I snipe auctions--deal with it!

[BelgianGabber]

The answer is pretty simple. The highest bidder within the given time is the winner. No more no less! If you get sniped, you should have thrown in a higher bid. I really really don't get it people could have something against it. Get over it. I too don't like to be sniped but it happens. If I want an item, I'll throw in my maximum bid at the very last second. If I get it, I'm happy, if not I'm not going to cry about it, should have bid more or will get the next item.

I pretty much always snipe. There are a few online-friends I wouldn't outbid, and I've helped out a lot of guys on here and other boards too.

[dmooretoys]

So I now have another question--is it "ethical" to contact a seller on ebay and get them to cancel the auction before someone can bid on it? That has been done to me (Cobra Saboteur Kit) and I can tell you that isn't fun either, especially when the person rubs it in your face. The person who did it knows what I am talking about....

I have tried to be a nice guy on ebay and usually I end up getting burned. For example, I intentionally passed up an auction recently a member of this board was the high bidder on and someone else entirely won it!

Believe it or not, I do consider myself a nice guy and I will do anything I can to help you, I just happen to snipe auctions on ebay.

Oh yeah, one more point. I posted a thread in the "wanted" section and someone replied to the thread and said they had some paperwork I was interested in. Is it ethical for someone else to contact them and ask them to trade or sell it to them instead? For those of you who haven't figured it out this is the same person who sent me the email I posted earlier. How do I know he contacted the person--the person I was trading with told me about it and was a good enough person to go through with the trade with me.

This thread could get ugly as others have already said and I already wish I didn't start it. I guess I should have just replied to the person's email but I was a little irritated based on a few past experiences. I'm sure the person doesn't even know how offensive it is to constantly hear his "someday your collection will be as big as mine" posts and "someday you will need three storage facilities like me for all your stuff" responses to my threads. I've held my tongue until now even when other members have emailed me about it saying they couldn't believe he said that. I also wish this person whould start contributing to this site or trying to help people out instead of keeping everything to himself because I know he does have an impressive collection.

One last thing to say on this topic--I don't intentionally try to seek out and outbid anyone in particular. When I see an auction I am interested in I set it up to be sniped and I don't even know who I am bidding against.

Dan

[dmooretoys]

As I said...I dont know anything about sniping programs...or how they work. I will bid the max amount I think something is worth to me then if someone wants it more and bids higher with a sniping program so be it. I have already put my MAX bid in. From what it sounds like, others are not putting in their max bids...if they are wanting the opportunity to rebid if they are outbid at the last moment. Like I said, I combat this by just putting in my max and leaving it at that. That being said, I rarely go on ebay anymore at all. Seems more often than not I have not been completely satisfied with the items I have won so I would rather trade or purchase directly from an individual or website.

Daniel is exactly right. When I snipe I set the maximum amount I am willing to pay for the item and I don't always win! The people who I am bidding against also set their maximum amount, or should have. The only difference is when the bid actually takes place.

Dan

[themoney75]

thank god for snipeing, if not i would be in the poor house.every once in a while i will email a seller to see if he would sell off ebay before the bidding gets crazy.but if a bid been placed i just bid my max and hope for the best.

[thunt4]

This hasn't come up in a long time but this always gets ugly no matter what. I personally think people make this to be too big a deal and take it way too personally.First and foremost if you get sniped its not the end of the world nothing is so rare that you will never see it again. Besides finding those rare things is what makes it fun to some people such as myself. As a seller its better when you get people bidding it up because you sell it for more. As a smart buyer you know that if you place a bid you are guaranteed that someone else will outbid you at some point before auctions end. To me doing this is dumb because you pay a higher price for the item.Now if you wait till the end no one knows you are watching it but you and chances are you will not pay as much.Sure it stinks to get outbid but oh well it happens. Now if its a buy it now with no reserve I will bid just to knock off the chance of someone using buy it now only if I think I can get it cheaper than the buy it now at the end. Back to what I was saying before lets say I see something I like and I place a bid then someone else places one only he puts his maximum in at the beginnning now everyone else keeps bidding to outbid him making it much higher and higher. Now if there is only a few small bids and everyone waits till the end its whoever wanted to pay the most for it wins which a lot of times you will get it for much less than your highest amount you put in for the bid. As far as somone posting on yojoe before you and you offering I always thought that was a little rude to a sence because that person had a set price to sell and someone already tried to make a deal. Usually if I want something I just say if the person above me does not want the item I will take it so that puts you in line in case the first person passes on it.As far as people writing to others to complain thats immature becasue chances are a lot of times its on a lot of figures and they only wanted a few. All they had to do is see if they wanted all the figures or if they were going to sell any. I have won many lots only for a select few for myself then i sell the others but once in a while I get an email asking if I am going to resell any and either I make a deal then or work out some trade of some sort.

[roboticplanet]

First, a story: a few months ago I had some Joe auctions running. As usual some of the auctions went up near then end - due to sniping. After they ended I get an email from a person who ended up being the second high bidder on a couple auctions. Turns out he was sniped by the same person on my items. This starts complaining, saying how he REALLY wanted these items and was excited to find them on eBay and wants me to not sell to the high bidder (and sell to him I suppose), but rather reprimand the winner for outbidding him. Well...I just laughed. I didn't have the heart to reply becuase all I could have said was something like "Next time bid more!" or like others in this thread have mentioned "deal with it".

When it comes to bidding, like BelgianGabber, I almost only snipe. I've been sniped by snipers and done the same to others too. There have been times when I got resniped when only a couple seconds remained - sure I've gotten frustrated with it, but bear in mind these are ONLY action figures. Not something to lose sleep or sanity over.

Further more, I've found sniping isn't fool-proof. On occasion an early bidder may place some extremely high bids that I can't match. My friend recently picked up an entire Air Raiders collection on eBay that was in 3 auctions. He bid early (well, 10 minutes is early to me) and won all the auctions. There was one bidder that kept trying to snipe him on the auctions and drove up the prices a combined $70. The sniper lost and my friend probably paid more than he needed to, but got what he wanted.

I had actually planned on getting these items, but prices got high earlier, so I showed my buddy who has virtually bottomless pockets of toy money. He won using his bidding tactic because sniping doesn't always work against some bidders.

[Obiwanjacoby]

I don't know about the other thing. . .the buyer asking a seller to buy "off auction" & all.

But if the seller was smart, they would realize someone was trying to bypass the auction just to avoid competition and therefore get it cheaper.

So as a seller, the logical thing to do would be to ignore any "off auction" solicitations and keep a gem of that size on the block!

-PJ

[RAS ONE J]

yah ..I seen a few topics before here bout sniping and it gets ugly. Anyways, I snipe and I know many people do. However, if there's a username that I know of and done business with before..AND..the auction/item is something I'm not desparate for then I do not bid...just to let the guy complete or army build his collection. Usually the stuff I go for ..usually gets listed again..so it's no biggie if I snipe somebody or somebody snipes me.

[sinnister]

Dan, I've noticed you have been bidding a lot at the last second on auctions that I have also bid on. I'm just going to say this once, but, not cool. I have a very long memory and more importantly, a reputation well in advance of yours in the community. Two can play that sniping game if you want to play that way. Otherwise, cut it out and bid ethically.

In regards to this first post. I have to question the person who is questioning Dan's ethics for sniping. Using his 'reputation well in advance of yours in the community' to basically threaten him 'I'm just going to say this once' into not sniping him anymore is pretty unethical in my book.

[ShadowSnake]

I snipe and I love it.

Its simple. You snipe an auction. The previous high bidder has had the high bid for 2 days..and all of a sudden, they lose the auction in the last 5 seconds...lol...I guess that could be pretty aggrevating which in turn, causes some people to think they can threaten other people because they cant control there own rage...but hey, guess what? THATS EBAY. You have to deal with it.

Chances are, whatever you were bidding on, and lost, will come up again, if there isnt another one listed already.

And, in turn, if the item is rare, or highly sought after...why should I put aside my money for someone else? Hmmmm? No way. I will bid what I want, when I want, and how I want.

Also, all you people that get upset about snipers. Do you get upset when your selling something and someone puts in that last second bid to lift the value another $10?

Sniping is fun, and if I win, great. If i dont, move on to the next one.

And as for not bidding because someone on here has bid on something? Sorry, but if I want it, im gonna try and get it. And I hope I have made a good enough impression on here to not lose someones respect because of a bid on Ebay. If I lose that respect, then so be it.

Just my opinion guys, dont kill me.


Dave