Re: [CR]Ebay ethics, last minute bidding, sniping etc....

(Example: Framebuilders:Chris Pauley)

Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:08:24 -0800
From: "Kurt Sperry" <haxixe@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Ebay ethics, last minute bidding, sniping etc....
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <603886.99498.qm@web65416.mail.ac4.yahoo.com>
References: <8CA449054A194B5-C3C-736@webmail-me10.sysops.aol.com>


On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 5:50 PM, Raymond Dobbins <raydobbins2003@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I think we should all use sniping software. Really. If everybody did so, it would make eBay auctions even better than silent auctions (because what you end up paying will not necessarily be the amount of your bid, as in silent auctions), and prices paid would not be driven up by people who, as John Betmanis so aptly put it, "get caught up in the chase."
>

Exactly. The "problem" isn't people using snipe software from my perspective but people *not* using it. I can't see any upside to not using a snipe program of some sort- at least from the buyers' perspective. I set the amount (inevitably low ball) I'm willing to pay for the item I want, and more often than not completely forget about it as 95%+ of the time either my snipe is beat in the last second or the price exceeds my snipe amount before then and I never even register a bid. I'm flat unwilling to pay market price for *anything* on Ebay so anything I end up buying is a bonus and I never expect to "win" anything. And buyer's (and non-buyer's) remorse is pretty much completely removed from the equation by low ball sniping. Set it and forget it. Given the jaw dropping sheer quantity of old bike stuff that cycles through Ebay lately that NOS Zeus hubset (or whatever) will show up again soon enough and you'll get another shot. I can't afford the truly rare stuff anyway.

Putting in bids more than a minute or two before the auction end from a sniper's perspective just looks like playing head games with the other potential bidders. What other point could it possibly serve? I don't see it in any case.

Kurt Sperry Bellingham WA USA

I either bid in the last few seconds or not at all.