mad at ebay!!!

I was the only bidder on a trains magazine, when with 3 seconds left, some jerk outbids me and the auction ended. That's a bunch of crap! I heard a rumor of software that bids for you at the last second. Any truth?
 

IAIS 604

Member
Are you sayng that you had keyed in a higher auto bid that didn't take effect ?

Or did the bid just exceed your maximum bid ?

If the latter, what's to complain about?
Someone just wanted it more than you!
How is that e-Bay's fault ???
This is an auction, not a purchase!
And "it isn't over till it's over!"

Once the bid exceeds my maximum, I forget about the item.
Most items will come up for bid again sooner or later, and I will try for it again then.

If it is a one-of-a-kind item, I give my max bid a lot of thought! How much do I really want it?
And I make sure my auto bid is always set at the maximum I want to pay for the item.
 
excuse me...

but the point was
He didn't even show up as a higher bidder til 1 second before auction ended! I kept refreshing it to see if someone would outbid me so I could enter a higher bid. I didn't get how he could enter a higher bid with 3 seconds left. If he wanted to bid higher, I understand, but I think it was impossible to pull off what he did without having more insight than you and me.

I still think that was a jive move!
 
C

Catt

Sounds to me like you just got beat at your own game.Tis really a common thing on ebay.Aside from that he or she could have had a higher maximum bid than you did and won out over you.
 

Clerk

Active Member
I have outbid people several times by posting my maximum bid 1 minute before bid closing and won most of the time. A few other times when I put in my last minute bid somebody else did also and beat me by seconds.

I know it is frustating but it is all in the game.

This weekend I wanted very badly to submit a bid on some heavy passengers cars. I couldn't remember the name I registered under and everything I tried didn't work. Finally I filled out the part requesting them to send it to me by E Mail. I never did received it unless they are having the same trouble as the gauge is sending me E Mails
 

rockislandmike

Active Member
Yep; auction sniper or something like that. Although it's fairly easy to do without the software too. You just gotta be watching the auction is all.

If you bid as much as you were going to and lost, then really, what's to be angry about. If you didn't bid as much as you would've, well then . . . . . lesson learned.
 

brakie

Active Member
Guys,I will not get into a bidding war when I can sneak in at the last minute.That is when I bid my highest price for a item I am willing to pay.I been snipe and I have snipe that is part of the auction game..Now should a item go higher then what I am willing to pay or know I can get it cheaper on the net during the auction,then I will pass on that item..

CSX Engineer,I can place a bid in about 5 seconds-anybody should be able to do that if they are sign in.Also add the seconds it takes your computer to refresh and you will see it was longer then a second even if the timer said 1 second.

Now I know how you feel..I was snipe out of a very nice Atlas C&O RSD4/5 in the last 35 seconds.I was just out bid.I went as high as $55.00(to much,but those are hard to find)the final bid was $56.00 I am sure he had a higher bid then that $56.00 as it went from 45.00(his bid) and I jump the bid $10.00(my max to 55).Yeah he/she wanted it more badly then I did..Win some loose some.
 

Peirce

Member
I agree with those who say it is all part of the auction game. Sometimes I have won, and sometimes I have lost. The whole point is, I decide what my maximum will be and how much I want the item before placing my bid. If I am beat, I know some else was willing to pay a higher price.

By-the-way, this is not unique to on-line auctions. I have seen similar action at live auctions.
 

Vic

Active Member
Yep, It's kinda frustrating to get out bid in the last second of the auction but that's they way the game works. Its just a matter of bidding stratedgy. Sometime ago I posted some bidding tips on The Gauge for eBay. You should be able to find them using the search function. I haven't heard of any software that allows you to outbid. You may be reffering to proxy bidding which is built into eBay. Using proxy bidding your first bid is the highest amount that you are willing to pay for the item, eBay will then bid incrementally for you up to the amount of your high bid amount.

Just keep plugging...you'll find a stratedgy that will work for you.
 

Vic

Active Member
Thanks Bill....That's an interesting stratedgy they have. Probably works just as well as any of the others. Basically, we all may be doing the same thing in our heads and not just realizing it:eek: :D

Thanks again...I might play with it later:)
 

IAIS 604

Member
However, e-Bay's proxy (automatic) bidding really does the same thing as any "sniper" program (and is free!):

It will automatically increase your bid until your maximum is reached.

Use it or lose it!
 

Zug

New Member
Sounds like you got snipped. I've had it happen to me too. It just part of how it works...
 

spitfire

Active Member
I've heard that there are people out there who make it a practice to get items through last second bidding software. Seems to me this topic came up on another forum.
Personally, I think this is cheating, and the more popular eBay gets, the more of this you will see, which will eventually kill eBay for the rest of us, and that would be too bad.
What do these people do with the items? Resell on eBay?

cheers
Val
 

jim currie

Active Member
sniping is not my big gripe with e-bay though most of my npb's have been snipers the ones that really tick me off is the bidder that bids 10 times to out bid on a 11$ item .
 

brakie

Active Member
Val,I suspect there is a lot of collectors and speculators on e bay as well as those that buy to resell.Then you have those trying to beat the high prices..

I really don't think that any software will end sniping if the guy/gal outbids your highest bid.Say one bids $34.50 as their highest bid and somebody else bids $35.50 that guy will win at $35.00 as that is the way a auction goes in the last seconds.E bay is set up to out bid the highest last bid in this case by 50 cents..So how can any software stop last second sniping if one's highest bid has been out bid??? Now if one is foolish enough to put on a ridiculous high bid for a item he may end up paying more then what the item is really worth or could get it cheaper on the net if somebody runs up the bid and then drops it..Gotta be careful on e bay least one pays more then the going discount price on the net,through mail order or local discount hobby shop.
 

60103

Pooh Bah
ebay sneak?

I want to offer a warning to the ebay users. I just received an email asking me to verify my ebay information. As I have never used ebay for anything, I suspect this to be some sort of trolling spam. You may want to be careful before you answer something like this.
 

rockislandmike

Active Member
Not to start a war or anything, but I don't understand those that think this is "cheating".

"Cheating", by definition, is doing something outside the bounds of the rules to ensure success. "Sniping" is not against the rules, and is not even frowned upon. You can do it easily without software, but the software allows you not to have to worry when the auction ends (btw, I don't use the software, I figure if I want the item bad enough I'll make a point of being there when the auction concludes). Just makes life easier, like ALL software we use.

If you have a better argument why it is "cheating", I'm all ears.
 

Vic

Active Member
Brakie has made a darned good point....If you get caught up in the "bidding frenzy" you're gonna pay way too much. Do some "homework" before you start bidding...some of the stuff is cheaper at the LHS at full retail.:eek: and an even better price from a discounter:)

But in defense of eBay (as a seller) I gotta say "I love it". I finance my hobby activities thru infrequent selling on eBay. $50 spent at Sat. morning yardsales usually results in $300-$400 by the time I run it thru eBay.:)

All I can say is "CAVET EMPTOR...Y'ALL":D :D :D :p
 
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