eBay - why can't I win on that stupid site
 

I've been trying to win a Leinies Red (canoe) Tap Handle on eBay and I lose every time. BTW, it's for my Kegerator. I wait until 5 seconds are left and place my last bid only to lose again! I get sniped every time. What's the trick to wining on eBay?

Anyone got a Leinies Red Canoe Tap Handle?

-Steve

Sniping
 

Yeah, it pisses me off, too. But usually what happens is you place a last-minute bid and you lose because someone else actually bid higher some time ago. The only thing you can do is drop in your highest bid at the last minute. If you lose it's because someone was willing to go over your high bid. If you win, it will only be by a minimal amount over the next-highest bid. The system does not make you pay anymore than the minimum bid amount over the next lowest bid.

http://www.vrane.com/

A free service. You register, put in the item #, your ebay password and max bid. It automatically inserts your bid and password in the final few seconds of the auction. :cheers:

SnipeBay
 

yeah thanks guys I guess I was really venting about SnipeBay. Someone else is always willing to pay more and I lose out...

It's easy. You really want it, how much are you willing to go. In that last few seconds place your bid, say $5, $10, or $20 higher than you were going to bid. The system will only bid up the small increments not the entire amount you placed because that is your maximum. The guy you are going against probably has a high bid already in place. Me, I would do it in the last 8 seconds to give system to counter bid. It's a crap shoot...all in the timing. :cheers:

It's not difficult. Be the highest bidder, and you win. If someone else is willing to pay more - it really doesn't matter if they bid early, or at the last minute - they still win.

The reason people like to bid last minute is because people DON'T enter the maximum they are willing to pay for an item. If you are willing to pay $100, they why are you entering an initial bid of $25, and waiting to get outbid before upping it to $35, etc.?

Also keep in mind, that if an auction has more than one bidder, the winning bid will ALWAYS be for a minimal amount over the 2nd place bid. An example: your 2nd place bid was for $30, and someone else wins the auction for $30.50, so naturally you are frustrated, because you would have happily paid 50 cents more for the item. But what you don't know is what the maximum bid the other person entered is. Perhaps it was $40 or $45? So they would have won anyway even if you had bid slightly more than your max of $30.

Once again, it's simple. Figure out the maximum you are willing to pay, and bid that amount. If you win, great! If not, someone else was willing to pay more.

I have a strategy that I employ (will share via PM) that unfortunately has become necessary because so many play right into Ebay's hands by using automated bidding.

That automatic bidding by far the worst thing that has happened to Ebay in the 12 years I've been using it. "Ebay will take your highest bid and engage in a furious bidding war so that you win!"<----this is literraly what they once had on their site pusing automated bidding. Why on Earth would you ever want to be part of bidding war if you can avoid it?? It guarantees that Ebay gets its maximum commission and the buyer's probability of getting a good deal vaporizes. Great for sellers and Ebay but terrible for bidders willing to put in the effort to scratch out a great deal. And those paypal fees are so high that automated bidding is seen as a necessary evil by sellers on no reserve auctions. Nice how Ebay set that up... They win both ways.

Its kinda like showing up to a dealer auto auction during a blizzard or monsoon.
If those interested in bidding actually have to be there it makes for a great auction. If these software programs let EVERYONE sit on the beach while human bidders are watching the countdown clock it creates a dis-incentive for future auctions. Next thing you know fewer and fewer bidders bother to show up. A really stupid move in the long run for Ebay because they will and have disgruntled long time users start using Amazon instead. Seems like more and more Ebay is just awash in product getting no bids because the margins are down to nothing for sellers and its become less of an auction site and more of billboard. And It's simply not worth the Ebay hassle if something goes wrong with the product down line just to save a few bucks on Ebay. Amazon is much easier to deal with in the event of a problem or dispute with the Ebay seller. If I'm not wrong, Ebay is still the only major E-Commerce corporation that you can't simply call up on the phone to complain as a buyer (only powersellers). That's just farking unacceptable for a compnay raking in billions.

Agreed. I love ebay as a concept, but hate the way it's being run. Seems like every change ebay makes is some sleazy way for it to make more money, rather than to improve the service. Another example. Used to be, search results automatically came up in time-ending-order. Now, the default order is something called "best match," which seems to place items in order of which ebay makes the most money on. Another: when creating a posting, Ebay often will send a "warning" that your shipping is too high - because they don't get a cut of shipping. Craig Newmark should get a Nobel Prize for fighting off ebay's attempts to takeover (and destroy) craigslist. :cheers:

As mentioned, enter your highest bid, but don't enter round numbers. If your maximum bid is $100, enter it as $100.51 or $100.76. With over 600 transactions, I've taken many an item in the last seconds by .50 to .75 cents.

So you're the guy that sniped my Leinies Red Tap Handle! LOL :o)

When I really really want something off eBay, I wait until there's ten seconds left and put in my first and only bid. None of that automatic bidding for me.

And it's for $500 more than I am willing to pay. I kid you not!

Yeah, I know I could get hammered if some other village idiot like myself is doing the same thing, but frankly, I think I'm the only one with balls big enough to do it because no one has made me pay far more than the item's resale value.

And man, it pisses off the snipers. I even get hate PM's from them.

Now I don't do this every time I bid on eBay items. Only when I want something badly.

For example, the wife collects a discontinued pattern of china by Christian Dior and the coffee mugs are simply never found for sale... anywhere. So when they came up for auction near her birthday (rare timing), I did this and got them for $12.56 more than I thought the final bid might be on the auction.

^ I know two village idiots who did the same thing and ended up paying more for a used item than they would have for a brand spankin new item with warranty. That was a very happy seller. That's why if you do go with the nuclear option it probably makes sense to bid the maximum retail value and no more. Also, ten seconds is an eternity. That's just asking for the snipers to drive up your winning price. pointless! I don't think I've ever entered a bid with more than 30 seconds to go and I'm rarely the only one to do so. But you are correct a bidder that knows what he is doing adheres to the strict code of one shot one kill.

I won!
 

For what it's worth I finally won what I was looking for on eBay and I only paid $9.99 for it but it does have a few scratches. oh well...

Thanks for all the comments and tips!

-Steve

My Kegerator is complete!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110519342269&ssPageNam e=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Congrats chitowndad...

Perfectlap, those coffee mugs were worth $125 each to me to see my wife's face light up on her birthday... horribly overpriced for sure, but they do not make them any longer and those who own them are hoarding them.

I'm quite selective with my nuclear option :)

I've settled on the 10 second rule because I've had computer operator errors as well as "you are not logged into ebay" <-- oh crap! or my internet connection goes limp and well, ten seconds is about as close to the end as I am comfortable with right now.

You're right though... snipers wait until there's ONE second left to do it.

Mmmmmmmm.......Kegerator....If I had one of those there would be problems. :cheers: The Vrane option has proven effective for me, put in your max bid, forget about it. If you get an email congratulating you on being the high bidder, pay. If you get nothing, move on. I'm pretty fortunate in that there's not much stuff out there I gotta have, not much of a collector either. I have sold things on ebay that buyers asked me specifically not to leave feedback on due to better halves' ramifications, seriously. People went GAGA stupid for nos muscle car parts a few years back lol. In the end they're just things.

peoples complain here about snipping.. they didn't change nothing..
You just fix your amount your ready to bid and bid it, if it's not enought to win well you just have to bid more!...

The only bad thing on ebay is bidding too early, like putting your max bid a few days before the end.., witch give peoples more time to think if they want to spend an extra 5$ to outbid you and change their anser from no to yes .. :)

I always manually bid in the last few minutes, and if I loose it's because someone else wanted it more than me.. or that I'mm too cheap ;)

Have a great week-end and happy bidding :)