Thread: Sniped...

I'm just here to vent, I just spent every second of the last five minutes refreshing an auction on a J.R. Torrey I really wanted to complete a set I'm working on restoring at the moment...and with 2 seconds left someone out bids me...
Anybody else think that there is something very wrong with auctions ending at a given time on ebay? I mean I think the ideal solution would be to have the auction end at a given time IF there is no longer any bidding. If there is still bidding, extend the auction for another 5 minutes since the last bid until bidding ends. Both sellers and buyers would benefit from this arrangement. This way it would be much closer to a true auction.
I'm just so tired of losing auctions last second that I'm giving up on Ebay. I mean sure it's an auction, but I just feel there is something very lowly about waiting until the last 2 seconds to bid... and I feel I'm above it, but if I'm to win anything I'm going to have to lower myself to that level.

sorry to hear you didn't win your razor, but that's really how it works. the other bidder's maximum bid was higher than yours, so they won it.
make sure you bid your maximum bid, i.e. the price you are willing to pay for a razor, not the one you think you may get away with.
as far as when to place the bid - since ebay auctions end at a specific time it is smarter to place them just before it ends. what you propose - extending the bidding time would probably force more people to bid their maximum bids in the first place, but you can just do this now anyway.

I used to be in the same shoes; it's even worse when you find out you were sniped by a member, who then gloats about said beautiful razor on the forum....
(when I was new on the forums it seemed I couldn't catch ANYTHING)

However after winning a few razors that went for ridiculously high prices (which I paid, btw....) I see why so many people snipe. If you bid a higher bid *early* then it invites a bidding war, or even worse, I've seen people bid ridiculous amounts for something then retract their "mistake" now knowing what your max bid is.

It is all bad economics. I sometimes bid on things, but if I REALLY want something, I snipe it. Just because you CAN pay 5 prices for something, doesn't mean you should.

The last thing I sniped was with this free website. I was iffy about it at first, but as far as I can tell everything is free and it worked. The "special features" etc are for the pay version.

Give it a shot, unless you have lots of $$$ to throw at bidding wars.

John P.

Originally Posted by JohnP

I used to be in the same shoes; it's even worse when you find out you were sniped by a member, who then gloats about said beautiful razor on the forum....
(when I was new on the forums it seemed I couldn't catch ANYTHING)

[snip]

John P.

I only take issue with this statement - about other members sniping you.

For one thing, with the new ebay security measures, you have no idea who has bid or where they are in the bidding - it shows that stupid b***d for the names.

Two, as gentlemanly as SRP is, you can't expect that all 4000+ members to check to see if they're bidding against you. The truth is that they probably are.

Three, I personally won a Dorko #14 eBay auction - just like the one Don (Taz) posted in Show and Tell recently. I expected that the auction for it was going to end up well in the $200 range and I decided that I would snipe at $250 - initially. The thing is that I told just about everyone who visited chat over the week leading up to the end auction that I wanted that razor and was going to snipe. EVERY SRP member I told - including one who intended to snipe for more money than me - BOWED out because I told them of my desire. I ended up sniping at $302 - I won the auction at $129. Why? Because the gentlemen who knew of my sniping and wanting that Dorko didn't snipe.

My advice?

One, if you really want something, snipe higher than you think it will sell for (and at the price you are willing to pay).

Two, take the risk of letting other SRP members know that you are wanting that razor, tell them how much you want it (what you would snipe for).

I'm willing to bet that you'll get it for less than you thought or sniped because of the gentlemen of SRP.

Byron

If you are not winning auctions then you are not bidding enough. That is the way eBay works.

Hi everyone thanks for your input, I guess my main point in this reply is to state that the razor in question I thought I had bid more than enough this time through...as I had made my mistake bidding too low on previous auctions...hence this time through I easily bid $30 over what I've seen the razor asked for anywhere else...thinking I had secured the razor...but afraid of being sniped I kept an eye on it anyways, and sure enough I was outbid. I comes down to who wants it more, and has nothing to do with actual value of the item. With the ever growing demand for straights it is becoming near impossible to approximate the selling price of any razor. Razors I purchased for $10 two weeks ago at my local antique shop I've seen go for better than $90 on ebay...
Like I said I was just venting, it was the 10th razor in 2 days that I lost out on when I thought I was bidding reasonably above their actual worth...however I am new to shopping on ebay(at least for highly desirable items)...and my estimates are based on real world markets, not world wide net auctions....I may still try my hand on things I really REALLY want, but at this point I'm sure I'll over pay for it on ebay, which defeats the purpose of using it really.

Originally Posted by ByronTodd

I only take issue with this statement - about other members sniping you.

For one thing, with the new ebay security measures, you have no idea who has bid or where they are in the bidding - it shows that stupid b***d for the names.

Two, as gentlemanly as SRP is, you can't expect that all 4000+ members to check to see if they're bidding against you. The truth is that they probably are.


One, if you really want something, snipe higher than you think it will sell for (and at the price you are willing to pay).

Two, take the risk of letting other SRP members know that you are wanting that razor, tell them how much you want it (what you would snipe for).

I'm willing to bet that you'll get it for less than you thought or sniped because of the gentlemen of SRP.

Byron

Byron, with all due respect, I'm referring to ancient history here, (I've been a member a LOOOOONG time, since before this site existed... do a search for jpfaster1 on the old yahoo site-and you'll no doubt see some of my first posts with complaints very similar to the OP-) and times were different. I've had exactly what I referred to occur. It was good natured ribbing, of course, but no one is going to *let* you have anything they *really* want.
If I do know someone is a member, I will often contact them; after all, it's a bit ungentlemanly (I think) to make someone pay their max price if I snipe just a bit under. I'm all for bidding at the get-go my max price-if it's not much. If we are dealing in wonderedges and the like-it makes more sense to snipe that amount. Otherwise, all an early bid of a maximum price does-is make sure you pay that amount.
Unless you are bidding on something nobody else wants.

Wonderedges, Friodurs, etc etc are not such animals.
Times do change. Wonderedges were going for $35.00 when I got into this mess, but (typical) I wanted none of them, vehemently defended my Simco and Dovo (which used not to be so popular...) and went after W&B choppers.
To each his own I guess.

If you know someone specifically wants a razor you are interested in, I would recommend that instead of listing it on the forum (other people peruse our posts also, some with REALLY deep pockets) that you PM that person; if they want it more, it can be settled before either of you pay through the nose for the thing. Otherwise, it's a good bet that NEITHER of you will win it.
Have fun and good luck.
*you could also just buy a razor or two from members* I've bought a few from Lynn, John Crowley, Dave Wessel and others...never regretted any of them.


John P.


edit: just saw your post, Gugi, it is exactly what I've been rambling to say. I agree. In fact, I recently won a razor that Robert was looking at, after PM ing him about it. I guess I wanted it more, but since I knew he was a member I didn't want to drive his price up.

Originally Posted by JohnP

If I do know someone is a member, I will often contact them; after all, it's a bit ungentlemanly (I think) to make someone pay their max price if I snipe just a bit under.

+1 for that. And I'd like to add that Byron is always quite upfront in the chat on what he's going after and what his max bid is, as exhibited by gugi's post.

Sadly with the new ebay rules we don't know who we're bidding against and will have to revert to more outside discussion of prices. It will probably result in higher prices as auctions will be more visible and some things that would have previously gone under the radar to be brought into full light. Good for ebay, bad for us IMO. But I do stand by informing the friends you learn and work with of your intentions.

JohnP,

Gotcha. I guess what I was trying to say is that part about 4000+ members and with ebay security measures, there's just no way to tell who is bidding. I guess I was taking issue with the "member gloating" part. I would have stated that they were showing off what they got - whether or not they actually intended to gloat at the person(s) who lost.

That said, I told people (about the dorko) in the chat channel and usually as a PM. Further, I backed it up. I did snipe at $301.99 - here's an image from myibay.com which I use to snipe: http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snipesaw3.jpg

And as I told everyone whom I PM'd: my intention was not to keep them from bidding, my intention was to find out if they were bidding more than I - if so, I would not have sniped at all. I did not ask anyone to not bid. I did not tell them "stay away" and I guess I trusted them that they would not snipe just below my snipe. That trust paid off.

I am with Gugi. Really what it comes down to is how much you are willing to pay for the item. No matter how long the auction is. If you are bidding low and waiting until the end thinking you won't be outbid- you are wrong. Period. However, if you bid the second the auction starts and it is your maximum bid, then you are being more realistic. If someone then tries to snipe with 2 seconds left and their snipe is lower than your maximum... you win. Anyone who snipes will be bidding once at the end and it will be the absolute most that they are willing to pay.