Thread: Sniping

Originally Posted by Bruno

By bidding early, I give away an indication of value to less knowing people, I point attention to it. Even if my in-person bid would be the same, my chances of winning are higher when using sniping.

That is just a speculation on your side. Another speculation might be - "by displaying my determination to get the item early, I am signaling that others' chances of getting a bargain are tiny here".

Originally Posted by sparq

That is just a speculation on your side. Another speculation might be - "by displaying my determination to get the item early, I am signaling that others' chances of getting a bargain are tiny here".

My theory is similar to Bruno's

Mine is backed up by personal experience. In auctions that have zero bids when I choose to either bid or schedule a snipe, I win those which I schedule to snipe by more than a 2:1 margin.

I'm of the opinion that it's just bad business to bid up an item until the auction is almost over anyway. When I see a razor hit $120+ with 4-5 days to go, it's just baffling. It's the same with guys listing active auctions which will inevitably draw attention to them and likely increase the final prices. Why anyone would do that is beyond me

Originally Posted by richmondesi

I'm of the opinion that it's just bad business to bid up an item until the auction is almost over anyway. When I see a razor hit $120+ with 4-5 days to go, it's just baffling. It's the same with guys listing active auctions which will inevitably draw attention to them and likely increase the final prices. Why anyone would do that is beyond me

+1 You took the words right out of my mouth. Why get more people interested?

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

My theory is similar to Bruno's

Mine is backed up by personal experience. In auctions that have zero bids when I choose to either bid or schedule a snipe, I win those which I schedule to snipe by more than a 2:1 margin.

IMO, there is no generic system that works better in all cases; and our individual experiences may not form a representative enough sample set that would favor one theory statistically (we need Jimbo!).

I won my best deals with early bids positioned just a tad above where I was expecting the snipes, the winning margins being less than $1 in many cases.

I do not get sucked into bidding wars OTOH.

We all get frustrated with auctions no matter if it's on the computer or in person. Heck, I wasn't even playing on an even field...i need to at least know what technology is out there and available to all. Talking about feeling like the villiage idiot...

I think that is the key right there...we can all do it. It's like setting the parking brake & turning off the motor or turning off the motor and setting the parking brake...the brake is set no matter. The rest is just opinions

Originally Posted by Bruno

Look, even if I am not prepared to pay more than X, why should I give anyone else the benefit my appraisal of its value?

By bidding early, I give away an indication of value to less knowing people, I point attention to it. Even if my in-person bid would be the same, my chances of winning are higher when using sniping.

I understand your point about the appraisal. I've felt like I've been a victim of this a few times.

I am also guilty of placing an early bid... and (now that I am thinking about it) I do lose more auctions than I win.

I guess it's more of a hobby for me than a do-or-die situation where I have to have an item.

Maybe I have yet to run across such an item on the 'bay.

live by the snipe and die by the snipe, it is a rush!!!

Originally Posted by sparq

IMO, there is no generic system that works better in all cases; and our individual experiences may not form a representative enough sample set that would favor one theory statistically (we need Jimbo!).

Actually that is not subjective, Jimbo isn't the only statistician and the data backs up Bruno's theory and is inconsistent with yours.

Originally Posted by sparq

I won my best deals with early bids positioned just a tad above where I was expecting the snipes, the winning margins being less than $1 in many cases.

You cannot infer anything from this statement. You have to compare against wins with the exact same strategy for determining your bid and only varying the time when you place it. And don't forget the comparison of the auctions you lose as well.

Originally Posted by Hydaral

So we are to assume that the maximum bid that someone specifies on eBay is not actually their maximum bid, just the amount they are willing to pay before seeing what other people will pay for the exact same item.

Is this some sort of variation on "I only want something if someone else wants it too".

That's not an assumption, that's a fact. What I am surprised with is that it's news for many of you