Sniper Software

[Dawn]

I was on Ebay today and a woman selling a pink on pink And she was talking about 3rd party sniper software and not to use it to bid on her items .Because it unfair to other bidders and if we agree with this complain to Ebay  to get it banned. Anyone ever hear of this? Maybe thats why I cant seem to win any lamps I even got outbid on a poor looking faded century .Which I though nobody would want.lol.

[Brian]

yup, i get sniped all the time....
my thought is that it may be hard to prove that a program was used and a person didn't just send a bid last minute

[Erin]

I just got sniped at the last minute last night on a purple/yellow lamp on eBay. Bid sniping is indeed not fair, but there's not much you can do about it. Some person got in at under 10 secs left and got the lamp for $42. That was more than I wanted to pay for it anyway.

[Novemberchild]

Ebay sort of is "designed" for the sole purpose of sniping items. Else they'd use the same rules as in original auctions, where bidding commences until only one bidder is left.

Yet, I can see how people consider sniping "unfair" in that they are hesitant to enter the highest price they'd be willing to pay, in attempt to get the item as cheap as possible. What they probably consider the real unfairness of it, is that someone else is getting it for a low price they'd been willing to outbid, if only they'd get the chance.

I do snipe, too. That is: I give a low starting bid and then only return to the auction for the last minutes to whip out my last bid as close to the last seconds as I can manage (or find the price was already raised beyond what I'd pay).

[LampHead]

Tell that lady to pound sand. Sniper programs just cut out the BS bidders. I have seen auctions where the same person will bid 20 times, that is crazy. People who are against sniper programs just dont understand how they work. Why would you bid $ 3 on a item you know is worth more just because the bid is $ 2 ? Its crazy. One low bid to "lock" the item so someone dont offer the seller a lowball buy it now offer and then bid your highest price your willing to pay in the last few seconds. You can bid 1 million dollars but no matter what you are still only going to pay (on average) $2.50 more then the next highest bidder.

Example : 2 people are bidding on a lamp, leap frogging each other by a dollar or so each time, currently they have each bid 10 times and the item is at $30, in the last few seconds I place a bid at $ 1000 and win the item for $32.50 while the other 2 stooges wonder what happened. Why would I want to get into a bidding war with anyone ? Just put up your highest bid and let it fall where it may. People just do not understand how Ebay works that is why they get upset, dont hate the player hate the game. There is absolutely no reason why someone should be bidding 10 plus times in the same auction, they just do not understand what they are doing. Im not trying to rip anyone but I have seen people complain about sniper programs before but in reality they just dont understand the game they are playing.

Sellers objective : Get the highest price possible
Buyers objective: Pay the lowest price possible

Here is a good example of 2 people outbidding each other and then 1 guy comes in at the end and beats them both http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=110564974638 Why did s***s place a bid for 30.50 then 38 then 40 then 45.50 then 47.77 then 50 then 53 ? Because hes got no idea what hes doing, sorry if s***s is a member here, just try to learn what is going on before you start bidding.


LampHead

[Erin]

I think sniping SOFTWARE is unfair. I should have clarified.

[LampHead]

How is sniping software unfair ? Until I started working from home a year ago I was putting in 70 hour work weeks so I did not have "time" to sit around and bid. Now that I work from home I can bid anytime of the day basically. Should I have been excluded from bidding before because I could not be around at the time the auction ended ? It does not matter if you use sniper software or not, the highest bid ALWAYS wins, nothing unfair about that. I am not setting my whole day around a Ebay auction, I take one shot and use the biggest bullet I have. Learn about sniping software and I guarantee you will see what I am talking about.


LampHead

[Erin]

Then why not place one bid at the beginning (the most you're willing to pay) and then let it go? No time wasted there. What's the advantage to the software?

My goal in bidding on something is to get something I like at the lowest price possible, hence, sometimes the bidding war.