Should eBay eliminate sniping?

ccantiqs · Joined: 24 Jul 2002 Posts: 19

Susu, you're dead wrong - it's obvious youve never been to an live auction. An auctioneer will continue as long as there are bids. The 'going going gone' is a call for more bids and if someone bids, the auctioneer will keep taking them. Ebay doesnt, it just ends the auction whether someone wants to bid more or not - which makes no financial sense for either them or the seller. Ebay should WANT the bidding to go on as long as possible, take make them more money. Which is, as all of us who have used Ebay for years have come to know, their entire reason for being. Ebay started out for a very different reason, but now it's just another big corporation.

The way that Ebay can eliminate sniping is to eliminate access from sniping websites. It shouldnt be that hard to tell if someone is logged into the Ebay system and trying to bid, versus a computer logging into the system from a sniping service.

But I personally think that it would make MUCH more sense to extend auctions as long as people want to bid. As a seller and as a buyer I would be much happier with Ebay if they did this.

Carol

FraverCo

Here's my late entry 2 cents.

There is one foolproof method of killing snipers on the item you just have to have.

Got a pen and paper to right this down?

"Bid the highest amount of money that you are willing to spend on your item."

Simple as that.. Proxy Bidding works, if you know how to use it.
It's silly to bid $5 and peeking on ebay every hour to see if you've been outbid. I think it's funny to buy a service from ebay to page you when you've won or been outbid.

All Snipers & most regular bidders i've experienced, bid on the last few minutes/seconds of the clock.

It's so obvious when snipers pop in the last second of your $4.95 auction to bid $10.00... You still get it if you bid $10.00 and up..

BUT... If you made a bid of $100 and a sniper comes in and bids $100.01, Don't whine. As your bid shows, you couldn't afford that extra cent for that item..

Sniper Whiners

FraverCo - www.fraverco.com

mindelec · Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Posts: 23

FraverCo · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:43 pm Post subject:

wayfarer · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 9

I do have to agree that sniping software is redundant, but at the same time, I do have to admit that I purchased the digital camera that I wanted because of sniping software. Sniping software fills the niche for those that don't fully grasp the auction concept. I'd have to add too though that I think that with retailers with auctions that the concept of "auctions" in the true sense is getting lost.

Chris
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dsteiner · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2003 9:06 am Post subject: Interesting new twist...

A service called Sellathon, which is an auction analytics tool, will have a feature that lets sellers know when a snipe bid has been placed on their auction.

Story's here:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m12/i10/s01

What kind of effect, if any, do you think that this could have on auctions and/or sniping?

Bead*Happy · Joined: 07 Dec 2003 Posts: 14 Location: Hayward CA

I snipe. I don't think eBay should eliminate sniping - eBay should eliminate glitches and shilling! After watching my early proxy bids get slowly nibbled to death, I quit early proxy bidding. It was painful to watch. The resulting price may be the same, but I don't have to watch my proxy get slowly nibbled away. It also gives me more time to research the item, see if there are others I would prefer out there and doesn't commit me to an auction for days. I like knowing immediately if I have won or lost. If I won, I pay immediately. Talk about instant gratification!

Bid Once
Bid Your Max
Bid Late

Snipe on!
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arthur · Joined: 21 Dec 2003 Posts: 2

toolman · Joined: 30 Aug 2002 Posts: 77 Location: Canada

I beleive what she said and from what I gather that it is only the online bid sniping programs that they are aware are going to snipe the auction as they appear to ping ebay before hand to make sure that the auction info is all correct and thus Sellathon knows that a snipe is going to be placed and from what IP address so they can block it. I know in my case I have two work stations with Auction Scoop setup - just in case one fails and they never ping ebay and place my bid in the last millisecond, so there is no way they could possibly know.

But again - sniping is one of the worst things to ever hit ebay from a sellers point of veiw - I will not go into it again as I have said it all before and yup I love sniping as a buyer but it actually hurts me too as lots of items get removed about 12 hours 15 minutes before end time because the seller gets cold feet - happens all the time especially from newbies.

The sell thru rate is way down and so are the prices and I attribute a lot of it to sniping.

I racked my brain with a way to encourage bidding from the get go so we have elected two things:

1) bid sniper protection - the item will not close till 5 minutes after last bid has been place period !! and everybody who is watching or bidding gets an email letting them know that a higher bid has been placed - so no point to sniping.

2) gave the seller the option to end the action once a bid has been placed that exceeds his reserve and accept the high bid now- just like a buy it now.

Buyers that want the item will know they could lose it at any time maybe for less than they are willing to spend - so if smart will place their proxy early so that they are always the high bidders so that doesn't happen to them.

Regards
Frank

arthur · Joined: 21 Dec 2003 Posts: 2

toolman · Joined: 30 Aug 2002 Posts: 77 Location: Canada

We have dealt with the issue the best way we feel is possible:

He is and excerpt from our U1 the Advantage page:

Option to Accept Auctions High Bid - Once a bid has been placed and if over Sellers Reserve - The seller is given an option "Seller End Auction: End Now, Accept High Bid "- which works exactly like the buy it now where the seller accepts the current high bid - the auction ends and all contact info is sent to both buyer and seller to complete transaction.

and

Auction Bid Sniper Protection Auction will not close till "5 minutes after last bid" - all bidders receive email notification that a higher bid has been placed

This hopefully will keep buyers guessing and bidding early.

Our attitude is that we are really representing the seller - and any way we can possibly get them the most exposure and best dollar for their item the better.

For a complete explanation see this link:

http://www.u1america.com/cgi-bin/u1/usa.pl?action=the_advantage

Regards
Frank

mvander · Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 2

I've never understood those who gripe about sniping...its simple. Bid your highest price up front - proxy bidding will take care of the rest. You'll never get sniped again.

-Mike
www.homescoop.com
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mbright1 · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 10:08 am Post subject:

It should be pretty obvious by now, telling people to put up a proxy bid for the most they're willing to pay isn't the answer.
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HoldenRex · Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 546

I do snipe sometimes, but frequently I'll place my maximum proxy bid on an item, usually during the last day or two of the auction. If I win, I'm happy. If I get outbid, then somebody was willing to pay for more than I, and I accept that and move on to the next auction.

I've been buying and selling on ebay for over five years, and it's still not obvious to me - how is maximum proxy bidding not the answer?

john

budgetholder · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 1 Location: New Jersey

Most people snipe because they do not want to pay more.
If auctions are made to automatically extend with late bids and a very wealthy person is bidding, it will go on until the poorer people drop out.

The wealthiest bidders will win whether they snipe or not. There are people with virtually limitless amounts of money. They don't care what they pay so they won't bother to snipe. If they want something badly enough, they will enter a bid of $10,000 in the beginning and go about their business and pay whatever the early bidders "leap-frogged" it up to.

As an occasional seller, I always hope for early bidders because they will bring the price up.

As a bidder, do I like it when people bid early? No. Some bidders don't like snipers. But, I defend the right for people to bid early or late. I would prefer it if everyone sniped because we would set our maximum, as we should, bid once and be happy if we lost if someone paid more than we wanted to spend. If eBay eliminated sniping by automatic time extension, I would promptly terminate my membership. It eliminates my method of paying LESS.

[b]What I think should change:[/b] The "Bid" button on eBay is mislabeled. It should say, "Enter your BUDGET" because that's exactly what it is.

If you don't understand that, then you don't understand how the eBay proxy mechanism works and should do some reading to learn about it.

The argument that a dialup line is a handicap that prevents sniping is weak. I successfully sniped at typical speeds of 35K when I had dialup.

[b]Conclusion:[/b] We're not always going to be happy with how an auction goes and changing the rules just to suit us is equivalent of eliminating a democratic characteristic in eBay. I think the system is good and accept the fact that I won't always be happy with the outcome.

If you want a boundless auction with no time limit, but ends with the person with the most money, go to a real auction house and bid away your house and children if it makes you happier. I don't have the money for that kind of auction, so I don't attend and so it would be with eBay if they worked that way.

I would, however, argue that sniping software might be unfair. If you don't have the time to sit there and participate, get a better job that allows you the time or make the time. Sniping software literally changes the rules by making an early bidder a late bidder. Sometimes I can't be present for the auction, so I put in a higher early bid and hope for the best.