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How common are eBay snipers on pen auctions?


Pfhorrest

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Please describe the situation and circumstances, what you were buying, etc.

 

I really want some more information on how common this practice is with pens (if it is at all).

 

Thanks.

The sword is mightier than the pen. However, swords are now obsolete whereas pens are not.

 

-Unknown

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A while back, I got sniped on a MB Mozart. Today, I am thanking that person, wherever they may be. At the time, I thought that the Mozart would be "large enough"...now, my Delta Dolce Vita isn't big enough!

I'll take an Aurora, please. Aurora black.

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It's pretty common, the key is to know more about a pen than the average person, and be able to make simple repairs, like replacing sacs, J bars etc. You can get some great deals that snipers just pass by this way. Sometimes its takes a little trial and error to get the hang of what attracts snipers and bidders in general, and once you know enough about the pen you want visually and functionally you can find many pens that are really spectacular with out the fear of last second bids taking them away from you.

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If a sniper stands up and screams "I'm a sniper", he isnt a very good sniper now is he?

 

You may get some here that admit it, probably alot more won't. There isn't really a good reason to and conceivably some good reasons not to.

 

Suffice it to say, I think it's alot more common than you think.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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Snipers are rampant with most everything. I almost expect it. :angry:

 

When I bid, I typically bid in advance and really think though what I think something's worth to me. Then, I take my chances. I've actually had people (sniping software really) bid in the final second of an auction.

 

The only thing worse than being sniped is thinking, "Hmmm ... nice item but it's got several days left to run. I'll come back and leave a bid in a couple of days." And then forgetting.... Twice I've gone back to my watched items to find that nobody else bid and I could have had a product for, literally, a dollar. And those were items that were easily worth $60-80 each. :gaah:

Edited by PatientType
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Hi and G'day

 

I have been sniped 'often' and even once when eBay said I had 'won' the pen, the very next screen showed me second to a buyer that was competing ferociously for the pen.

 

I complained but was told I 'couldn't have seen the - you won - page'.....

 

It happens a LOT.

 

You DO beat them, and get good pens regardless though.

 

JMHO

 

Garth

Salus Populi Suprema Lex - The Safety of the People is the Highest Law.

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'Sniping' is pretty common across eBay and it's not limited to just pens. I don't really see a difference in the bidding patterns between pens and say vacuum tubes or vintage electronics, as an example. It is pretty common for the highest bids to come in at the last 10 seconds. Sniping doesn't guarantee winning. I've won many times because I was willing to pay a substantial premium for the item. I put in a very large bid and let it go. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. I figure out how much I'm willing to pay and that's that. Still, you are at a disadvantage bidding early because if you place a bid early, someone can come along and keep upping the amount and push the price you pay higher. Although, it's hard to predict the bidding patterns. I've had some auctions in the last week where I placed the winning bid well over a day before the close and that was the last bid.

 

In a live auction, the bidding only stops when no one is willing to go any higher. On eBay, you have a different bidding strategy because the bidding stops at a set time. The set closing time means that bidding late in the auction (i.e. last ten seconds) is a natural strategy. At the end of the day, it is an auction and the item goes to the highest bidder. Does it really matter whether the highest bid is placed first or last?

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I freely admit that I'm a sniper and I'm not in the least bit embarrassed or guilty about it. Nor do I understand why anyone should get upset about being sniped. There's nothing unfair or inappropriate about the practice at all. It's there and available for anyone to use - there are legions of threads here about it...... ;)

Edited by Aysedasi

http://www.aysedasi.co.uk

 

 

 

 

She turned me into a newt.......

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I also tend to decide how much to spend and in 90% of cases, I resist the temptation to up my bid when I have been outbid.

 

There are cases such as when I see a Parker 51 below the $20 mark that I bid even though it doesn't do anything for my collection. In those cases, the odds that a sniper will take it are well over the 50%. In those circumstances, neither of us was interested in the model so much, it was just the attractive price.

 

I have also got used to the idea that the fact I was outbid by $1, does not mean to say that my rival was unwilling to spend more.

 

I still can think of at least 10 cases when I won a pen at over 30% below average market price

 

Chaim

Chaim Seymour

David Elazar 8

Givat Shemuel

Israel

54032

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I freely admit that I'm a sniper and I'm not in the least bit embarrassed or guilty about it. Nor do I understand why anyone should get upset about being sniped. There's nothing unfair or inappropriate about the practice at all. It's there and available for anyone to use - there are legions of threads here about it...... ;)

I'm with Ayse on this. If I'm doing something else, I let the software bid for me.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of nothing at all...

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I freely admit that I'm a sniper and I'm not in the least bit embarrassed or guilty about it. Nor do I understand why anyone should get upset about being sniped. There's nothing unfair or inappropriate about the practice at all. It's there and available for anyone to use - there are legions of threads here about it...... ;)

I'm with Ayse on this. If I'm doing something else, I let the software bid for me.

 

+1, may auctions end at 4 in the morning, Indian Time, no option but to set up a proxy bid. Many people complain about losing the auction by a whisker, this may not be actually true, the winner's proxy bid might have been and I guess in most cases is quite higher than the final closing amount. The winner will always win by only one bid increment.

 

Thanks!

Hari

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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Please describe the situation and circumstances, what you were buying, etc.

 

I really want some more information on how common this practice is with pens (if it is at all).

 

Thanks.

 

It's very common indeed, but easily defeated. You should always bid the highest amount you are ever prepared to pay for the item, not do the $1 at a time bids thinking (wrongly) that this will mean you pay less - it won't.

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As common as fleas on a feral dog....

I snipe virtually every auction I am interested in..... and I mean 99.9% of them...

Those I don't snipe I usually find within a minute of closing and can't snipe...

 

I get a great deal of amusement from people who consider sniping wrong or underhanded and in some cases purely immoral....

It is no more underhanded than someone placing a large bid at the beginning of an auction since eBay will only increase their bid by the minimum needed to be in the lead...

I lose auctions sniping and I will sniping...

You know what my secret for winning auctions by sniping is....

I BID HIGHER THAN THE OTHER GUY..... if he had bid higher than I did at the beginning of the auction HE WOULD HAVE WON...

Don't blame snipers for beating you..... BLAME YOURSELF... YOU DID NOT BID ENOUGH...

Edited by OldGriz
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Way too common to be amusing. I do not use the sniping tactic myself and consider it to be underhand. Banning sniping would be a pretty good move. I set my maximum at the beginning and bid that amount. Some I win, some I lose, but by and large anyone setting their maximum and bidding that from the outset should not feel too bad about being upstaged by a sniper wishing to spend more.

Edited by rhosygell

Iechyd da pob Cymro

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A group of us used to make a game of sniping things on eBay. We'd pick some item and the person that won was top dog for a little while, until we played again. It was nothing but fun. Then the sniping software came out and spoiled the fun. It doesn't make any difference if someone snipes or not, that's just a silly game. You bid what you're willing to pay and forget about it until the email comes, it's really that simple.

 

If you get upset because you got sniped, you're what we called a "Bidiot". You are the reason there are shill bidders. A shill bidder is someone that bids for the seller, (usually a friend) to drive the price of an item up. If you raise your highest bid because you got beat, you are the shill bidder's prey and the seller should buy you a beer. Oh, and those ads that eBay put out "Buy Victoriously", who do you think that audience was projected to be? Hmmmm?

 

By the way, often after our silly snipe game, we would contact the bidder that wasn't playing and send the item to them gratis, to ease the pain. :thumbup:

 

You might know me from my eBay days:

 

Captain Clydesdave

Sniper Extraordinaire

At Your Service,

Clydesdave

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I've had enough experiences with snipers just to say to myself, "I'll bid on this. If I win, then yay. If I don't, then it's no skin off my back. If he wants to pay more for this item, then good for him." Although I have been one to place $10+ maximum bids and then keep watching until the last minute (by then, a snipe attempt is almost-always going to happen).

 

It's just not worth it to get upset about anymore, since sniping on ebay is normal and there isn't any rule that says "You may not snipe this item" or something like that.

 

Underhanded or not, that's just how some people play the game.

 

(and just to add--I haven't won the game yet.)

 

Lachesis

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i've been active on ebay since 1997; won some, lost more (thankfully for my bank balance). i don't have a sniping program, but have often had to do the manual equivalent of it, finger on the mouse button. as far as i'm concerned, anyone willing to pay more than me, and who puts that bid in before i do, is 100% deserving of getting that item. i see no honor or dishonor in sniping. if i don't want to be sniped i'll leave a bid high enough to get the item, no matter what.

Check out my blog and my pens

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If you bid the highest you are willing to pay for something then it doesn't matter whether you place your bid in the first 10 seconds or the last 10 seconds of an auction or if you creep your bid up over the 7 days of the auction. You will win if you are willing to pay more than everyone else and you will lose if you are not.

 

What burns my toast on Ebay is not the sniping but the shill bidding that seems to be getting more and more common with sellers of modern high end pens. I am sure the shill bidder or bidders are not typically 'friends' doing the shill bidding, but rather the seller himself. Most of them have caught on that by making multiple Ebay accounts they can make it appear that there are several bidders for a pen, and they also make it harder to spot the shill bids when you look at the winners in the feedback listings of the sellers.

Edited by Kimo
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