Don't you just hate it......

[CometMan]

Like several others have already said, you don't really know how much you got beat by, you only see what the next bid increment it took to beat you was!

[Harry P.]

It's tough to beat the sniping software.

I've given up on bidding completely... I only deal with BIN or "best offer" items.

[Ace-Garageguy]

It's tough to beat the sniping software.

I've given up on bidding completely... I only deal with BIN or "best offer" items.

With a fast connection and a high number for something you really want, you can beat it every time. All it depends on is the maximum number the sniper software is authorized to bid to. If you're higher with your last-few-seconds bid, YOU win...not the sniper...and you ONLY pay whatever the additional specific-to-that-auction increment extra is, NOT your maximum bid.

People seem to think that if you bid $200 in the last few seconds and the next highest bid is $75 that YOU get stuck paying $200. NOPE. You pay only $76 (or, one more time, whatever the minimum increment is for that particular auction, plus the next-highest bid).

[Craig Irwin]

....when your bidding on a desired model on eBay (case in point a vintage, complete, unbuilt AMT Pacer wagon with a low starting price. Item# 172131966848), and you lose out on it by a stupidly cheap amount ($3.00). Dam, and I really wanted it too. Oh well.

 

They did you a favor, that kit is in the list to be reissued soon.

 

[Tom Geiger]

It's tough to beat the sniping software.

If you can't beat em, join em!   I have bids lined up all this coming week.  There's nothing on this list that would get me up in the middle of the night to bid!  My bids will be expertly executed at precisely six seconds before the auction ends.  There is an eBay sales reality that people want things other people want. So the item becomes much more attractive once it has a bid showing. Just human nature.   With my snipes, I never show my cards nor will anyone have time to react.  And that's business.

Another good thing about sniping software is that I haven't committed to buying anything until it places the bid.  That's saved me many times when I had a bid in on an item and a better one comes along.  I simply cancel my bid on the first one.  You can't do that on eBay.

I dunno guys, there's nothing evil about sniping software.  There's no honor in not using technology.  If you guys were true to not using technology, you should still be mailing each other letters! 

[DerthDeboblo]

Oh, I have no aversion to using available technology. I forgot that I had a sniping app on my phone. So I fired it up, imported my watch list, set my bids to 3 seconds and we'll wait and see what happens. I just never used it cause I normally have good luck on ebay. Lesson learned lol

 

They did you a favor, that kit is in the list to be reissued soon.

Where did you see this? I looked on R2 and on their blog and didn't see a mention of it.  

(Edit: Nevermind, I saw the list in the kit review section. Pays to look around.)

Edited March 20, 2016 by DerthDeboblo

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

I dunno guys, there's nothing evil about sniping software.  There's no honor in not using technology.  If you guys were true to not using technology, you should still be mailing each other letters! 

I agree there's nothing "evil" about using it; it's just a personal choice for me. It's like automatic transmissions...fine for folks who don't like to bother to shift...or can't...but not for me.

I've got enough crapp so that, if I don't REALLY want something, I'm not going to bother bidding at ALL, and if I DO really want something, I'll stay up late and get it fair and square, the old-fossil way. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Yeah, but all bidding early does is to drive the price up. Bid $50 or $200 or whatever and leave it, the bid will show a much lower number initially, and some clown will come along and bid in $1, $5 or $10 increments to see where the ceiling is...and all that does is push the price up for no reason. And putting a lot of bids on something only shows there's interest, and adds to the idiot feeding frenzy.

Likewise, going back in and raising your bid for an item time after time after time ain't going to do diddly but, again, drive the price up. It is NOT a winning strategy.

If you really want it and don't want to use sniperware (I don't), all you gotta do is bid your max within the last few seconds. 

If you get it, you get it for $1 more (or whatever the specific auction minimum increment is) over the next top bid. If you lose it, it's because somebody wanted it for more money than your top number.

It's really very simple.

Another thing...when the numbers start getting stupid, do a search for the same item. 9 times out of ten, you'l find it for less on another auction, but the frenzy-bidders are mindlessly stuck in competing for THIS one.  

Over the years, I've probably "won" around 98% of what I've bid on, using this strategy. I don't really NEED any more kits, so good luck to all of you who are still hunting

I don't see how bidding early drives up the price.

Makes no sense at all.

If I bid $200.00 on an item, nobody knows that figure but me.

Those people bidding $1.00 & $5.00 increments will be there anyway playing leap frog with each other.

If their not "looking for the ceiling" they're trying to get the other guy to drop out.

I prefer to find an item I want, decide what "my" price is, put in a bid & let all of those guys play all of their dopey games without me.

Half of the time, I have no idea whether or not I won an auction until I happen to stumble across the "you won" message in my e-mail inbox.

I've probably won 90% of the auctions I've participated in too.

I don't generally bother bidding unless it's something I really want, in which case I'm not afraid to pay for it.

Or occasionally I'll bid on an item that interests me but bidding is stagnant, so I'll throw a bid at it in the last couple of hours of the auction.

I don't even know what a "frenzy bidder" is.

I'm not even on ebay when my auctions are ending, & I could care less what they're doing.

 

Steve

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

I agree there's nothing "evil" about using it; it's just a personal choice for me. It's like automatic transmissions...fine for folks who don't like to bother to shift...or can't...but not for me.

I've got enough crapp so that, if I don't REALLY want something, I'm not going to bother bidding at ALL, and if I DO really want something, I'll stay up late and get it fair and square, the old-fossil way. 

I agree.

Nothing wrong with it at all as far as I'm concerned.

I just have no interest in it myself.

To me ebay is just another online store where I can buy the things I want.

When I decide I want something I'll try to buy it at my price.

If the store is out, or the price isn't right......I'll try another day.

 

Steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

I don't see how bidding early drives up the price.

Makes no sense at all.

If I bid $200.00 on an item, nobody knows that figure but me.

Those people bidding $1.00 & $5.00 increments will be there anyway playing leap frog with each other.

If their not "looking for the ceiling" they're trying to get the other guy to drop out.

I prefer to find an item I want, decide what "my" price is, put in a bid & let all of those guys play all of their dopey games without me.

Half of the time, I have no idea whether or not I won an auction until I happen to stumble across the "you won" message in my e-mail inbox.

I've probably won 90% of the auctions I've participated in too.

I don't generally bother bidding unless it's something I really want, in which case I'm not afraid to pay for it.

Or occasionally I'll bid on an item that interests me but bidding is stagnant, so I'll throw a bid at it in the last couple of hours of the auction.

I don't even know what a "frenzy bidder" is.

I'm not even on ebay when my auctions are ending, & I could care less what they're doing.

 

Steve

 

To each his own. I'm never "on" any auction until the last few seconds. I usually win, and I never pay stupid money. If I see there's been a lot of little incremental bids, I just laugh at them.

"Frenzy bidders" are the plethora of little twinks that will sometimes come in close to the end, each raising the bid by a dollar, thinking somehow they're going to be the winner. It's just stupid.

You say "trying to get the other guy to drop out" and that's EXACTLY what drives the price up and up and up. 

You don't show your hand in a poker game do you? If you don't bid 'til the end, nobody tries to "get the other guy to drop out", because there's no mystery bid to try to counter.

Look at it this way. Say the bidding goes to $35 and slows down because you've put in a $200 bid early. Somebody comes in and raises the bid to $50. Still no good, because your $200 bid is floating there. So somebody else starts bidding in increments to see where the ceiling is. He gets to $100 and stops, 'cause he hasn't hit the ceiling and doesn't have more that $100 to spend. Somebody with more coin comes in and pushes it up to $150. If the $200 bid hadn't been flaoting there in space, the bidding MIGHT have stopped at, say, $65...until the last few seconds. Then, he who has the fastest finger or sniperware, and puts in the highest number wins.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Snake45]

My eBay system is simple.

1. What is THE ABSOLUTE MOST would you pay for the item if it were in front of you right now?

2. Subtract the seller's shipping price from #1. That's your bid price.

3. Show up in the last minute. Is the item already over that price? You're done. Wait for the next one.

4. If the item's still under your bid price, bid in the last few seconds.

5. You either win or you don't and you know immediately.

6. Either way, get on with your life.

[Harry P.]

That's all too much work. That's why I only deal with BIN or "best offer" items.

[Ace-Garageguy]

That's all too much work. That's why I only deal with BIN or "best offer" items.

30 seconds at the end of an auction s too much work? Man, that's rough. 

My eBay system is simple.

1. What is THE ABSOLUTE MOST would you pay for the item if it were in front of you right now?

2. Subtract the seller's shipping price from #1. That's your bid price.

3. Show up in the last minute. Is the item already over that price? You're done. Wait for the next one.

4. If the item's still under your bid price, bid in the last few seconds.

5. You either win or you don't and you know immediately.

6. Either way, get on with your life.

Exactly. 

[Harry P.]

I just don't have the time management skills (or the patience) to keep tabs on auctions and check in as they're ending. Really couldn't care less. For me, BIN or best offer. That's it. And I've done just fine. Just look at my "Under Glass" posts for the proof!

[Ace-Garageguy]

I just don't have the time management skills (or the patience) to keep tabs on auctions and check in as they're ending. Really couldn't care less. For me, BIN or best offer. That's it. And I've done just fine. Just look at my "Under Glass" posts for the proof!

Yeah, you actually build and finish models. All I do is post about them and hunt' em on ebay.  

[MrBuick]

I don't see how bidding early drives up the price.

Makes no sense at all.

If I bid $200.00 on an item, nobody knows that figure but me.

Those people bidding $1.00 & $5.00 increments will be there anyway playing leap frog with each other.

If their not "looking for the ceiling" they're trying to get the other guy to drop out.

I prefer to find an item I want, decide what "my" price is, put in a bid & let all of those guys play all of their dopey games without me.

Half of the time, I have no idea whether or not I won an auction until I happen to stumble across the "you won" message in my e-mail inbox.

I've probably won 90% of the auctions I've participated in too.

I don't generally bother bidding unless it's something I really want, in which case I'm not afraid to pay for it.

Or occasionally I'll bid on an item that interests me but bidding is stagnant, so I'll throw a bid at it in the last couple of hours of the auction.

I don't even know what a "frenzy bidder" is.

I'm not even on ebay when my auctions are ending, & I could care less what they're doing.

 

Steve

 

Being someone who sells probably at least as much as I buy on eBay (not just model kits...tons of random stuff), from my experience early bidding absolutely drives up the price in many cases. The amount of eBay purchasers who get locked into bidding wars is staggering, and when there are a lot of bids, you can almost universally assume someone's in a bidding war and they've already changed their initial maximum price. In most cases, if there aren't a lot of bids before the last few hours of an auction, there won't be. I've found that people's ego heavily comes into play on eBay...I posted earlier a few recent stories of people who bid on things that I sold and then didn't pay because they bid higher than they were willing to pay, but I've got dozens of stories of that happening over the years. It's extremely annoying when this happens as a seller, and eBay doesn't really do anything about it (the little "strikes" they give buyers are basic a finger-wag unless they get one on like everything they bid on). I also think tons of people completely overlook shipping until they win, then suddenly they realize there's another $10+ that they have to tack onto their final price. On something like a $600 laptop, this may not be that big of a deal, but if you're bidding $15-20 for a model kit and you think you're getting a great deal, and you've neglected to account for another $10 for shipping, you may be in for a shock...that's 100% the sellers fault, but it happens ALL THE TIME. I mostly don't like sniping programs because I just think it's lazy, but one of the legitimate issues I have with them is since they've been available, it's increased the amount of people who want to back out of sales or take forever to pay. It's not really the sniping programs that are to blame, but it just gives irresponsible people something else to forget they've done, or change their mind about how badly they wanted something...a lot of people set a really high maximum because they think it'll guarantee they'll win and they don't think there's any way that it'll actually reach that high of a price, but then suddenly when that sniping program hits and their winning bid is $100 higher than what they thought it'd be, they suddenly don't want to pay (a lot of people really seem to struggle with the fact that just because something says it's going for $40 doesn't mean that their bid of $41 will be the new high one). Someone mentioned earlier that one of the things they like is that they can enter the bid into the program and then cancel it later...you can do this when bidding normally too, you just have to email the seller and have them cancel your bid...as long as you do it at least a few hours before the auction ends, even if the seller doesn't cancel it and you win, you won't receive a negative strike for not paying because eBay will side with you for "trying" to contact the seller (I don't agree with that, but that's what they do)...the seller has to just cancel your bids and the next-highest bidder will win. I guess basically what I'm saying is, there are tons of stupid people using eBay, and they can and do make things a huge hassle for sellers all the time, so the fewer tools that are available for them to use to ruin, the happier I am.

Edited March 21, 2016 by MrBuick

[Harry P.]

Yeah, you actually build and finish models.

Yessir!

[ChrisBcritter]

Geez, the non-paying bidder issue. I run across this constantly on 1/1 cars on eBay; when my friend is looking a car for sale/auction I go through the old listings for comparison prices. It's not unusual for "sold" cars to be relisted two or three times.

I think I've gotten a "second chance" notice on a model only once due to a non-paying top bidder.

[High octane]

Over the years and to this day I have NEVER been on EVIL-bay and I seem to be doin' just fine. I have plenty of kits in my "stash" and the number of kits I would like, I could count on one hand. It works for me.

[StevenGuthmiller]

To each his own. I'm never "on" any auction until the last few seconds. I usually win, and I never pay stupid money. If I see there's been a lot of little incremental bids, I just laugh at them.

"Frenzy bidders" are the plethora of little twinks that will sometimes come in close to the end, each raising the bid by a dollar, thinking somehow they're going to be the winner. It's just stupid.

You say "trying to get the other guy to drop out" and that's EXACTLY what drives the price up and up and up. 

You don't show your hand in a poker game do you? If you don't bid 'til the end, nobody tries to "get the other guy to drop out", because there's no mystery bid to try to counter.

Look at it this way. Say the bidding goes to $35 and slows down because you've put in a $200 bid early. Somebody comes in and raises the bid to $50. Still no good, because your $200 bid is floating there. So somebody else starts bidding in increments to see where the ceiling is. He gets to $100 and stops, 'cause he hasn't hit the ceiling and doesn't have more that $100 to spend. Somebody with more coin comes in and pushes it up to $150. If the $200 bid hadn't been flaoting there in space, the bidding MIGHT have stopped at, say, $65...until the last few seconds. Then, he who has the fastest finger or sniperware, and puts in the highest number wins.

No problem Ace, I understand where you're coming from.

Just try to understand my position.

I really don't care what I "could have" gotten a particular item for.

When I place my bid, that is what I expect to pay.

Anything less is just a bonus to me.

I understand who the "frenzy bidders" are. that was just my way of saying that I don't care about them, because I don't deal with them.

You see, I have no love for the "auction" thing in general.

Some guys love to mess around on ebay.

It's like a game or sport to them.

Me, I deplore it!

Ebay is just a means for me to find what I'm looking for & I have no interest sitting in front of my computer at 2:00 AM to pound in that last second bid.

I'd rather just find out in the morning whether I won or lost.

By the way Mr Buick, I always pay for my items the instant that I know that I've won!

I don't place a bid unless I have the cash to pay for it.

 

Steve

 

Steve

[Ramfins59]

I'm with Steve on this.  I place my Max bid for a car and don't go over it.  If I win... Great.  If I lose, I'm not happy about it, but I'm sure there'll be another one or more to bid on down the road.  I try to find built-ups, promos, or diecasts of 1950's cars that haven't been made as model kits.  I already have all of the 1950's car kits that have been made, even though I may not have built them all yet.  I also will not place a bid for anything unless I have the money to pay for it.  My regular household bills and budget comes first... anything left over is my "play money".  I will also pay for whatever I win as soon as I find out that I've won.

[russosborne]

I agree with Steve and Rich.

Back when I was really doing a lot of buying on Ebay, I would just bid my max and wait to get the email saying I won or I got outbid.

If I am willing to pay $35 for something that is my bid. Most times when I won it was for less than my max. And when I would get outbid, it usually sold for far more than my max.  Sometimes it would show up as only being for a dollar more, but who knows how much the other guy's max bid was? I don't, and don't care. My max is my max, and not a penny more. If I didn't win life went on.

Made my life much less stressful and simpler.

I would find stuff occassionaly that I had missed and it only had a minute or two to go. Being somewhat slow at times typing I did miss out on bidding sometimes, but oh well. That was the closest I got to sniping, and it wasn't intentional.

I wasn't in it to beat the other guy. Just wanted to buy something at a price I could live with.

Russ

[StevenGuthmiller]

I guess the moral of the story is, as with building, we all have our own style & techniques for bidding on ebay as well.

Mine has suited me very well.

I have what I want for the most part.

Sometimes I got things cheap, sometimes not so much, but in general, I was very happy with the experience & the outcome.

I'll still continue to work things the same way I have been.

I won't pretend that I haven't done things pretty much exactly as Bill does in the past.

It all just became too tedious to me & the results were really no different.

So I just got myself an attitude & told myself that from now on, I was going to bid one time, at my leisure, when I found something interesting & that would be that.

 

Steve

 

[DerthDeboblo]

Ugh. Just missed out on another one. This time a '64 Fairlane promo. Granted,  the rear wheel wells were radiused, and someone dropped in an engine with huge injector stacks, and the paint/chrome looked bad. But still, it looked so good to me. Oh well??, maybe I'll get the Matador I'm also after lol

[StevenGuthmiller]

Ugh. Just missed out on another one. This time a '64 Fairlane promo. Granted,  the rear wheel wells were radiused, and someone dropped in an engine with huge injector stacks, and the paint/chrome looked bad. But still, it looked so good to me. Oh well??, maybe I'll get the Matador I'm also after lol

Just keep plugging away!

That's the name of the game.

 

Steve