Does bidding early send the wrong message?

So if youknow how high you would go what's the difference if you bid early or late?

 

I just put my bid into esnipe when it is convenient for me. The software does the sniping. I'm innocent.

I've won a lot more auctions after going this route.

 

Same here.
Since I'm really just "making an offer" rather than "bidding," I consider what I'd pay, enter the amount, and be done with it.
I've been doing this on ebay for years and have very good results. Maybe it's because I'm after things that no one else wants, but I've gotten some incredible scores for a low early bid, which is often just a few cents above the minimum.
If I win great, but if I don't win it's no big deal.

 

That's my M.O. as well. I put a very small bid in just to "mark" the auction and then return to it near the close in order to put in my max bid at the last minute. I'm rarely still the high bidder by that time and the subsequent bids can let me know what I'm up against.

 

I've never used a sniper program. We've never met and they want my eBay password? I always got stuck there.

Anyway, sniping is evil except when I do it, or when you do it on my auction.

I can't tell you how many auctions I've forgotten to snipe at the last minute, so I very often bid early. Otherwise I have to put signs up around my apartment.

 

Thanks Hal. I think I'm going to try this.

 

Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, except that I suppose the snipers could just wait 'til the last second of the grace period.

Still, I've lost a few items to snipers and it kills me. One situation was when I put a $400 bid on the rare Australian pressing of the "Profondo Rosso" soundtrack. I thought for sure no one else was nutty enough to pay that. At the time it seemed like that was WAY more than I wanted to pay anyway, but when you put a $400 bid on something, it sure sucks to lose it to a guy who bids $402. I mean geez, at that point, I could have just thrown in a few more bucks...

 

When I see an early bid on a common item, I think "Ah, cool, let this guy have it. He wants it more than I do, so I'll get the next one." If someone comes in and bids it up, then that's great for the seller. But I don't get very emotional about my bids - there are things that I've won on Ebay that I've waited nearly 3 years for.

 

I'm usually cool over bidding strategies but those plus last bid plus $1 snipers sure do irritate me.

 

The thing about sniping is that if you don't play you are really penalized.

I've lost several auctions the past few weeks and at least it gives one a fighting chance.

 

Every time someone snipes it would extend the auction by 5 minutes. The auction would finally end when a five minute period would expire without a bid.

 

There is no difference if you place your maximum bid early, and all the other bidders are snipers. I actually don't mind the snipers. The outcome is the same, whoever puts the highest bid in will win. Doesn't matter if you placed your bid several days before the end of the auction or in the last few seconds.

The only time when early bidding can have a bad influence is, when other bidders (not snipers) come along, and put in several bids, increasing the price piece by piece. This typ of bidding by others you can (maybe) avoid with sniping, but only if no other bidder plays his maximum bid early.

 

I might say "I'm willing to pay $50 for that DCC" and feel that's my limit, but if you say I could actually get it for $51, of course I'd take it at that price. Maximums make sense, but those times you lose by a buck... ouch!

 

My proposed system is still an auction - it's a blind auction. Heck, it might even generate HIGHER bids since you have no idea what anyone else will bid. It won't happen - I doubt ebay feels any need to change their system - but it'd prevent sniping and allow people to figure out their TRUE maximums without worrying about some SOB undercutting them at the last second...

 

I bid early with my true maximum and then let it ride. I have no trouble winning plenty of auctions, many with sniping attempts. When I do lose it's because someone is willing to pay more than I'm willing. In fact bidding early has one advantage, in the event of a tie, early bidder wins. It's happened to me twice, in one case there were 6 snipes. The highest was exactly the same as my max bid so I won.

The difficult part is figuring out what your true maximum is. It's easy to underestimate what you are willing to spend on an item and bid too low.

Mark

 

Isn't that how it is done on Audiogon? At least it used to be done like that. The auction did not end until there had been no new bids for X-minutes (I think it was 5 minutes).

That seems fair to me. The seller gets the maximum price and the buyers don't have to draw down in the middle of the street at high noon. Of course, for some that is all the fun.

 

Unless it's my auction. I'll wait until just before the 12 hour limit comes up, and raise the price if there's no bids. The snippers get bit, and I get a little more money.

 

I only bid once, in the last five seconds and rather high. I've only lost an auction I really wanted to win once. I've gotten a few discs remarkably cheap this way, also.

That said, I don't use eBay much; I don't like it. I only use it if I feel it is necessary to fill a hole in my collection. I'm on a furious buying rampage, because this stuff isn't going to get any less expensive as time marches on...

 

Not if their maximum bid was $500.00. Regardless of their maximum bid, eBay increments their maximum bid only enough to outbid the previous bid. At that bid amount, the increment is 2 dollars.

 

So, at what point in the auction does a bidder become an SOB??

At what point does one become a sniper?? Two seconds?? Five seconds?? Ten seconds??

The ONLY difference between an SOB sniper and any other bidder is when the bid was made. A bid at 1 second is still within eBay rules, and is just as valid and ethical as any other bid.

WOW. Snipers are SOBs, but this is OK??

 

Huh? You're saying you shill bid on your own auctions to make more money for yourself?

 

Sure - I've been one of those self-described SOBs due to necessity at times. I don't like it, but unfortunately, that's the way the stupid game works.

I just would prefer a different way. Blind auctions sound good, and I like the idea that apparently works somewhere else: the bidding ends only when the deadline has passed AND no one has bid for five minutes. That eliminates snipers entirely and means that the true highest bidder - not the one with the quickest fingers - gets the item.

Sniping sucks, and I hate that it's a necessary evil sometimes...

 

Item X opens at $10. I'm willing to pay $30 for it, and Joe Bloggs is willing to pay $40. But Joe doesn't bid $40 off the bat -- he acts like he's in a "regular" auction, and starts his bidding at $10. An hour later someone else bids $11, so Joe bids $12. Then someone else bids $13, so Joe bids $14.

This goes on for a while.

Eventually it's the final few seconds of the auction, it's up to $23 and Joe's the top bidder! He's gonna win, yay Joe! Then I come in five seconds before the end and bid my maximum: $30. Ding -- bidding closes, sold to Lazlo for $24. That's $16 less than Joe is willing to pay...but he doesn't have time to get in another bid! The horrible sniper has stolen the item out from under him!

Here's the difference between bidding your maximum early and and bidding your maximum late:

If I bid my maximum ($30) early, I lose -- because Joe (who's willing to pay $40) comes along later and bids $31.

If I bid my maximum ($30) late, I win -- because Joe (who's willing to pay $40) doesn't have time to come along later and bid $31.

Sniping isn't necessary to win every auction, but it maximizes your chances of winning if you're bidding against a Joe. And there are a lot of Joes on eBay.

 

I don't get this at all. I find eBay auctions at best boring and at worst a PITA. No thrill for me, whether I win or lose. For years, all I did was BIN. Now I am back to bidding. I just bid once, early, and then wait for my email from eBay saying either I won or I was outbid. If I am outbid, I don't bother to bid again. No biggie.

 

I used to snipe long before the services became available...it seemed the most logical thing to do, and I was quite successful at it, because only the dedicated would do it.

Now with the services available, it's necessary because so many do it and the fun is gone.
I enjoyed it back then despite the fact that sometimes I was at a friend's, and I'd have to ask; "Do you mind if I use your computer for a second..."