A snipe is just another bid that somebody had to enter somehow I think you just get pissed because you thought you were going to win all the way up until the final moment and then you didn't If you watch until the final minute, you are no different than the next guy who watches until the final minute, and seeing he is behind, places a bid to beat yours. If you don't watch until the final minute, what difference does it make when the winning bid came in? You lose whether the highest bid came a minute before or an hour before I don't get it!
Seems to me the flaw (if you can call it one) is the anonymous and online nature of eBay. This isn't like a live auction where an auctioneer gives three or more chances for somebody to up the last bid. Where there is plenty of time before the gavel bangs for someone else to keep it going. Can't do that online or they would never move any product. How would you know when that last interested bidder might show up? Only two ways around it I see are to have each auction monitored by an employee (not very realistic) or place some rule in effect where if a snipe comes in at the last second the bidding closes, but the sale actually remains open for another hour only to those that participated who are then allowed to send one final bid hidden from everybody else. You'd have to guess how high everybody else went as would they. That's kind of awkward too and may not pass closer inspection. I can definitely see why it would piss someone off who has diligently followed and bid on an item for a week only to lose it with 2 secs. to go. Given the nature of the beast however, I gotta say I don't see how it's unethical or immoral. You just can't compare it to live auctioning; they aren't the same. It's just strategy. Sniping was the inevitable evolution to online auctions. I believe in fairness and gentlemanly behavior as well, but I just don't see where this crosses that line. Don't hate me Fuzzy!
It's because they had the high bid for 6 days and lost it with one bid the last few seconds I don't have the patience, if an item I'm looking for is more than a day out I start looking for Buy It Now options... then and only then I start putting things in my snipe queue and forget about them until I get the 'You Won' email. Less stressful, saves time, I don't have to sit at the computer, and I don't forget.
I think what pisses me off the most is the snipers that are strictly buying to re sell.....period. If a another shaver outbids me at the last second....fine. The the guys that you can see buy and them and then re sell them 2 weeks later? A-holes. I have found myself spending more than i was willing to pay b/c these morons. That is why I will stick to my gameplan. Enter the highest I am willing to pay and walk away. The the moron wants to pay premium....all power to the goon and hope he loses his ass on it trying to resell it. I pissed of a member at the B b/c I called him out but I didnt know it was him? That Mertje guy.......why the hell is he even using the b/s/t as a store front? Thats a whole other story? He is Scotts buddy JK!!!!
What I like to see is when someone places a ridiculously high proxy bid and then someone places a ridiculously high snipe bid, and some sucker just got stuck with an item for 10 times what it is worth.
Therein lies the rub. While I'm at my computer trying to win manually some person could win with a computerized snipe and not even be online, or even awake. They could be on a beach somewhere with a Margartia getting a foot massage. I like the idea of reopening an auction if someone bids in the last 30 seconds. No fees and a captive audience of collectors. Trolling eBay, offering to buy it now from sellers who don't have that listed as an option and then re selling on a forum out of sight of the original sellers and without fees is poor form IMO.
No, no, he's better than that. Better to slave at the PC, watching laboriously over an auction just in case he needs to place a manual snipe Absolutely no massages until the auction is over. Okay maybe I go a little far. I don't mean it personally of course, MT and I will admit maybe I am blind from my own way of seeing it
All's fair in love and war. Here's how I view it. I set a price I'm willing to pay in the proxy bidder. Then I leave it alone. If I see I got outbid, I reconsider increasing my maximum. Usually I don't. It's business. If someone is willing to pay more than I am, have at it. If I have to have it no matter the cost, then I'll do whatever is necessary to get it. That includes sniping. However, I have yet to come across an item I've wanted that bad. And, I've yet to buy any shave related items on eBay. There is absolutely no way around sniping in a fixed ending auction. None.
I'd like to see something like 'SnipeBay'... where an auction starts with 3 days max and everyone puts in their max bid, then with 10 seconds left it's open season lol.
Wow, all of this is really breaking my heart. :sad023 And maybe Michael Jordan should have been forced to play with his shoelaces tied together to "even things out".
I would love to see the auction extended by out to two minutes anytime a high bid is topped within the last two minutes.
If there was a mechanism in place to prevent sniping it would increase the average winning bid dramatically. Sure, it would be a lot more fair to everybody if they always had a chance to bid again. But, it wouldn't prevent those who are willing to pay more from paying more, or you from paying more trying to outbid them. Those who insist on this back and forth, drive the cost up, bidding early on only ensure that the snipers will be setting a higher snipe. Later, gotta go snipe.
It is one thing if it is someone that has been bidding on the item all along also. Quite another if the fellow jumps in with a big and people who have been working on it have no chance to out bid him. If the person sniping jumps in th elast 10 seconds there is no chance to overbid him. Even if you do change your mind. That is my hassle with it. Maybe a guy on the side line that has not been playing the game should be allowed to jump off the bench or out of the stands and score a game winning basket in the last 10 seconds, that he has no time to reply to, to beat him after he worked to build up a lead. Fuzzy
What are you "working on," besides driving the final price up? IMHO, it is quite simple. Assess the items value, compare that to what you are willing to pay, and then place your bid. If you place that bid early you only provoke the other guy to "gauge your interest." If you snipe, you will have a better chance of winning because you haven't driven the price up and you haven't given away your hand. We all have a different approach, some just work better than others. BTW - Since my last post I sniped an auction and lost. The guy that placed his bid a day ago wanted it more and I'm OK with that.
This auction is a perfect example. I could have bid earlier and outbid him. Which likely would have caused him to bid again and maybe me again. The outcome regardless of who won the auction would have been a higher winning bid. What's the point? The key is to be OK with losing. Another will always come along. I just joined TSD and I'm already quoting myself.
