Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 40 of 79

Thread: Who here hates on-line sellers sometimes?

  1. #21
    Pretzel (Level 4) Natty Bumppo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    850
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    4
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    12
    Thanked in
    11 Posts

    Default

    Snipers can outfox themselves sometimes. Depending on the item (and when it ends) I try to put my maximum bid in about one minute out. I have won some auctions just under the margin of my maximum bid from a sniper who if they had the time (and were watching) would have snapped to the fact that they could have had the auction with one more bid with just the next increment. If someone bids in that minute (and is under me) I will sometimes adjust my bid a bit to just go over whatever fraction of a dollar the person is using in case they bid again (assuming I have time).
    When I come home from a long day in Hell, there's nothing I'd rather reach for than a fire-brewed bottle of Styx Beer. Made from the filthiest waters from our own River Styx. Styx Beer is a third more toxic than any other regular beer. The worst beer - the filthiest beer - the deadliest beer. It's Styx Beer!

  2. #22
    Pretzel (Level 4) understatement's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    The Boondocks in Ms
    Posts
    941
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Again, this is absolutely correct. People who claim sniping gets them cheaper wins or some other advantage seem to have some mental picture of either a bidder that is too stupid to bid what they really are willing to pay for something or not aware of sniping or last minute bids and who just bids once and only bids in response to getting outbid. In my experience at least in bidding on video games, neither bidder really exists or if they do, there's always several other people who outbid them anyway long before they become the deciding factor in the final auction price. Some people snipe and some people bid huge amounts from the get go. Either way, if someone bids more than I am willing to go, they win the item.

    I recall trying to explain this to my dad the first time he used Ebay to bid on some coins last year and he just couldn't get over the fact that if "he had only bid another dollar", he could have won the item he was bidding on. Once I explained to him that you never can be sure what the other bidders or snipers maximum bid really is and that while they had technically only paid one more dollar than his maximum bid, if he had bid another dollar, he still probably wouldn't have won, he seemed to understand it a lot better. Unfortunately, it looks like some fellow collectors still don't get how Ebay auctions work if they believe that sniping somehow gives anyone an edge or results in paying less for everything. If you're winning with sniping, that's awesome, but you're still bidding and paying more than anyone else that bid on the item within the time limit of that particular auction, so you're not exactly getting away with anything.
    Never said I was getting away with anything or that others don't know just giving others less time to react thus having a chance (not a safe bet but a chance) to get an action for less. It's not like I'm putting a $2K bid down on Super Mario in the last few seconds just to win, it's always a bid that I'm willing to pay if it's maxed out. If I put my absolute max bid down the first day there a chance someone like your Dad coming along and saying "just one more dollar and I'll win" till it happens, I'd rather just let them think they have it won and at the last few seconds put my bid in and not give them time to bid one more dollar. I don't see how its that hard to understand.
    My Ebay Feedback My DP Feedback
    VVV Work in Progress VVV

  3. #23
    Great Puma (Level 12)
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    4,278
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    3
    Thanked in
    2 Posts

    Default

    It's not hard to understand at all, it's simply that you don't understand how bidding really works on Ebay today. Contrary to your stereotypes about Ebay bidders, most of them aren't elderly people who just bid once at far less than they really are willing to pay and then either hope nobody else comes along and bids more or sits there thinking they will increase their bid if someone outbids them, only to get screwed in the last seconds because snipers like yourself come along. Admittedly, in the early days of Ebay there were bidders like that and sniping programs were all the rage. That hasn't been the case in a number of years.

    Especially in the video games categories, everyone is generally pretty young and tech savvy. Those people are well aware of snipers like yourself and protect themselves by bidding their maximum from the get go or sniping themselves in the last minute for whatever their maximum may be. As such, whether you bid your actual maximum the day the auction goes up or in the last five seconds has no impact. You can't predict the behavior or pocketbook of other bidders and the outcome is identical. Whoever bids more wins regardless of when they do it.

    Quote Originally Posted by understatement View Post
    Never said I was getting away with anything or that others don't know just giving others less time to react thus having a chance (not a safe bet but a chance) to get an action for less. It's not like I'm putting a $2K bid down on Super Mario in the last few seconds just to win, it's always a bid that I'm willing to pay if it's maxed out. If I put my absolute max bid down the first day there a chance someone like your Dad coming along and saying "just one more dollar and I'll win" till it happens, I'd rather just let them think they have it won and at the last few seconds put my bid in and not give them time to bid one more dollar. I don't see how its that hard to understand.

  4. #24
    Cherry (Level 1)
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    243
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    The only advantage I can see to sniping is not to call attention to an auction that is being overlooked and be the only bidder at the end. For instance, I felt sorry for this one and his other items because he doesn't know to space out titles properly, which means many of his games don't show up in search results. I contacted him to tell him that, but he didn't change, and he lost $15-20 on NG3.

    But if no bids are placed it goes less noticed, perhaps, or I thought maybe that was so. Otherwise it's just a matter of placing whatever you're willing to pay. The psychology of course is that no one really knows what they're willing to pay and the intense moments at the end you end up putting in a little more, or a lot more like in that scene in War Horse.

  5. #25
    Great Puma (Level 12)
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    4,278
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    3
    Thanked in
    2 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by stalepie View Post
    The only advantage I can see to sniping is not to call attention to an auction that is being overlooked and be the only bidder at the end. For instance, I felt sorry for this one and his other items because he doesn't know to space out titles properly, which means many of his games don't show up in search results. I contacted him to tell him that, but he didn't change, and he lost $15-20 on NG3.

    But if no bids are placed it goes less noticed, perhaps, or I thought maybe that was so. Otherwise it's just a matter of placing whatever you're willing to pay. The psychology of course is that no one really knows what they're willing to pay and the intense moments at the end you end up putting in a little more, or a lot more like in that scene in War Horse.
    I could see that possibly, although with the way Ebay is hiding bidder names now, unless you know someone is tracking you or just looks for auctions that have bidders on them, it's still not much of an advantage if any. There are people that have search parameters constantly searching for certain items and your only real shot is if the seller writes the description wrong or omits a rare or valuable item and you're the only one that notices.

  6. #26
    Pretzel (Level 4) understatement's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    The Boondocks in Ms
    Posts
    941
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    It's not hard to understand at all, it's simply that you don't understand how bidding really works on Ebay today. Contrary to your stereotypes about Ebay bidders, most of them aren't elderly people who just bid once at far less than they really are willing to pay and then either hope nobody else comes along and bids more or sits there thinking they will increase their bid if someone outbids them, only to get screwed in the last seconds because snipers like yourself come along. Admittedly, in the early days of Ebay there were bidders like that and sniping programs were all the rage. That hasn't been the case in a number of years.
    Just my option but it sounds like your stereotyping me I seem to have a pretty good understanding of how it works, sometimes as shown by the OP...

    Quote Originally Posted by PROTOTYPE View Post
    .....WOW! that's how it exactly happen too. A 7 day auction it was sitting at 9.99 and 4.00 shipping, there was no traffic on the meter and I was the only bid. But I had a feeling there was someone else wanting this game too.The other games were really crap, So put a max bid of 29.00 on it.he hit it with 2 sec and won because I had no time to re-bid.. I really didn't know how much this was worth to me, looking back I should had put more. E-bay really is about luck or trying to get the seller to end the auction early, which I didn't try.
    I'm not saying it's the majority but it does happen and here is the proof. I'm also not saying if the OP sniped he would have out sniped this guy but the fact is this guy sniped and won this action for $1 more than the OP but the OP was willing to pay more just didn't have time. Personally I'd rather have the chance of something like this happening with sniping than putting a big bid down from the start and having people nickle and dime it to the top.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Especially in the video games categories, everyone is generally pretty young and tech savvy. Those people are well aware of snipers like yourself and protect themselves by bidding their maximum from the get go or sniping themselves in the last minute for whatever their maximum may be. As such, whether you bid your actual maximum the day the auction goes up or in the last five seconds has no impact. You can't predict the behavior or pocketbook of other bidders and the outcome is identical. Whoever bids more wins regardless of when they do it.
    I agree. (I consider myself the one in bold) I'll also agree that sniping doesn't translate well to big ticket items but for more mundane stuff it works quite often.


    Edit:
    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    You can't predict the behavior or pocketbook of other bidders and the outcome is identical.
    I notices you say things like this but you can't consider it to work the other way? In other words other bidders will never bid the bare minimum and only raise only for nesesity? Sounds like a behavior you couldn't predict to me.
    Last edited by understatement; 04-25-2012 at 10:05 PM.
    My Ebay Feedback My DP Feedback
    VVV Work in Progress VVV

  7. #27
    Great Puma (Level 12)
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    4,278
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    3
    Thanked in
    2 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by understatement View Post
    Just my option but it sounds like your stereotyping me I seem to have a pretty good understanding of how it works, sometimes as shown by the OP...



    I'm not saying it's the majority but it does happen and here is the proof. I'm also not saying if the OP sniped he would have out sniped this guy but the fact is this guy sniped and won this action for $1 more than the OP but the OP was willing to pay more just didn't have time. Personally I'd rather have the chance of something like this happening with sniping than putting a big bid down from the start and having people nickle and dime it to the top.



    I agree. (I consider myself the one in bold) I'll also agree that sniping doesn't translate well to big ticket items but for more mundane stuff it works quite often.
    Ok, provide me one bit of evidence, not speculation, that your sniping has ever resulted in you paying less for an item than if you had bid the maximum amount you were willing to pay on day one. The point is, unless you personally know the other bidders and they told you "gee, I was really planning on bidding again, but you made your last bid too soon before the auction ended and I couldn't", there is no way you can ever know if your sniping has ever saved you a dime or if every auction you have ever bid on ended exactly where it would have if you just bid the maximum on day one. You have also just proven that what you believe is the same fallacy myself and the others saying sniping doesn't work have been talking about. The OP has zero idea how much the sniper bid. What if the sniper actually increased his bid by an increment of $50? The way Ebay works, everyone's maximum bid is kept secret. Not even the seller knows how much the bidder really bid. All anyone ever knows is who bid the most by the minimum increment needed to beat the next highest bid. If the OP had bid again, there is no guarantee he would have won or beaten the sniper's bid. In fact, it's more likely that he wouldn't have beaten the winning bidder, especially if he was just going to bid $1 more. In the end, it was his unwillingness to bid his maximum that cost him the item, not when he placed his bid.

  8. #28
    I can't change my avatar. Custom rank graphic
    Porksta's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Fairfax, VA
    Posts
    2,755
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts
    Xbox LIVE
    YaoIsGod

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    In the end, it was his unwillingness to bid his maximum that cost him the item, not when he placed his bid.
    This. I never understood why people say complain about willingness to pay more for an item. Ebay lets you automatically bid up to a maximum. If you are willing to pay "x" for an item, then why not bid that much? It isn't like it automatically records a bid for your maximum.
    Like free stuff? I have earned hundreds of dollars in free Amazon gift cards through Swagbucks. Check it out here! Earn 3000 points and I will give you FREE shipping the next time you buy from me!
    http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Porksta

  9. #29
    Insert Coin (Level 0) PROTOTYPE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    minny
    Posts
    109
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Cool

    OK, I been on e-bay for over 12 years and won a lot of auctions some very good, some not so good.This is the problem with e-bay now, like in my auction I bid has high I wanted to get it for... but its not as high if push comes to shove. People don't really want to put the max on right away because we trying to get a deal. A sniper or a store, reseller is going to bluff you out of the auction by bidding higher then you because they have better means to re-selled or take a lost.Same goes for people that have a lot money to burn. Really, is it fair if the game is worth 40.00 you put a max bid of 50.00 and it sells for 51.00 they are in it to make money,I'm just trying to collect games.All this does is makes games go up in price ect.. That's why its getting harder to get great deals anymore, Really only with the harder to find games.I really believe that game will be on-line for 100.00 or more in two weeks from now and somebody will buy it.
    If it's not fun? Your not really playing.

  10. #30
    Strawberry (Level 2)
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    567
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts
    PSN
    Jaruff

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PROTOTYPE View Post
    OK, I been on e-bay for over 12 years and won a lot of auctions some very good, some not so good.This is the problem with e-bay now, like in my auction I bid has high I wanted to get it for... but its not as high if push comes to shove. People don't really want to put the max on right away because we trying to get a deal. A sniper or a store, reseller is going to bluff you out of the auction by bidding higher then you because they have better means to re-selled or take a lost.Same goes for people that have a lot money to burn. Really, is it fair if the game is worth 40.00 you put a max bid of 50.00 and it sells for 51.00 they are in it to make money,I'm just trying to collect games.All this does is makes games go up in price ect.. That's why its getting harder to get great deals anymore, Really only with the harder to find games.I really believe that game will be on-line for 100.00 or more in two weeks from now and somebody will buy it.
    What you're experiencing is capitalism. The free market commands a price and if you want the item, you have to pay the highest price. It's certainly fair that you lost out on that auction: you were unwilling to pay more than $50 for a lot the free market valued at $51.

    You want a great deal for your collection. A reseller wants a great deal for their wallet. It's the same concept. If you feel that game would command $100 on the market, you should have placed a higher bid. Better yet, if you really wanted to be fair, you should have messaged the seller about their rare item. You're concerned with a "good" deal but what about the uninformed seller? Don't they deserve a "good" deal too by receiving closer to appraisal value for their rare item? Exactly.

  11. #31
    Pretzel (Level 4) understatement's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    The Boondocks in Ms
    Posts
    941
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Ok, provide me one bit of evidence, not speculation, that your sniping has ever resulted in you paying less for an item than if you had bid the maximum amount you were willing to pay on day one. The point is, unless you personally know the other bidders and they told you "gee, I was really planning on bidding again, but you made your last bid too soon before the auction ended and I couldn't", there is no way you can ever know if your sniping has ever saved you a dime or if every auction you have ever bid on ended exactly where it would have if you just bid the maximum on day one. You have also just proven that what you believe is the same fallacy myself and the others saying sniping doesn't work have been talking about. The OP has zero idea how much the sniper bid. What if the sniper actually increased his bid by an increment of $50? The way Ebay works, everyone's maximum bid is kept secret. Not even the seller knows how much the bidder really bid. All anyone ever knows is who bid the most by the minimum increment needed to beat the next highest bid. If the OP had bid again, there is no guarantee he would have won or beaten the sniper's bid. In fact, it's more likely that he wouldn't have beaten the winning bidder, especially if he was just going to bid $1 more. In the end, it was his unwillingness to bid his maximum that cost him the item, not when he placed his bid.
    It's strange having this kind of debate I agree with so much of what your saying, but I have the opinion that sniping gives someone that little bit of an edge. If you don't have that opinion there's next to nothing I could say to change your opinion (I tried) and that's cool you do it your way and I'll do it mine.
    My Ebay Feedback My DP Feedback
    VVV Work in Progress VVV

  12. #32
    Super Moderator Moderator
    Custom rank graphic
    Aussie2B's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    9,277
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    35
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    133
    Thanked in
    111 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Ok, provide me one bit of evidence, not speculation, that your sniping has ever resulted in you paying less for an item than if you had bid the maximum amount you were willing to pay on day one. The point is, unless you personally know the other bidders and they told you "gee, I was really planning on bidding again, but you made your last bid too soon before the auction ended and I couldn't", there is no way you can ever know if your sniping has ever saved you a dime or if every auction you have ever bid on ended exactly where it would have if you just bid the maximum on day one.
    There's no way to show evidence that you've saved money, but it's pretty clear when you've lost money or the auction and could've avoided that. When you have over a decade of experience placing your own bid that outbids the previous top bidder and then seeing him/her incrementally try to outbid you in the final seconds, it's obvious that there are many people who don't understand how eBay works and bid only to claim the top bid, not to their max. Sure, you could theorize that some of these people would do this even without any competition appearing, just to try to protect their top bid status by putting in an even higher maximum, but I'm highly skeptical that that scenario accounts for more than a small fraction of these situations.

  13. #33
    Insert Coin (Level 0) PROTOTYPE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    minny
    Posts
    109
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Exclamation You're concerned with a "good" deal but what about the uninformed seller?

    So now its my job to tell the seller what a game is worth? it was a open auction that's what she was trying to find out? I still don't know what it's worth, its the first one I seen for sale. I'm really just guessing what he will sell it for. but to me it was worth a lot.The real point is it drives inflated prices on games and we all lose, unless we sell!
    If it's not fun? Your not really playing.

  14. #34
    Great Puma (Level 12)
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    4,932
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    3
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    5
    Thanked in
    5 Posts

    Default

    I've been using ebay since day one and I still don't understand the need for all this crap. If I see something I want on ebay, I set my max bid for whatever I feel it's worth and leave it at that. If someone else wins, they obviously placed more value on it than I did.

  15. #35
    Great Puma (Level 12)
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    4,278
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    3
    Thanked in
    2 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Gameboy Color View Post
    I've been using ebay since day one and I still don't understand the need for all this crap. If I see something I want on ebay, I set my max bid for whatever I feel it's worth and leave it at that. If someone else wins, they obviously placed more value on it than I did.
    Exactly. That's what most bidders do which is why sniping doesn't work plain and simple. It's also why people who complain about losing an auction that goes to completion and don't end up as the highest bidder have literally nothing to complain about.

  16. #36
    Strawberry (Level 2)
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    567
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts
    PSN
    Jaruff

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PROTOTYPE View Post
    So now its my job to tell the seller what a game is worth? it was a open auction that's what she was trying to find out? I still don't know what it's worth, its the first one I seen for sale. I'm really just guessing what he will sell it for. but to me it was worth a lot.The real point is it drives inflated prices on games and we all lose, unless we sell!
    Exactly.

    It's not your job to inform the seller of their lack of knowledge. It's also not the job of another bidder (a reseller as you claim) to give you the courtesy of a good deal for your collection. As you said yourself, it was an open auction. It's not "unfair" that someone who might resell the items outbid you by a dollar. It was within the confines of the auction rules. My point is that the "fairness" complaint goes both ways.

    Your collection is essentially a portfolio of various stocks which you will keep for a long time. A resellers inventory is essentially a portfolio of a day trader. Different methods but essentially the same activity.

  17. #37
    Pretzel (Level 4) jonebone's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    871
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PROTOTYPE View Post
    That's why its getting harder to get great deals anymore, Really only with the harder to find games.I really believe that game will be on-line for 100.00 or more in two weeks from now and somebody will buy it.
    Why haven't you posted the link, like I asked on the first page? Also, as someone who has bought and sold this game myself, I highly doubt it would sell for $100. Not that much demand for this one.

    You said this lot of 8 PS1 games went for $29? If it was just anything decent and non-sports, a reseller could have figured $5 a game for a maximum of $40. You a have provided no proof for me to believe that this reseller actually knows what he has. In reality, I wouldn't be surprised if he lists the MK3 at $15 or so, just pricing it equal to a normal MK3.

    People give resellers too much credit. They know what's hot and what's talked about. A niche variant on PS1 is not something that most sellers know or even care about.
    WTB Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut Manual Only... PM ME!!

  18. #38
    Pretzel (Level 4) jonebone's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    871
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Ok, provide me one bit of evidence, not speculation, that your sniping has ever resulted in you paying less for an item than if you had bid the maximum amount you were willing to pay on day one.
    You've never seen auctions with an BIN option, that get bid up past the original BIN price?

    Example, game with $19.99 starting bid, $29.99 BIN option.

    I want it, not sure what I want to pay. I wait until the last 5 seconds to bid, to hide my intent. I can come in with a $29.98 max bid and probably win it 99 times out of 100, for closer to $20 than $30. Why? Because everyone else viewing the auction assumes it is not worth $30, otherwise the BIN would have been clicked already.

    Or, I could just bid $29.98 on day one. Anyone else viewing the auction late doesn't even know the BIN existed, and just see my bid showing at $19.99. If they want it, they can push it up as high as they want it to go, well past $30.

    Please don't argue with me. You asked for an example, I provided one. End of discussion.
    WTB Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut Manual Only... PM ME!!

  19. #39
    Great Puma (Level 12)
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    4,932
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    3
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    5
    Thanked in
    5 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jonebone View Post
    You've never seen auctions with an BIN option, that get bid up past the original BIN price?

    Example, game with $19.99 starting bid, $29.99 BIN option.

    I want it, not sure what I want to pay. I wait until the last 5 seconds to bid, to hide my intent. I can come in with a $29.98 max bid and probably win it 99 times out of 100, for closer to $20 than $30. Why? Because everyone else viewing the auction assumes it is not worth $30, otherwise the BIN would have been clicked already.

    Or, I could just bid $29.98 on day one. Anyone else viewing the auction late doesn't even know the BIN existed, and just see my bid showing at $19.99. If they want it, they can push it up as high as they want it to go, well past $30.

    Please don't argue with me. You asked for an example, I provided one. End of discussion.
    Your example is a fine example of imaginary savings.

  20. #40
    ServBot (Level 11) Custom rank graphic
    Cornelius's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Wrong Place, Wrong Time
    Posts
    3,778
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    72
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    25
    Thanked in
    24 Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Gameboy Color View Post
    I've been using ebay since day one and I still don't understand the need for all this crap. If I see something I want on ebay, I set my max bid for whatever I feel it's worth and leave it at that. If someone else wins, they obviously placed more value on it than I did.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    Exactly. That's what most bidders do which is why sniping doesn't work plain and simple. It's also why people who complain about losing an auction that goes to completion and don't end up as the highest bidder have literally nothing to complain about.
    I'm with Understatement and Aussie on this one, and this quote is the part of your argument that I disagree with. Many bidders get emotionally invested in 'winning' an auction they've already bid on. As a direct refutation that 'most bidders set their max and leave it', just look at all the times a bidder puts in ten bids raising it 50 cents each time until they claim the lead (or not). This is not the behavior of someone setting their max. Additionally, if you look at completed auctions like I do when trying to price something, it isn't all that uncommon to find auctions that ended higher than BINs for the same item. This is more evidence that people get emotionally invested in winning. This is what the term 'bidding war' defines. Heck, the existence and common usage of the term bidding war defies the 'most bidders set their max' claim.

    I personally use a sniping website to take out any emotion on my part and because I believe it can help get a better price. It is real easy for me to say 'maybe just one more dollar' if I bid early on and get outbid. What can I say, I'm weak-willed compared to Bojay and GameboyColor. So instead I just punch it in goofbay and forget about it.

    The only way to prove that you can get lower prices using sniping would be to get lots of data points and run some statistical analysis. That actually wouldn't be too hard on an item with a pretty steady price/value over time, it would just take a long time to mine out the data. I feel the evidence I mentioned above is pretty compelling, though.

Similar Threads

  1. My PS2 hates me!
    By TheAlmightyTallest in forum Technical and Restoration Society
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 04-12-2005, 09:35 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •