Question about sniping to save money

[charitycasegreg]

I always snipe within the last 10-15 seconds so I dont go through bidding wars and causing the price to go higher. A couple people I came accross says this doesnt work. They are idiots and need to think about things. Example: An auction goes up and is at .99 and there are 2 people on ebay who want it. Person 1 may bid their max or 3.00. Then person 2 will come along and bid 5.00. Then person one bids 6.00....and so on until one says "I dont want to pay anymore. Then the price ends up at like 15.00. If person 2 would have let the auction go until the last 15 seconds, he could put his max bid of whatever the most he would want to pay. So hed put maybe 12.00. Tehn person 1 wouldnt have time to make another bid and the auction would have ended at like 4.00. Most people dont realalize why bidding at last minute helps not to drive the price up. But it would save a little money not to bid then get outbid then bid again. Who does and who doesnt do this?

[captain nintendo]

I am not a fan of sniping, but sometimes it is a necessary evil to get something I want for cheap. I have placed bids with 3 hours to go in the past and only to come back and check on it after it was done to see somebody outbid me in the last 7 seconds. That drove me nuts, but I figured what the hell I just saved "x" amount of money...Now I do the same however, I will wait until about 7 - 10 seconds are left and bid what I am willing to pay for that item. If thats not enough, then thats too abd. I dont want to get caught up in bidding wars :roll: That is of course unless I really need an item badly :P

[SoulBlazer]

If I come into a item that I am SURE that not many other people will want -- a cheap and common item with other auctions going on at the same time -- then yes, I WILL put in a bid right then and there and leave it, and never give it a second thought. If it's a rare item, though, then I WILL snipe, gladly. :D

[lym]

I always bid on a auction in the last few seconds then it doesn't give any chance for any outbid bidders to bid again. I probably really annoyed someone last week when I outbid the same person 3 times on 3 different auctions in one hour! LOL

[Balloon Fight]

I snipe on everything. Common or rare stuff. I especially snipe on those rare long box PS1 games such as In the Hunt, but apparently Joe snipes as well. :( ;)

[Raccoon Lad]

I almosyt always snipe, exept for when the auction ends when I'll be asleep. In that case, I leave my max proxy late at night. and almost always, examination of the bid history reveals I'd have saved some money if I had sniped.

[charitycasegreg]

Ill bid if I wont be home when it ends. Ive won a few items that way. who voted for not sniping? 1 person, LOL

[LiquidX01]

I agree. I snipe all the time and I never thought of it as a way of saving money but just as a way of ensuring that I will get what I want without having to go through the drama of going back and forth with someone else over the same item. Dont mean to sound shelfish or anything. :o

[Daria]

I'll snipe if I know I want to win the auction and not pay a lot for it. If I don't really care however I'll sometimes take a gamble with an opening bid. Not that it ever works. :P
________
CARLO CHITI (http://www.ferrari-wiki.com/wiki/Carlo_Chiti)

[charitycasegreg]

The only time I dont snipe is when I see something that would go for a lot and I bid just under what I think the item would go for. ie., say there was a top loader with 20 games. It would probably end at about 110 bucks so I would bid $85. I dont know why I do this.... :o

[charitycasegreg]

Who voted no? Post here on why you dont do it? Do you either not bid on stuff much, your never home when auction ends, or are just stupid and dont realize that theres a point to it?

[Cmosfm]

I always bid on a auction in the last few seconds then it doesn't give any chance for any outbid bidders to bid again. I probably really annoyed someone last week when I outbid the same person 3 times on 3 different auctions in one hour! LOL

I was bidding on one guys Famicom lots on eBay, about 10-15 at a time, and about 3 different ending time periods. I sniped out one fellow out of EVERYONE of these auctions, I think I let him win one or 2 though. LOL.

Then there was the Super Famicom I sniped for, and the high bidder below me IM'd me and called me a jerk and told me a sob story about how his brothers last dying wish was to own a Super Famicom. I didn't fall for his story.

Anyways, I use www.ezsniper.com , It places the bid in the last 3 seconds for you for a very minimal fee (min .10 fee, anything over 10.00 is .01%). Placed 10.00 in my account a year ago and have used it countless times and still have about 5.00 left. :D

[charitycasegreg]

I have never lost on my free sniping techniques. Well except for when the high bidders max bid is higher than what Id pay. I guess a sniping program would be good for when your not home to win the auction.

[Cmosfm]

I have never lost on my free sniping techniques. Well except for when the high bidders max bid is higher than what Id pay. I guess a sniping program would be good for when your not home to win the auction.

or when you're on 56k. :(

[nesuser2]

i used to try to snipe on 56k and it is possible if you time right but you don't know who else bids in under a minute. Which is ok if you don't poke around and just bid what you're willing to pay.

Also, last week I sniped for 2 cameras. One was sniped within 10-15 seconds and I beat the guy by $1 i think....or maybe 2. Anyways, the other one was a bid war but I managed to pay $220 for the camera shipped after I talked with the seller about maybe ending it early. He asked for an offer, so I offered $230 shipped which was a HUGE lowball offer since the camera sells $270 retail and came with a 128mb memory stick and a card reader for it.....and he never replied. I bet he wishes he did...... LOL

[anagrama]

I'm on dial-up, and I've found that I can snipe to within the last 6 seconds or so.

[charitycasegreg]

Im on cable so sniping is a sinch. I found another time I cant snipe, when there is a BIN but its too much and the start price is low and you think somebody may use BIN but you want the item and have to make a bid to get rid of the BIN. I had to do it today.

[suppafly]

I use esnipe.com, and it kicks ass. I usually snipe in the last 2 seconds, it works like a charm! :)

[kevincure]

The economist in me says that second-price auctions (like Ebay uses) mean that "strategic bidding" doesn't really make a difference, but because of people's psychology they tend to overbid at the last second (the "it's only one more dollar" effect, I guess). If ebay kept bids hidden and didn't tell you who was winning until the auction was over (and used "second-price" where the winner of the auction pays what the second-highest bidder bid), then there really would be no reason to snipe.

That said, the way ebay auctions work now are much more fun, if not as pareto optimal =).

[esquire]

I especially snipe on those rare long box PS1 games such as In the Hunt, but apparently Joe snipes as well. :( ;)

Yeah Joe got me on that auction too! But luckily there was another auction I sniped on and won.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3089302101&category=62053&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1

and I got it for $10 less than Joe's!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=3088911792&rd=1

[orrimarrko]

I don't bid early, it's a waste of time.

I watch the auction, to see if it's in my price range (and, so I don't forget about it.)

I will usually place my max bid within the last hour or so. If it hits, great, if not, oh well.

However, there is nothing more fucking annoying than when someone uses a program to outbid you with less than 4 SECONDS LEFT!

I'm not trying to argue, and I don't care what anyone says - that is the most annoying shit.

I can't tell you how many times I've been the highest bidder with literally 2 or 3 seconds left, and some bastard outbids me by the tiniest amount.

I know that they're using some "sniping" program, so there would have been nothing I could have done to prevent it.

Chicken shit if you ask me, but again, just my opinion.

I'm sure people will say what they want about this, but it's not like the purpose of this thread was to justify the morality of snipers.

You basically want to rub it in. Again, my opinion.

[esquire]

Chicken shit if you ask me, but again, just my opinion.

How are they chicken shit if they are willing to pay more than what you are willing to pay? What if they snipe and its lower than your proxy? You still win the auction. I don't think its a question of morality, its a question of whose willing to pay more for an item. If you want to prevent sniping, put in a higher bid. If you don't want to pay more than what you put in, you have no reason to gripe. They outbid you fair and square, whether its 4 minutes to go or 4 seconds to go.

Let me pose this question: If you are outbid with 4 minutes to go (as opposed to 4 seconds to go) do you go back and re-enter a higher proxy?

[Cmosfm]

Chicken shit if you ask me, but again, just my opinion.


Or maybe you're too chicken shit to place a bid high enough to knock out all of our chicken shit sniper bids. :P

All I know is that I win what I want and I win it cheap usually...and that makes me smile and laugh at all the people that I outsniped. :D

[charitycasegreg]

I don't bid early, it's a waste of time.

I watch the auction, to see if it's in my price range (and, so I don't forget about it.)

I will usually place my max bid within the last hour or so. If it hits, great, if not, oh well.

However, there is nothing more fucking annoying than when someone uses a program to outbid you with less than 4 SECONDS LEFT!

I'm not trying to argue, and I don't care what anyone says - that is the most annoying shit.

I can't tell you how many times I've been the highest bidder with literally 2 or 3 seconds left, and some bastard outbids me by the tiniest amount.

I know that they're using some "sniping" program, so there would have been nothing I could have done to prevent it.

Chicken shit if you ask me, but again, just my opinion.

I'm sure people will say what they want about this, but it's not like the purpose of this thread was to justify the morality of snipers.

You basically want to rub it in. Again, my opinion.

whoh calm down. Learn to get past the bastard snipers. Snipe yourself becasue theres no way around it. Or make your max bid higher. I dont use a sniping program. Rub it in? haha...damn calm down kid.

[charitycasegreg]

Chicken shit if you ask me, but again, just my opinion.


Or maybe you're too chicken shit to place a bid high enough to knock out all of our chicken shit sniper bids. :P

All I know is that I win what I want and I win it cheap usually...and that makes me smile and laugh at all the people that I outsniped. :D

I agree. I hated it when I first started ebay and got sniped. But then I learned too and now its funny that other people dont think to do it. Its even funnier when I snipe a sniper. Just a couple days ago I bid on an auction jsut so the BIN would be gone. It was starting at 9.99 so I bid that just to keep the cost low because I was going to bid again with a few seconds left to be sure to win. I was going to bid with 5 seconds left and after I put my max bid of 14.00, I noticed there were 3 bids now. I emailed the person who also bid with like 10 seconds left saying "thats what you get for sniping the sniper. :D "

[Achika]

I wouldn't call him a kid when he's older than you are. :roll:

[orrimarrko]

I wouldn't call him a kid when he's older than you are. :roll:

Once again, thanks Achika.

At a few months shy of turning 33, I'm hardly a kid (at least age-wise.)

Regardless, my point was this.

If there is an item that I want, I will bid my max. If I have the high bid at that point, I will watch it until the auction ends. When there's 4 or 5 minutes to go, I actually do sit there and watch it.

Let's say that the current bid is $30. My max is $56.64, and there's 10 seconds to go.

If I get outbid in the last 2 or 3 seconds, I KNOW it's a sniper, and it sucks ass.

Not because they were willing to pay more than me, but because they used a program to do it, and there was no time left for me to do anyting about it.

Whoever asked the proxy related question - my answer is most likely yes.

I hate snipers simply because it's done in such a way that it negates a fair chance for anyone to outbid you! The sniping program AUTOMATICALLY outbids the max bid of the high bidder, so how the hell could I make a counter offer.

Logically, the comment doesn't make sense.

It's chicken shit because you don't have the patience and the guts to put out the bid yourself, before time runs out. You rely on someone doing your work for you, and for that reason, I call it chicken shit.

Again, this is a stupid poll. The snipers will continue to do it anyway, and all you're going to do is laugh at those of us who don't.

So ramble on...

[esquire]

I wouldn't call him a kid when he's older than you are. :roll:

Once again, thanks Achika.

At a few months shy of turning 33, I'm hardly a kid (at least age-wise.)

Regardless, my point was this.

If there is an item that I want, I will bid my max. If I have the high bid at that point, I will watch it until the auction ends. When there's 4 or 5 minutes to go, I actually do sit there and watch it.

Let's say that the current bid is $30. My max is $56.64, and there's 10 seconds to go.

If I get outbid in the last 2 or 3 seconds, I KNOW it's a sniper, and it sucks ass.

Not because they were willing to pay more than me, but because they used a program to do it, and there was no time left for me to do anyting about it.

Whoever asked the proxy related question - my answer is most likely yes.

I hate snipers simply because it's done in such a way that it negates a fair chance for anyone to outbid you! The sniping program AUTOMATICALLY outbids the max bid of the high bidder, so how the hell could I make a counter offer.

Logically, the comment doesn't make sense.

It's chicken shit because you don't have the patience and the guts to put out the bid yourself, before time runs out. You rely on someone doing your work for you, and for that reason, I call it chicken shit.

Again, this is a stupid poll. The snipers will continue to do it anyway, and all you're going to do is laugh at those of us who don't.

So ramble on...

Well the problem is that you are not putting in a high enough proxy. If I outbid you with 10 seconds to go, manually not by sniping, chances are you won't get a counter-bid in unless you are using a sniping program yourself. What I don't understand is if you are willing to counter-bid, why not just put in a higher proxy to begin with? That way you avoid losing to snipers. If you are not putting in the true amount you are willing to pay for the item, you have no one to blame but yourself.

[Cmosfm]

It's chicken shit because you don't have the patience and the guts to put out the bid yourself, before time runs out. You rely on someone doing your work for you, and for that reason, I call it chicken shit.


Actually, most snipers don't use programs. Only time I use a program is when it ends at 4 in the morn and I have to work the next day....which is only about 10% of the time. Most of the time I can get a sniper bid in myself, within the last 20 seconds, and that's just not enough time for anyone else to place a bid. Have I been outsniped by a program? yes, Did I get mad? yes, Is it my own fault for not wanting to spend as much as him? yes.

Anyways, I snipe, and do I get a thrill winning an item cheap and winning it before anyone else has time to outbid me? yep...and I get a damn good chuckle out of it too...I actually do a little dance.

I never place a bid before the last minute. Why? It just raises the price I will have to pay in the end when I snipe it. Avoids bidding wars, gets the items cheap.

Only people I have ever met that doesn't like snipers are those who haven't perfected the art of it.

[Balloon Fight]

I hardly ever use a sniping program. I've only used one 3 times. I would really hate to pay for a program so I just use my free ones. :)

I like to snipe manually because I can sometimes get a bid in with 2-3 seconds left. If it works it works is my saying.

Also on that In the Hunt I sniped manually but I still got outsniped. :embarrassed:

[anagrama]

I was going to bid with 5 seconds left and after I put my max bid of 14.00, I noticed there were 3 bids now. I emailed the person who also bid with like 10 seconds left saying "thats what you get for sniping the sniper. :D "

I see nothing wrong with sniping, but emailing losing bidders to gloat about it just makes you an asshole.

[roxybaby]

I snipe as well. The only disadvantage, from a buying perspective, is that I see desirable items go for ridiculous prices because people just want to win the auction without thinking about how much they are actually spending. When I wanted to buy a CDX I saw so many auctions go from $60 to over $180 in the last minute of the auction! I guess as long as you set a limit for yourself the sniping game is the way to go.

Sometimes I feel bad about sniping, especially if there are only one or two other bids, but on a budget it's the way to go.

[charitycasegreg]

first off, yes you are 33...thats way older then me..sorry. :)



I was going to bid with 5 seconds left and after I put my max bid of 14.00, I noticed there were 3 bids now. I emailed the person who also bid with like 10 seconds left saying "thats what you get for sniping the sniper. :D "

I see nothing wrong with sniping, but emailing losing bidders to gloat about it just makes you an asshole.

And he was the asshole trying to snipe me. But he failed. So I had to rub it in. And I never email the person if I snipe them. Its just that he tried to snipe me so I wanted to show him that he failed and is a bastard... just like me when I snipe people.