Ebay - bid or snipe?

[maplefemme]

Seems there's a lot of PSers who stalk ebay and I was wondering how everyone prefers to bid in auction style listings...

Bid from the very beginning and go back and forth against other bidders, hopefully scare them off by raising the price enough to count them out?
Bid the last day, last few minutes, last seconds?
Snipe, bid your max, sit back and pray you win?

What are your best ebay wins?

 

[luv2sparkle]

I usually just bid my maximum bid and hope for the best. I haven't bought any bling on ebay. There have been a few pieces I wished I had bought. I almost bought a sewing machine once. The stuff I have purchased has been my best bid and then let it go. I always have a 'I won't spend more that this" price.

 

[Amys Bling]

I usually just big my max and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work put...

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Snipe your MAX bid. It will keep others from upping their "max" bid to outbid yours. It will save you money. I snipe all my auctions. EBay favors the sniper.

 

[maplefemme]

Snipe your MAX bid. It will keep others from upping their "max" bid to outbid yours. It will save you money. I snipe all my auctions. EBay favors the sniper.

I snipe everything too, that way I don't overbid more than I planned in a state of emotional bidding, no one knows you're interested and it stops the counter bidding.
I still find those last few seconds nerve wrecking though!

 

[Pandora II]

I always snipe my max bid in the last 4 seconds. People bidding throughout the listing in small increments shouts 'newbie' to me and I'm pretty much certain to win the item against them. In fact I ticked my FIL off for doing this last week - all that happens is you increase the end price unneccessarily.

If I can't bid in person then I use Bidnapper to bid on my behalf.

Best buys... lots... but vintage Mikimoto pearl necklaces bought for £70 and £110, valued by Mikimoto at £1,300 and £1,700 are probably my best so far, but I've done very well over the years.

I buy 90% of my daughters clothes there - I have very expensive taste and won't spend the money, especially when I can get a £150 David Charles dress that has been worn once to a party for £1.20.

Before they made it all private, I would check out the other bidders in detail so I could see what they were buying and the kinds of prices and work out if they were collector, dealer or random. I was sad when they blocked that - although I'd had quite a few very odd emails from people who hadn't won items - telling me that I'd only got it because their computer had frozen etc. Got a little creepy at times.

 

[JewelFreak]

Sheesh, Pandora, I need you to bid for me! You're an ace.

 

[Pandora II]

LOL, I've been buying there since 2003. My parents bought a lot at auctions all their lives - I was 3 weeks old the first time I went to one so I guess I grew up knowing the ropes!

I will say that it takes a significant input of time and effort to score great deals on eBay on a regular basis. I would estimate that I spend at least 10 hours a week searching listings and looking at past prices etc. and sometimes many, many more hours than that (did I mention that I'm an insomniac? )

 

[luv2sparkle]

How exactly do you snipe? Do you just wait till the end and try to get in the last few seconds? What if you can't be at a computer that
will move that fast? If I tried it on my phone, I would be out of luck for sure.

I usually wait as long as I can before I put my bid in. I don't do it as soon as I see and item, but at the last minute I can. I just usually can't wait to the very last minute. Is there another way I am missing?

 

[Pandora II]

How exactly do you snipe? Do you just wait till the end and try to get in the last few seconds? What if you can't be at a computer that
will move that fast? If I tried it on my phone, I would be out of luck for sure.

I usually wait as long as I can before I put my bid in. I don't do it as soon as I see and item, but at the last minute I can. I just usually can't wait to the very last minute. Is there another way I am missing?

I use Bidnapper to bid on my behalf if I really want something and I'm not around or if I can't risk the computer freezing or a slow connection. It is a pay for service, but you only pay if you actually win. I think it's $20 for 20 snipes.

If I'm there then I press the submit for the second time at exactly 6 seconds and it will register as 4 seconds on my laptop, on my phone I will bid at around 12 to 10 seconds and hope for the best but I don't trust it for must have items.

 

[maplefemme]

I always snipe my max bid in the last 4 seconds. People bidding throughout the listing in small increments shouts 'newbie' to me and I'm pretty much certain to win the item against them. In fact I ticked my FIL off for doing this last week - all that happens is you increase the end price unneccessarily.

If I can't bid in person then I use Bidnapper to bid on my behalf.

Best buys... lots... but vintage Mikimoto pearl necklaces bought for £70 and £110, valued by Mikimoto at £1,300 and £1,700 are probably my best so far, but I've done very well over the years.

I buy 90% of my daughters clothes there - I have very expensive taste and won't spend the money, especially when I can get a £150 David Charles dress that has been worn once to a party for £1.20.

Before they made it all private, I would check out the other bidders in detail so I could see what they were buying and the kinds of prices and work out if they were collector, dealer or random. I was sad when they blocked that - although I'd had quite a few very odd emails from people who hadn't won items - telling me that I'd only got it because their computer had frozen etc. Got a little creepy at times.

Pandora, we should go into business together! I do the exact same thing. I used to check out my competition in depth, their bidding styles, novice or collector/business. I still do to a point, you can still see the categories they bid on, how often they bid in the month, how many times they place a bid and at what time in the auction, whether they bid once two days before closing or in the final hour = potentially a sniper or just a final countdown bidder.
Then I consider all the ones like me who are sniping and bid my absolute max with ezsnipe a few days prior and just wait.

Great score on the pearls! I buy a lot of clothes on the UK eBay, sometimes I have to ask sellers to change the listing to allow me to bid from Canada. I just get better deals on UK clothes, better selection too.

That's creepy that losing bidders would email you, wow. I have emailed sellers many times to give them info on antique pieces they haven't accurately listed or have missing info on, they are always really thankful and I like to help out.
I won some Portuguese paste yesterday with sniping, they are indentical to these, same design, maker, only the stones are yellow instead of red. I recognized them immediately when I saw them on ebay. I got them for £556 against quite a few other snipers. My plan was to flip, I called Sotheby's prior to confirm a few details, however, over the week of watching I got quite smitten and maybe I'll wear it as a bracelet with ribbon for a while first
Here's the Sotheby's realized price and lot:

http://m.sothebys.com/en/upcoming_auctions/lot.lotnum.html/2007/important-jewels-l07053/catalogue/lot_159421690
I'll post pics of mine when they arrive.

 

[minousbijoux]

Wow, I'm impressed that you know what they are, let alone value....

 

[Pandora II]

Seems like we do the exact same method!

I also sometimes email people if they have things wrong or I have info they don't... unless I plan to bid on the item!

For antique English silver, the UK eBay prices are definitely THE price guide these days - I don't bother with the USA sites as the prices are super-silly for silver.

Nice buckles - and nice work on the price! Do post details when you get them.

I like to spot things that aren't obvious - for example the pearls I got because the vendors didn't know they were Mikis - they were listed as 'old strand of pearls' and I spotted the hallmarks. I've also had a lot of success with spelling mistakes - saphire instead of sapphire scored me an Edwardian eternity with rb diamonds and baguette sapphires set in white and yellow gold for a mere £25.

You can get bargains just occasionally going on eBay, but it does require extensive work to do well consistently - a bit like gambling really! I paid my way through University with winnings from the gee gees, but I had The Racing Post delivered daily and followed form for best part of 8 years. If I went to the bookies tomorrow I'd do really badly because I stopped when I moved abroad and never got back into it again.

 

[maplefemme]

Wow, I'm impressed that you know what they are, let alone value....

Bit of a history geek I'm afraid I love researching Georgian and Victorian jewelry, such fascinating periods.

Your dog is adorable!!

 

[maplefemme]

Seems like we do the exact same method!

I also sometimes email people if they have things wrong or I have info they don't... unless I plan to bid on the item!

For antique English silver, the UK eBay prices are definitely THE price guide these days - I don't bother with the USA sites as the prices are super-silly for silver.

Nice buckles - and nice work on the price! Do post details when you get them.

I like to spot things that aren't obvious - for example the pearls I got because the vendors didn't know they were Mikis - they were listed as 'old strand of pearls' and I spotted the hallmarks. I've also had a lot of success with spelling mistakes - saphire instead of sapphire scored me an Edwardian eternity with rb diamonds and baguette sapphires set in white and yellow gold for a mere £25.

You can get bargains just occasionally going on eBay, but it does require extensive work to do well consistently - a bit like gambling really! I paid my way through University with winnings from the gee gees, but I had The Racing Post delivered daily and followed form for best part of 8 years. If I went to the bookies tomorrow I'd do really badly because I stopped when I moved abroad and never got back into it again.

You're like my ebay twin, Pandora!
I also scour for spelling and listing mistakes, hoping somebody doesn't know what they have. If I see something that's misnamed or wrong then I'll help the seller with info - but if I'm interested then I wait it out. Hopefully the good karma from helping other sellers makes up for the latter!
It's painstaking and time consuming but can pay off great, I agree, I have a list I go through every few days.
The top auction houses are also a great tool for me for pricing and trends in antiques, everything ebbs and flows and I find their realized auction results a good resource, for 'potential' value at least.
Great stuff paying off University at the bookies, Pandora - that's brilliant

Happy hunting!

 

[Dreamer_D]

All my purchases have been "make offers". No auctions yet.

 

[Paulson007]

Bid from the very beginning and go back and forth against other bidders, hopefully scare them off by raising the price enough to count them out?
Bid the last day, last few minutes, last seconds?
Snipe, bid your max, sit back and pray you win?

As already mentioned, decide on your absolute maximum bid, and place it, or better yet, schedule a snipe for it.

How exactly do you snipe? Do you just wait till the end and try to get in the last few seconds? What if you can't be at a computer that
will move that fast? If I tried it on my phone, I would be out of luck for sure.

Yeah, all sniping is is waiting until the last few seconds before bidding. You can use hidbid.com to snipe for you. It is automated and web-based, so you don't have to worry about being at your computer when the auction ends or leaving your computer on.

Just remember that regardless of when your bid is placed, it still has to be the highest to win. EXCEPT, when 2 bids are the same or there isn't enough difference between them to meet ebay's minimum bid increment. In that case, the 1st one in wins.

So, if people were completely rational, the best strategy would be to bid on an item the second it is listed. I'd stick with the sniping strategy.

(Automated) sniping is a convenience for people that want to avoid drawing early attention to an auction item, 'nibbling' bidders (bidders who have no max in mind, bidding the minimun increment over and over until they're the high bid), and competitive emotional bidders and bidding wars that come with them, all of which normally result in a higher final price. If you have the time, you can do it manually.

Make sure you're eligible to bid on an item before scheduling a snipe (or doing it manually), so that your bid will be accepted. As long as you live in a country that the seller ships to, you don't have many (or any, I think as little as two within the past six months can get you blocked) unpaid strikes lately, and you have enough positive feedback, you should be ok. If you have a problem with one of those things, you could contact the seller and ask them to accept your bid, as long as you know early enough.

A couple more benefits of sniping:

1. Sniping is actually a way of combatting shill bidding - when the seller or his buddy bids on the item until they're the high bid, and know your max, then retract their bid, and use yet another account to bid on the item, bidding just below your max. You don't give the shiller time to retract their bid in order to leave you as the high bidder, close to your max. You can't do much about a shill bidder letting their bid ride to the end of the auction, if it just raises but doesn't exceed yours.

Also, look out for 2nd chance offers, as they would be a reason for the shiller to let their shill bid ride, you may want to decline any and look for a different seller with the same item. Unless of course, the price seems ok with you, even though possible artificially jacked up.

2. You can just cancel a snipe with as little as five minutes left (I guess depending on which service or software you use)
in an auction, if you change your mind about bidding on an item, and your bid won't be placed. If you place a bid on ebay and then retract it (not a seller's or ebay's favorite thing), you can be blocked from bidding on other auctions after doing this a few times, not sure what that # is.

Anyone bidding on ebay should understand ebay's proxy bidding system (increases your bid only until it is the high, or it has been exceeded), and have an idea about their bid increments:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html

I've also had a lot of success with spelling mistakes

You can use a site like typojoe.com (fatfingers, etc.) to search eBay for spelling mistakes.

You can get bargains just occasionally going on eBay, but it does require extensive work to do well consistently

You could use a site like ebuyersedge.com to set up saved eBay searches so that you'd get an e-mail when a new match is listed. You could use the price, exclude word, category, etc. filters to narrow down the results that you get in the e-mails. Good for "Buy It Now"s priced right, you'd have the jump on other potential buyers.

 

[Amys Bling]

Bid from the very beginning and go back and forth against other bidders, hopefully scare them off by raising the price enough to count them out?
Bid the last day, last few minutes, last seconds?
Snipe, bid your max, sit back and pray you win?

As already mentioned, decide on your absolute maximum bid, and place it, or better yet, schedule a snipe for it.

How exactly do you snipe? Do you just wait till the end and try to get in the last few seconds? What if you can't be at a computer that
will move that fast? If I tried it on my phone, I would be out of luck for sure.

Yeah, all sniping is is waiting until the last few seconds before bidding. You can use hidbid.com to snipe for you. It is automated and web-based, so you don't have to worry about being at your computer when the auction ends or leaving your computer on.

Just remember that regardless of when your bid is placed, it still has to be the highest to win. EXCEPT, when 2 bids are the same or there isn't enough difference between them to meet ebay's minimum bid increment. In that case, the 1st one in wins.

So, if people were completely rational, the best strategy would be to bid on an item the second it is listed. I'd stick with the sniping strategy.

(Automated) sniping is a convenience for people that want to avoid drawing early attention to an auction item, 'nibbling' bidders (bidders who have no max in mind, bidding the minimun increment over and over until they're the high bid), and competitive emotional bidders and bidding wars that come with them, all of which normally result in a higher final price. If you have the time, you can do it manually.

Make sure you're eligible to bid on an item before scheduling a snipe (or doing it manually), so that your bid will be accepted. As long as you live in a country that the seller ships to, you don't have many (or any, I think as little as two within the past six months can get you blocked) unpaid strikes lately, and you have enough positive feedback, you should be ok. If you have a problem with one of those things, you could contact the seller and ask them to accept your bid, as long as you know early enough.

A couple more benefits of sniping:

1. Sniping is actually a way of combatting shill bidding - when the seller or his buddy bids on the item until they're the high bid, and know your max, then retract their bid, and use yet another account to bid on the item, bidding just below your max. You don't give the shiller time to retract their bid in order to leave you as the high bidder, close to your max. You can't do much about a shill bidder letting their bid ride to the end of the auction, if it just raises but doesn't exceed yours.

Also, look out for 2nd chance offers, as they would be a reason for the shiller to let their shill bid ride, you may want to decline any and look for a different seller with the same item. Unless of course, the price seems ok with you, even though possible artificially jacked up.

2. You can just cancel a snipe with as little as five minutes left (I guess depending on which service or software you use)
in an auction, if you change your mind about bidding on an item, and your bid won't be placed. If you place a bid on ebay and then retract it (not a seller's or ebay's favorite thing), you can be blocked from bidding on other auctions after doing this a few times, not sure what that # is.

Anyone bidding on ebay should understand ebay's proxy bidding system (increases your bid only until it is the high, or it has been exceeded), and have an idea about their bid increments:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html

I've also had a lot of success with spelling mistakes

You can use a site like typojoe.com (fatfingers, etc.) to search eBay for spelling mistakes.

You can get bargains just occasionally going on eBay, but it does require extensive work to do well consistently

You could use a site like ebuyersedge.com to set up saved eBay searches so that you'd get an e-mail when a new match is listed. You could use the price, exclude word, category, etc. filters to narrow down the results that you get in the e-mails. Good for "Buy It Now"s priced right, you'd have the jump on other potential buyers.

good info.

 

[maplefemme]

Bid from the very beginning and go back and forth against other bidders, hopefully scare them off by raising the price enough to count them out?
Bid the last day, last few minutes, last seconds?
Snipe, bid your max, sit back and pray you win?

As already mentioned, decide on your absolute maximum bid, and place it, or better yet, schedule a snipe for it.

How exactly do you snipe? Do you just wait till the end and try to get in the last few seconds? What if you can't be at a computer that
will move that fast? If I tried it on my phone, I would be out of luck for sure.

Yeah, all sniping is is waiting until the last few seconds before bidding. You can use hidbid.com to snipe for you. It is automated and web-based, so you don't have to worry about being at your computer when the auction ends or leaving your computer on.

Just remember that regardless of when your bid is placed, it still has to be the highest to win. EXCEPT, when 2 bids are the same or there isn't enough difference between them to meet ebay's minimum bid increment. In that case, the 1st one in wins.

So, if people were completely rational, the best strategy would be to bid on an item the second it is listed. I'd stick with the sniping strategy.

(Automated) sniping is a convenience for people that want to avoid drawing early attention to an auction item, 'nibbling' bidders (bidders who have no max in mind, bidding the minimun increment over and over until they're the high bid), and competitive emotional bidders and bidding wars that come with them, all of which normally result in a higher final price. If you have the time, you can do it manually.

Make sure you're eligible to bid on an item before scheduling a snipe (or doing it manually), so that your bid will be accepted. As long as you live in a country that the seller ships to, you don't have many (or any, I think as little as two within the past six months can get you blocked) unpaid strikes lately, and you have enough positive feedback, you should be ok. If you have a problem with one of those things, you could contact the seller and ask them to accept your bid, as long as you know early enough.

A couple more benefits of sniping:

1. Sniping is actually a way of combatting shill bidding - when the seller or his buddy bids on the item until they're the high bid, and know your max, then retract their bid, and use yet another account to bid on the item, bidding just below your max. You don't give the shiller time to retract their bid in order to leave you as the high bidder, close to your max. You can't do much about a shill bidder letting their bid ride to the end of the auction, if it just raises but doesn't exceed yours.

Also, look out for 2nd chance offers, as they would be a reason for the shiller to let their shill bid ride, you may want to decline any and look for a different seller with the same item. Unless of course, the price seems ok with you, even though possible artificially jacked up.

2. You can just cancel a snipe with as little as five minutes left (I guess depending on which service or software you use)
in an auction, if you change your mind about bidding on an item, and your bid won't be placed. If you place a bid on ebay and then retract it (not a seller's or ebay's favorite thing), you can be blocked from bidding on other auctions after doing this a few times, not sure what that # is.

Anyone bidding on ebay should understand ebay's proxy bidding system (increases your bid only until it is the high, or it has been exceeded), and have an idea about their bid increments:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html

I've also had a lot of success with spelling mistakes

You can use a site like typojoe.com (fatfingers, etc.) to search eBay for spelling mistakes.

You can get bargains just occasionally going on eBay, but it does require extensive work to do well consistently

You could use a site like ebuyersedge.com to set up saved eBay searches so that you'd get an e-mail when a new match is listed. You could use the price, exclude word, category, etc. filters to narrow down the results that you get in the e-mails. Good for "Buy It Now"s priced right, you'd have the jump on other potential buyers.

good info.

Very good, I had never heard of ebuyersedge.com
That's handy