"Bid Early And Often!"

[fishsandwich]

I hate when E-bay sellers say this.

Just bitching.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I hate when E-bay sellers say this.

Just bitching.

Would you rather hear "Bid late and never?" :p

[fishsandwich]

I prefer "Bid at the last second and snipe it from some poor slob."

[The 1 2 P]

I prefer "Bid at the last second and snipe it from some poor slob."

Lol. But then that would ruin the whole "wtf" moment of being surprised that you got outbid during the last second.

[yok-dfa]

Lol. But then that would ruin the whole "wtf" moment of being surprised that you got outbid during the last second.

People still whine about that?

[wallydawg]

People still whine about that?

I've only been mad at getting sniped once on an auction once, where the winning bidder who sniped me on a Tengen Tetris with 1 second left me an ebay message, basically gloating about his win

[MF_Luder]

I've only been mad at getting sniped once on an auction once, where the winning bidder who sniped me on a Tengen Tetris with 1 second left me an ebay message, basically gloating about his win


LOL. Some people deserve to get messages like that though. I love when I see someone proxy bids like $10 on an item and then someone snipes it at $10.01 and wins because of a penny. I always make sure to bid some weird number (like $10.11 or $10.26) just to completely avoid that from happening to me. But apparently other people on eBay haven't caught on. Plus so many people bid $x.01 now that if you're going to snipe you need to add a few extra cents in. The all-time classic snipes are when a guy leaves a proxy bid of $10.01 and thinks that the extra penny made him safe, and then an intelligent sniper comes along and bids $10.02 in the final second.

[Shrooin]

I hate when E-bay sellers say this.

Just bitching.


Would you rather hear "Bid late and never?" :p

Doesn't anyone have the sense to realise that bidding early and often raises the price way more than it should be? When people bid early someone else will beat their bid and then another will try beat that bid, then the first will want to be the winning bidder again and the auction has still only just started! Everyone wants to be the winning bidder so just constantly outbids people unnecessarily driving up the price. What matters is who is the winning bidder at the end all those other bids are useless except for driving up the price. That is why you bid at the end and its why people who want stuff at a decent price are forced to snipe - because if they enter the maximum early someone will beat it. A better ebay system would be if all bids were completely anonymous and no one knows who is the winning bidder until the end. Everyone just enters the maximum and at the end the winner is notified of course this would not generate as much sales as there would be no bidding wars. Phew that seems like a lot of explaining to try to explain something so logical but it just seems like only the "snipers" understand this. Maybe it's better if less people know this though because sniping will become harder for me when more people are trying to do it. :oops:

[PingvinBlueJeans]

Doesn't anyone have the sense to realise that bidding early and often raises the price way more than it should be?
Yes, and that is exactly why sellers want bidders to do it.

[ryborg]

A better ebay system would be if all bids were completely anonymous and no one knows who is the winning bidder until the end. Everyone just enters the maximum and at the end the winner is notified of course this would not generate as much sales as there would be no bidding wars. Phew that seems like a lot of explaining to try to explain something so logical but it just seems like only the "snipers" understand this.

You've never sold anything online in your life, have you? No offense, but that's the dumbest and most absurdly buyer-biased ebay "improvement" I've ever heard. While we're at it, how about we have sellers pay for shipping and include a free chocolate bar with purchase?

Please tell me how on earth your method is better and more logical than any system ever used by any online auction provider.

[evil_genius]

I bid whenever I want.

[tmlfan]

Doesn't anyone have the sense to realise that bidding early and often raises the price way more than it should be?

I think this is flawed logic, I have a couple trains of thought on this, I myslef bid whenever I feel and dont care if its the first 10 seconds of the listing or last. I put in my max bid I am willing to pay and walk away, if I get sniped for .01, then so be it, if im pissed then why didnt I just bid more, nope it went for more than I was willing to pay. I think people get cought up in the last few seconds of an auction and bid more than they really want sometimes driving up the price getting cought up in the ecxitment. Me I just bid and most times forget about it until I get the email saying I won or lost. If people bid early and often I usually just ignore the auction as I see a lot of people have it on thier radars so this doesnt drive up the price IMO, I look for hidden or poorly listed auctions to get a bit of a deal.

[Griking]

I think this is flawed logic, I have a couple trains of thought on this, I myslef bid whenever I feel and dont care if its the first 10 seconds of the listing or last. I put in my max bid I am willing to pay and walk away, if I get sniped for .01, then so be it, if im pissed then why didnt I just bid more, nope it went for more than I was willing to pay. I think people get cought up in the last few seconds of an auction and bid more than they really want sometimes driving up the price getting cought up in the ecxitment. Me I just bid and most times forget about it until I get the email saying I won or lost. If people bid early and often I usually just ignore the auction as I see a lot of people have it on thier radars so this doesnt drive up the price IMO, I look for hidden or poorly listed auctions to get a bit of a deal.

you see, this just doesn't work for me. I understand and agree that everybody has has to have a limit as to how much they're willing to bid for a certain item but I don't believe that there's a single person who wouldn't be willing to pay one cent more than what they say their max is. Of course if you loose an auction by a penny it doesn't mean that the winning bidder only bid a penny more than you did, it just means that they won by a penny. It still pisses me off when I loose by that little though.

[tmlfan]

you see, this just doesn't work for me. I understand and agree that everybody has has to have a limit as to how much they're willing to bid for a certain item but I don't believe that there's a single person who wouldn't be willing to pay one cent more than what they say their max is. Of course if you loose an auction by a penny it doesn't mean that the winning bidder only bid a penny more than you did, it just means that they won by a penny. It still pisses me off when I loose by that little though.

ya i understand that, 1 cent can be annoying to loose out on an auction, but I think you hit on the part that lets me sleep at night, it doesnt mean the person who won wasnt willing to go another 10, 50 or 100, so im back to my original point, I put in my bid and play wait and see and dont loose sleep over it myself

[Massimiliano]

Doesn't anyone have the sense to realise that bidding early and often raises the price way more than it should be? When people bid early someone else will beat their bid and then another will try beat that bid, then the first will want to be the winning bidder again and the auction has still only just started! Everyone wants to be the winning bidder so just constantly outbids people unnecessarily driving up the price. What matters is who is the winning bidder at the end all those other bids are useless except for driving up the price. That is why you bid at the end and its why people who want stuff at a decent price are forced to snipe - because if they enter the maximum early someone will beat it. A better ebay system would be if all bids were completely anonymous and no one knows who is the winning bidder until the end. Everyone just enters the maximum and at the end the winner is notified of course this would not generate as much sales as there would be no bidding wars. Phew that seems like a lot of explaining to try to explain something so logical but it just seems like only the "snipers" understand this. Maybe it's better if less people know this though because sniping will become harder for me when more people are trying to do it. :oops:

Well, isn't this the way REAL auctions actually work ?
With all the snipping tactics, ebay has become everything but an online auction site.
I of course always snipe when I bid coz you pay way way less this way, but I hate snippers when I sell.
I wish ebay worked like ibazar did or like yahoo auction does: when bidding in the last ten minutes, another ten minutes is added. I would get less bargains (well, actually not, coz all the bargains I get is BIN or "would you end the auction earlier to sell to me ?) but definitely get more cash for my sales.

[rbudrick]

I prefer "Bid at the last second and snipe it from some poor slob."

Word. You'd better believe it.


LOL. Some people deserve to get messages like that though. I love when I see someone proxy bids like $10 on an item and then someone snipes it at $10.01 and wins because of a penny. I always make sure to bid some weird number (like $10.11 or $10.26) just to completely avoid that from happening to me. But apparently other people on eBay haven't caught on. Plus so many people bid $x.01 now that if you're going to snipe you need to add a few extra cents in. The all-time classic snipes are when a guy leaves a proxy bid of $10.01 and thinks that the extra penny made him safe, and then an intelligent sniper comes along and bids $10.02 in the final second.

My magic is number is $x.56.
-Rob

[Cinder6]

I think this is flawed logic, I have a couple trains of thought on this, I myslef bid whenever I feel and dont care if its the first 10 seconds of the listing or last. I put in my max bid I am willing to pay and walk away, if I get sniped for .01, then so be it, if im pissed then why didnt I just bid more, nope it went for more than I was willing to pay. I think people get cought up in the last few seconds of an auction and bid more than they really want sometimes driving up the price getting cought up in the ecxitment. Me I just bid and most times forget about it until I get the email saying I won or lost. If people bid early and often I usually just ignore the auction as I see a lot of people have it on thier radars so this doesnt drive up the price IMO, I look for hidden or poorly listed auctions to get a bit of a deal.

I disagree on one point: bidding whenever you want. Let's say some guy's bid $5 on an auction, and you're willing to go to $10, so you put that down. A couple days pass, that guy or somebody else comes and outbids you. You're done. If you sniped the auction, you could still enter your $10, but you might get it only for $6. You get both the auction and a cheaper price, all without going over your max.

Of course, that doesn't work if other people bid early and more than you're willing to spend, but either way is irrelevant if that happens. Sniping gives you a better price and a greater chance of getting the auction, and you have no way of "getting caught up in the moment" and paying more if you bid with only 10 seconds left.

[Mattiekrome]

I've bought some cigars on a cigar auction website (cigarbid.com). Its similar to eBay, but if anyone bids within the last 5 minutes of the auction end, the time remaining gets pushed back out to 5 minutes left...

Hard to understand, example...

Auction ends @ 7:00 pm. I place a high bid at 6:59 pm. Now the auction doesn't end until 7:04 pm.

It would rock for a seller, but suck big time for a bidder

[tmlfan]

I disagree on one point: bidding whenever you want. Let's say some guy's bid $5 on an auction, and you're willing to go to $10, so you put that down. A couple days pass, that guy or somebody else comes and outbids you. You're done. If you sniped the auction, you could still enter your $10, but you might get it only for $6. You get both the auction and a cheaper price, all without going over your max.

Of course, that doesn't work if other people bid early and more than you're willing to spend, but either way is irrelevant if that happens. Sniping gives you a better price and a greater chance of getting the auction, and you have no way of "getting caught up in the moment" and paying more if you bid with only 10 seconds left.

So if i bid early a the guy comes along and outbids me and wins the auction. But if I wait until the last second and snipe it the person who was willing to pay more than me doesnt win it then. If someone is willing to pay more then why wouldnt they win the auction?

anyways I know what your saying, the sniping can get you the lower wins with people who are winning the auction and forget to bid at the last second or assume they are going to win it etc.. My main point was it doesnt bother me that someone sniped me. After 10 years on ebay I know I will eventually get what I want for what I want to pay.