Sniping vs Incremental Bidding

[Razorsharp79]

I search ebay daily for cards I like and need. I see people bidding all the time with 6 days left and it boggles my mind a little.

Why show your cards before you have to? Sniping seems to be the easiest and best way to buy cards for the cheapest price possible to me at least.

Anyone understand why people bid so early on instead of paying for sniping service and bidding when most buyers least expect it?

[Tyler]

If it gets over a certain price it will discourage snipers looking for a deal.

[mindbinge]

also on high end stuff it keeps people from making side deals sometimes...if an item gets a couple of idiots bidding on it early sellers get the idea its going to go for good $$$....which usually doesn't happen, but they think it.

[Razorsharp79]

Originally Posted by mindbinge

also on high end stuff it keeps people from making side deals sometimes...if an item gets a couple of idiots bidding on it early sellers get the idea its going to go for good $$$....which usually doesn't happen, but they think it.

I agree, and sometimes these bidders have no intention of paying or have a card like it they are going to list behind the one they have just bid up.

[alexlazarevich]

Originally Posted by Razorsharp79

I search ebay daily for cards I like and need. I see people bidding all the time with 6 days left and it boggles my mind a little.

Why show your cards before you have to? Sniping seems to be the easiest and best way to buy cards for the cheapest price possible to me at least.

Anyone understand why people bid so early on instead of paying for sniping service and bidding when most buyers least expect it?

I would love to snipe, but last time I did I had some very strange emails show up in my eBay message inbox, as if someone else was using my account. I immediately changed my password, and I'm afraid to give my password out again to a sniping program. Just too much to risk. Although, I have to say I miss out on a lot of good buys because I'm not sniping anymore. Big drag.

[Razorsharp79]

Originally Posted by Tyler

If it gets over a certain price it will discourage snipers looking for a deal.

Yeah that is true, I snipe a card to save money really, a lot of sellers shill it up so by disguising my bid til last second they do not know they have someone with say 500 on it whereas if I entered it 2 days before auction ended they could jack me up til they see where I am at and then retract.

But I do agree, if I see a card I want already bid up I will stay away most times, but not always. If there is some meat left on the bone I will snipe it, all depends on how hot the player is at the time I suppose.

[mindbinge]

Originally Posted by Razorsharp79

I agree, and sometimes these bidders have no intention of paying or have a card like it they are going to list behind the one they have just bid up.

yep...this is true. Pisses me off at least twice a week lol.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by alexlazarevich

I would love to snipe, but last time I did I had some very strange emails show up in my eBay message inbox, as if someone else was using my account. I immediately changed my password, and I'm afraid to give my password out again to a sniping program. Just too much to risk. Although, I have to say I miss out on a lot of good buys because I'm not sniping anymore. Big drag.

???? Just do it manually.

[mmondayjr]

there is a risk with sniping though that no one here has addressed. i try and snipe things right with like 5 seconds left...but if your snipe bid doesnt exceed what someone else has already bid then you are screwed because you havent left yourself enough time to bid again. what has ended up happening is whether i enter a regular bid or whether i snipe i always just go with the highest maximum amount i would pay for the card and then if thats not enough to win it, i walk away. sometimes i get lucky and it goes for way under my maximum, but i have stopped fooling around with trying to snipe cards just to save money.

[Razorsharp79]

Originally Posted by alexlazarevich

I would love to snipe, but last time I did I had some very strange emails show up in my eBay message inbox, as if someone else was using my account. I immediately changed my password, and I'm afraid to give my password out again to a sniping program. Just too much to risk. Although, I have to say I miss out on a lot of good buys because I'm not sniping anymore. Big drag.

I use ezsniper, and never had any messages show up in my mailbox on ebay. I have received strange fake emails from ebay saying something like "where is my item" even when I have not sold anything, i just erase them. I do not know if that is due to ezsniper or not, have not received any in over a month now.

[Razorsharp79]

Originally Posted by mmondayjr

there is a risk with sniping though that no one here has addressed. i try and snipe things right with like 5 seconds left...but if your snipe bid doesnt exceed what someone else has already bid then you are screwed because you havent left yourself enough time to bid again. what has ended up happening is whether i enter a regular bid or whether i snipe i always just go with the highest maximum amount i would pay for the card and then if thats not enough to win it, i walk away. sometimes i get lucky and it goes for way under my maximum, but i have stopped fooling around with trying to snipe cards just to save money.

Only time sniping does not work for me is when another sniping service has a buyer who has entered a higher max bid. If manually bidding start with 10 seconds, 5 seconds you are screwed if you get out bid, however sniping program eliminates the risk of losing out in case your computer freezes or internet connection is slow < LIKE MINE haha

[alexlazarevich]

Originally Posted by Tyler

???? Just do it manually.

I try to snipe manually, but 95% of the time I'm not at the keyboard and so I loose out on the item.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by mmondayjr

there is a risk with sniping though that no one here has addressed. i try and snipe things right with like 5 seconds left...but if your snipe bid doesnt exceed what someone else has already bid then you are screwed because you havent left yourself enough time to bid again. what has ended up happening is whether i enter a regular bid or whether i snipe i always just go with the highest maximum amount i would pay for the card and then if thats not enough to win it, i walk away. sometimes i get lucky and it goes for way under my maximum, but i have stopped fooling around with trying to snipe cards just to save money.

I usually leave 2 bid windows open

[mmondayjr]

Originally Posted by Razorsharp79

Only time sniping does not work for me is when another sniping service has a buyer who has entered a higher max bid. If manually bidding start with 10 seconds, 5 seconds you are screwed if you get out bid, however sniping program eliminates the risk of losing out in case your computer freezes or internet connection is slow < LIKE MINE haha

Originally Posted by Tyler

I usually leave 2 bid windows open

AH! some very good ideas hear. i have actually never thot of using a sniping program...i would rather just do it all myself. but that 2 bid window thing might just work...

[mstng99tim]

I manually snipe all my wins, I've been doing it that way for years now.

To the OP's original, I have no idea, I've always wondered that myself. Some bidders think that if they bid early and often that they will scare people away. Not me, I'm still going to put the max I'm willing to spend on it with about 5-10 seconds left in the auction.

[Nicnac]

I didn't see if anyone mentioned it, but I sometimes put a bid on a card just to make sure the seller doesn't pull it for lack of interest (has happened to me before, waiting to snipe or bid on the last day, and the listing is gone).

[bigzig]

Bid once, bid late, bid your max. If you bod your max and lose it's because someone else was willing to pay more.

You would be surprised how many bidders have never heard of sniping. There are threads on the ebay forums all the time complaining how unfair it is for someone to bid in the last few seconds so they didn't get a chance to rebid.

Another reason for an early bid would be to kill a BIN option if the BIN is fair but you hope to get it cheaper.

[coltsfan23]

Originally Posted by bigzig

You would be surprised how many bidders have never heard of sniping.

This is the key part. I highly doubt a majority of Ebay buyers are aware of sniping services like Gixen, Ezsniper,etc. A good portion of members here probably don't even know about them. If the awareness of such programs was higher, so would the usage.

[Orangejello727]

Originally Posted by mindbinge

also on high end stuff it keeps people from making side deals sometimes...if an item gets a couple of idiots bidding on it early sellers get the idea its going to go for good $$$....which usually doesn't happen, but they think it.

This is the reason I do it. I bid often and early. Infact I will keep bidding to stay high bidders early in on the auction. This way there is a lot of action and a lot of bids. The seller will likely think before making an offline transactiona and cancelling the auction.

I hate when they end auctions early. They have the right to, but usually they end the auction because the buyer usually lowballs the seller and gets a deal. Its my way of showing the seller that Im willing to pay top dollar for an item.

My biggest beef witih online auctions are Crazy deals on BIN being hit only to have another person email the seller and offer more to get the item. The seller than rejects the auction and sells it for more to another person. It happend to me on a $600 card. I won the BIN 30 min after being put up for auction.. I hit the BIN for $600. Paid and 2 days later was told the card is lost and they refunded my money. 2 weeks later the same card ends up for auction by another seller for $1499 BIN/BO and it sells for $1k.

[matfanofold]

I understand that a lot of people use tools and methods to save every penny they can on eBay, but when I see an auction I like I just place a bid using my best/highest price I want to pay and let it ride. If I win, great but if not then so be it.

[Razorsharp79]

Originally Posted by matfanofold

I understand that a lot of people use tools and methods to save every penny they can on eBay, but when I see an auction I like I just place a bid using my best/highest price I want to pay and let it ride. If I win, great but if not then so be it.

You are IMO costing yourself money...go do that in a bigboyd auction and you will be outbid in 30 minutes or less.

I see people bid early and it is great for the seller, not for you the buyer. More bids = more interest and more people coming in to view that item. People by nature are nosy and want to see what the fuss is all about. A lot of buyers simply bid on items to bid and have no intention of winning it. Serious buyers do not bid early, they are either thinking of stealing it or just helping the seller. In almost every item I have sold the people who bid early never won if that tells you anything.

Sniping saves you money in the long run and protects your intentions from others who may want to jack the price up on you. Or some brokdiks even bid to raise the price out of spite because they cannot afford it...either way sniping or a off ebay deal is your best bet to get the card you want for less from my experiences...

[Clarka3]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I usually leave 2 bid windows open

me too. sometimes 3, all with stepping up amounts.

[mnvikingstwins]

I normally will throw in an early bid a little after it's listed because I'd rather just track it in the bids/offers, and then bid higher once it gets down to like an hour left.

[ssbledsoe]

Originally Posted by mnvikingstwins

I normally will throw in an early bid a little after it's listed because I'd rather just track it in the bids/offers, and then bid higher once it gets down to like an hour left.

I work similarly. I bid on cards I'm serious about early to track in the buying category. The issue for bidding with me is that there are a handful of big time Bledsoe collectors that have deep pockets. Maybe misguidedly, I bid early in hopes that these other collectors see my ID and maybe they think, "I'll get the next one". I don't think it works though...I usually end up in a bidding war with 1 or 2 collectors

[Portlaw]

I use goofbay and put it at 4 seconds and it as always worked an got me some good deals. It's free and easy to use