I snipe auctions--deal with it!

[roboticplanet]

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

Nope, you get my praise! I'm glad to hear someone else has as little bidding inhibitions as myself.

And as for bidding against board memebers: I don't have a problem with it. I welcome anyone to out-snipe me; I only bid what I think something is worth and no more. If you want to bid more I don't think it a loss. Also, since my general bid policy is to get auctions that both have stuff for my collection and trading stock, many of the items I win end up for trade/sale anyways.

if anyone wants to get any missed items, see my site: www.roboticplanet.com

[Pete The Greek]

I have not bid on yahoo auctions in a long time. But I remember 4+ years ago for one auction involving Brazilian Cobra Soldiers. If somebody put a bid on it in the last minute, an extra 10 minutes would be added to the auction. I had thrown my max in. The guy extended the auction by 30 minutes. The funny thing with that was the bidder could type in a response with his bid. I just laughed at the part "how high did you go". He lost by a buck in the end. Ha ha ha.

[red25thta]

Personally I like snipers. They save me a ton of money because a lot of time I end up getting the same item a lot cheaper. Just wait a little longer.

As for buying off ebay I've done it. But really only if I noticed an auction had no winner. I ask the seller if they will sell me the item for the Min they had. Maybe a little extra. I usually say hey I missed this auction but I would like to buy it. As for auction in progress nope no way.

It's an Auction for a reason. If you take it to a Live in person Auction they have their rules.

Usually
High Bid wins within the time frame.

[BoogDoc7]

First, off-ebay offers are illegal according to ebay rules (and VERY unfair); it avoids the BIN prices. I've actually had someone ask me to throw a specific BIN price up before so he could buy something (which isn't so bad, but I wanted the $$.

Sniping's ok in this seller's book, and when I lose as a buyer, I don't have to pay!

Also, if you get an offer when you say you have something for another person, respect your initial offer, and hold the second in reserve in case the other doesn't go through...and communicate this to both buyers.

[KrymsynGardImmoral]

How fitting I find this thread after setting 5 auctions in my E-Snipe file.

I used to think sniping was the worst thing you could do to a guy, because I was getting sniped. Makes you feel pretty helpless. I HATED getting sniped and I whined about it too. But it is kill or be killed, and I have lost more auctions because I forget to bid, or have to run to the bathroom, or something stupid like that, than I have been outbid. I had to go to Sears one day, and got back 5 minutes after a really nice painting was won (by a guy in this thread) and I had missed my chance to bid on it.

Sniping happens. Deal with it. If it was truly undermining the market, then the market is not strong enough to begin with, and you can blame the underbidder for not bidding high enough. ALL THE SNIPED ARE TO BLAME! BID HIGHER! MAKE THE SNIPERS BLEED!!!

You argue well, Dan (which you SHOULD given your profession), but you aren't gonna get the support here for your "boycott the snipers" platform no matter HOW well you argue, ESPECIALLY if you look under the ethics rock for supporters. Just get an E-Snipe account, set your auctions, and hit the bar. You can see what you won when you get home.

[KrymsynGardImmoral]

THIS I disaggree with, but I HAVE done it. Only once, it was for a sealed defiant, the nicest one I had seen. It was local, in Jersey, and the seller had 0 FB. My intentions were less trying to screw othewr bidders, and more trying to be sure it was an authentic auction for myself. i drove out and made an offer, and they ended the auction.

Now, as a seller, I refuse to end an auction early for any reason, and when people make me offers, I tell them to just bid. They might get it cheaper than they offer. BUT, I have done it. I did end an auction once, I think, because the buyer made a $20 offer for a $5 item, which is hard to deny. More than once, I have added BIN prices for people if it was a decent price, and once I remember because a mother needed it for a birthday party.

So, I think that convincing a seller to end an item early is SHADY at best, and if you're gonna frown on sniping, you should frown upon that as well, even more so. In my view, it would be like saying theft is wrong, but murder is OK if you benefit from it.

So, I think it is a poor practice in the face of the much more righteous-but-sneaky Sniping, but I cannot cast the first stone, either.

[KrymsynGardImmoral]

I won't bid against friends, and i expect the same (which has gotten me in trouble). I have bidding pacts with some guys, both stated and unstated, and for some i won't bid if i see them, just out of a "community courtesy" so to speak. But for me, it only extends to people I know, talk to over Emails, IMs, etc, or see in person and are friendly with. Like, I am friends with Dockingbay, I would not outbid him if I saw him on an auction. But that guy in the cow suit, Snow, he better watch out. I won't ever forgive him for what he did to my brother. I have emailed guys and talked about prices, etc, if it is an item i really like, and a lot of my friends have done the same thing for me, to keep each other from bidding each other up. We are almost "conspiring to undermine the market" if you will entertain the notion. I got a PHONE CALL once, asking how high I would go, and if I cared if the bidder outbid me because it was the last piece he needed for a set. That man is TOP NOTCH in my book, and it would be great if we could all be so civilized, but it isn't gonna happen. Now, sniping makes this REALLY difficult at times, because sometimes you set a snipe on something that a friend bids on AFTER you set the snipe, and you don't bother looking again until that auction ended. That happened to me once so far, and i was happy to apologize, and offer the item to my friend for what I paid (this might be going a bit too far, but it was a good friend).

So, I won't outbid my friends, but I will talk to them about items I want. As for board members, man, there over 4,000 members here, right? You're BOUND to outbid SOMEONE, sometime.