause a slight rise in prices, as you also suggest, by allowing a few more bids to sneak in that would have been frozen out before, and maybe a few people would leave, but overall there would be very little effect.
Sorry, the "collapse" of ebay has been forecasted by thousands of people, on a regular basis, every time anything changes. So far their dire predictions have yet to come true, for the simple reason that, right now, ebay has absolutely no competition. I can assure you that a change in bidding format would have little to no effect as well.
posted on April 3, 2002 01:35:44 PM new
I wasn't talking about "Amazon" the auction, I was referring to Amazon.com or Bestbuy.com, etc, etc, etc.
I think buyers will refrain from paying 90% for something they can buy new and get delivery in a day or 2. Now, if you sell old pez dispensers, it will affect you mainly in the loss of large numbers of buyers who while visiting and sniping say, "hey, there's that pez dispenser I was looking for." The eBay model will revert to what it was in the beginning: people buying other people's junk.
Classic case in point, when Onsale.com started out I was on there all the time. When it got "popular" the auctions would run for hours after "close". Buyers paid ridiculous prices for refurbished stuff. It's a wasteland now.
