F'ing ebay poachers

[detlef]

that's how it works in theory, everybody just puts in their maximum whenever, and whoever wants it most wins. in reality though, peoples' "maximum" varies based on whether they think other people are interested. detlef's story is a perfect example. the bidding is at like 900 bucks, he's thinking sweet I might get this table for under a thousand bucks. last minute he tacks on a couple hundred extra, to be "safe". if det knew the other guy's max was 1300, would he be willing to pay 1325 to get the table? would he take that offer if it were put in front of him? chances are pretty good he would, but he never gets to ask himself that question.

Yes he would

[detlef]

I'll bet the table gets flipped. Email the winner and offer him more than he paid for it. Worth a shot.

 

 

EDIT: Ah yes, private auctions hiding the bidders. Forget the advice above.

Winner's ID is kept private. However, I did e-mail the seller to tell them that I was the lead bid until seconds remained and would love to talk to them if the other buyer flakes.

[Ziachild007]

that's how it works in theory, everybody just puts in their maximum whenever, and whoever wants it most wins. in reality though, peoples' "maximum" varies based on whether they think other people are interested. detlef's story is a perfect example. the bidding is at like 900 bucks, he's thinking sweet I might get this table for under a thousand bucks. last minute he tacks on a couple hundred extra, to be "safe". if det knew the other guy's max was 1300, would he be willing to pay 1325 to get the table? would he take that offer if it were put in front of him? chances are pretty good he would, but he never gets to ask himself that question.

 

Sure he does.........when he sets his max bid. Of course it is easier to justify "just going $25 more" though. I see your point.

[Puddy]

I've used esnipe several times. Places a bid with a few seconds left. The big benefit is you can put your max bid in and it places that without giving others time to adjust. Only costs 1% of the total with a maximum of $10.

[isleseeya]

I've used esnipe several times. Places a bid with a few seconds left. The big benefit is you can put your max bid in and it places that without giving others time to adjust. Only costs 1% of the total with a maximum of $10.

 

 

suppose you and the other guy both use esnipe ..what happens ? do you both win or do you both shoot blanks ?

[yo mama]

I find buying stuff on Ebay is more stressful than it should be.

[jaxfactor]

Looks to me like there was still 36 seconds left when you made your $1200 bid. I used to have sniping down as a science, but now people can actually pay a fee to have someone snipe an item for them. So 10 seconds isn't even safe. The winner probably did put a very high bid in so don't get too down on yourself. Had you been able to place , say, a $1300 bid with 2 seconds left, it probably wouldn't have been enough.

[Brentastic]

I was the sniper on two sweet guitars a couple months back. As others have mentioned, if you're adamant about getting a particular item, it just makes sense to wait untill the last second to get the best deal possible. I got a sweet Martin electric guitar made in 1979 (EM-18) and a handmade acoustic made by a very skilled luthier named Augustino LoPrinzi. I got both at a huge bargain and it felt great being the 'sniper'!!

[detlef]

Looks to me like there was still 36 seconds left when you made your $1200 bid. I used to have sniping down as a science, but now people can actually pay a fee to have someone snipe an item for them. So 10 seconds isn't even safe. The winner probably did put a very high bid in so don't get too down on yourself. Had you been able to place , say, a $1300 bid with 2 seconds left, it probably wouldn't have been enough.

Well, I just looked at the log and see what you're talking about. Thing is, that's not how it went down. I distinctly remember hitting "confirm bid" and then seeing that I'd been out-bid and there was 1 sec remaining.

[detlef]

So, I went to e-snipe and set up and account. I've got it set up to place a bid for me on something later tonight. I noticed the default for seconds before close is 6, so I left it at that. Anyone have experience with cutting it closer?

[Sox]

I won't even bother to place a bid unless I will personally be there when it closes.I open an extra window next to the one with my maximum bid that's waiting for me to hit submit,and keep refreshing it until about 5-6 seconds left,then click the submit button in the other window.

 

If I get it at my price,so be it.If not,oh well.I refuse to get into a bidding war with anyone.

[SheikYerbuti]

Didn't really check the thread out, but I saw something about E-bay in the title, so I thought I'd drop in and tell you guys about the SWEET teak dining room table I bought. It was like $700 below market value and all I had to do was swoop in at the end of the auction and outbid some sucker. . . .

 

I ROOOOOOL!!

 

[loaf]

So, I went to e-snipe and set up and account. I've got it set up to place a bid for me on something later tonight. I noticed the default for seconds before close is 6, so I left it at that. Anyone have experience with cutting it closer?

why leave anything to chance? go to 1 second and be done with it

[Puddy]

I won't even bother to place a bid unless I will personally be there when it closes.I open an extra window next to the one with my maximum bid that's waiting for me to hit submit,and keep refreshing it until about 5-6 seconds left,then click the submit button in the other window.

 

If I get it at my price,so be it.If not,oh well.I refuse to get into a bidding war with anyone.

 

That's the beauty of e-snipe. It actually prevents the bidding war by not driving up the price until the 5 or 6 seconds you mention. In your case, it allows you the convenience of not having to be at home with two windows open hitting refresh. You put in your price and don't have to visit the auction again. If someone exceeded your price prior to the time e-snipe places your bid, you won't win anyway. So in Detlef's case he could have put his $1,200 max bid 3 days before the end of the auction but the price wouldn't have increased until 6 seconds before it ended. That's really the other big benefit, taking out the emotion of the auction. Putting your max bid on Ebay can lead to the bidding war as the price keeps going up incrementally. This is when people throw out what they initially put in as their maximum because they see they've been outbid. With e-snipe they won't know they've been outbid until it's too late to let the emotion get involved.

 

All that convenience for 1% of the end price with a maximum of $10.

[Puddy]

suppose you and the other guy both use esnipe ..what happens ? do you both win or do you both shoot blanks ?

Whoever placed the higher maximum bid will win.

 

 

If they both used the same maximum I think it comes down to rock, paper, scissors.

[Puddy]

Forgot about the bolded benefit.

 

About eSnipe

 

eSnipe serves one primary purpose for power buyers on eBay: it places bids for them during the last few seconds of the auction, a practice known as “sniping” in the online auction world. eSnipe reduces bidding wars by masking interest in auction items until the last possible moment. Because auctions on eBay take three to 10 days to close, emotional overbidding can start soon after the auction opens and last until the auction closes, instead of mere minutes as is the case in traditional offline or “outcry” auctions.

 

eSnipe protects bidders’ privacy. For example, eSnipe is popular among buyers of collectibles, who treasure the anonymity it brings them. Even on the Web, news travels fast in communities of collectors, who prefer to avoid triggering interest in an item by bidding on it too early.

 

eSnipe allows users to place bids when it’s convenient for them. Overseas users, for example, do not have to stay up to the middle of the night just to place a bid. Other users like eSnipe because it allows bids to be "canceled" up until five minutes before the auction close, whereas eBay’s terms of agreement treat any bid placement as a contract to buy.

 

Manual sniping has been widely practiced for years, often by auction enthusiasts who keep multiple browser windows running with one hand and stopwatch in the other. A class of utilities that ran on the users’ machines started the automated sniping trend, but they weren’t reliable because of inaccurate system clocks, unpredictable computer performance, and outright crashes at inopportune times.

 

eSnipe pioneered the concept of a sniping service run on high-speed dedicated servers with 24-hour support. Building on its existing success, the site’s new ownership has enhanced eSnipe with a more appealing, easier-to-use interface and optimized the automated bid-placing engine, which now manages bids more efficiently and executes them faster. eSnipe is the clear market leader with 50,000 registered users, placing more than 10,000 bids a day that average about $16 million per month.

 

eSnipe's founder placed the site for sale on eBay in December 2000. The auction was won by an eSnipe user—using eSnipe to place the winning bid.

[Puddy]

So, I went to e-snipe and set up and account. I've got it set up to place a bid for me on something later tonight. I noticed the default for seconds before close is 6, so I left it at that. Anyone have experience with cutting it closer?

I left it at 6 as well. I've won 4 auctions with esnipe and lost 3. The 3 I lost I assume was because the other bidder already had a higher maximum bid in Ebay than I used in esnipe. Esnipe can't help you in that situation.

[detlef]

I'm a f'ing sniping poacher!!!!!!!!!!

[Brentastic]

I'm a f'ing sniping poacher!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats watergirl65!!

[Brentastic]

The feedback cracked me up - apparently this ebayer has had other watergirls but detlef was the best

 

Wow! super Fast payment This Watergirl is a pleasure! AA++ Seller: smlantiks ( 2 ) May-24-08 07:52

-- (#200224005504) -- View Item

[Hugh-mongus]

I'm a f'ing sniping poacher!!!!!!!!!!

 

Congrats, watergirl.

[JoJoTheWebToedBoy]

Well, it appears that the guy who out-bid me just got himself a very nice deal. I mean, if the waters were that shark infested, there'd be at least two of him out there and I'd have been left in the dust by more than $25. I've just started looking into this furniture, so I don't really know whats a good deal and what isn't. Maybe after a while, I'll be more ready to open the wallet a bit further when something like this comes along.

 

I'm also gonna sign up for that damned sniping service!

 

Never put your bid in early, half those guys have shills... Put it on watch, decide the absolute max you are willing to pay, and then come in with 1-4 seconds left. If I really want it I have 3 windows open, one to refresh and keep track of time, one with my bid, and one with a higher bid. At 5 seconds I fire off the first one. If it comes back outbid, I release the second on (if you have a fast connection, this will generally work).

 

I find buying stuff on Ebay is more stressful than it should be.

 

And usually more expensive (once you add in outragous shpping costs) then you can find with a little research....

[Puddy]

Never put your bid in early, half those guys have shills... Put it on watch, decide the absolute max you are willing to pay, and then come in with 1-4 seconds left. If I really want it I have 3 windows open, one to refresh and keep track of time, one with my bid, and one with a higher bid. At 5 seconds I fire off the first one. If it comes back outbid, I release the second on (if you have a fast connection, this will generally work).

Or just use esnipe and spend your time enjoying life instead of waiting for the final seconds.

[JoJoTheWebToedBoy]

Or just use esnipe and spend your time enjoying life instead of waiting for the final seconds.

 

What fun would that be......

[Azazello1313]

So, I went to e-snipe and set up and account. I've got it set up to place a bid for me on something later tonight. I noticed the default for seconds before close is 6, so I left it at that. Anyone have experience with cutting it closer?

 

there's really no need. you just don't want enough time for someone to see they've been outbid, think about it, and decide they can spend more. anything in the last 20 seconds or so accomplishes this IMO.