ebay argh!

hi....wow talk about an education!......signed up on ebay, and bid on a coin....all seemed smooth....winning bid with less than a minute to go....alas was outbid in what i thought seemed like 10 seconds left!.....I jus laughed....was dissappointed of course...and it seemed like he was so good at this he obviously left me no time to rebid.....is this common with timing bidding?.....I mean sourgrapes aside it seems kind of futle to enter these auctions with more than 3 minutes remaining....anyone have any thoughts or similar experience?.....while i learn I will convince myself the coin was not what i wanted anyway.....thanks again....Jimmy

 

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You were sniped. It is a program that will enter your max bid at the very last moment and it is fairly common.

 

thats the name of the game on ebay. Ebay: I hate it

 

I don't use the Sniping Programs but I do sometimes enter my bid at less than 1 min.
Keep at it...don't let this keep you down!!
I ONLY do that if I need to coin to complete a set and need it bad.

Speedy

 

I usually place coins in my watch list and bid within the last minute or so if it appears to be undervalue for the coin. I try to never purchase more than what the grey sheet ask price states. Of course I have been caught up in the moment a few times. I have lost a few at the last second but that kind of part of the excitement of bidding. Keep trying

 

That is the only way I bid on ebay. I decide how high I am willing to go, and bid that in the last 15 seconds. I use opera browser that allows multiple tabs, so I have one tab with the auction watching the timer, and a second tab with my bid in it and at the second 'confirm bid' page. At 15 seconds, I confirm my bid.


The way to beat sniping is to use a "maximum bid" where you enter how much you are willing to pay, instead of the minimum amount to be the highest bidder. If you max bid $15 on a $10 highest bid, ebay only increments the auction to $10.50, so you still don't pay more than necessary to win. If someone snipes $11.01 at the last second, you win with $11.51 because ebay increments your bid within your maximum.

Sniping and losing to sniping are all part of ebay. When you are a seller, and you see your auction climb 2 or 3 dollars in the last minute, it isn't so bad.

The nice thing about sniping is that it prevents you from getting caught up in the last second bid war. Believe it or not, you can get more consumed with winning, than with getting the item, and that works against you. I don't use any software to snipe though, because I like to be in control so I can pay immediately.

By sniping, you are calmly deciding how much you will pay, then entering that bid at the last seconds. If you lose, so be it. If you win, you got it at the price you were willing to pay.

Chances are that the item you lost to sniping went for more than it was worth, so you came out on the best end. Ths sniper probably did you a favor.

There is ALWAYS a better deal and better price on ebay. Don't get caught up in a last minute bid war and lose your head.

 

you should be fast with the mouse, like the cowboys in the western movies. lol

It happened to me many times, and the worst thing is that you loose the auction for 50 cents!!

 

For all the reasons above and countless others I feel selling any coin just takes the pleasure out of collecting them. I'd rather just throw a coin into a landfill than try to sell it at just about any price. I really don't have a clue why people sell coins if they aren't dealers. Must be because they are so damn heavy!

 

Sniping is a very valuable skill if you're going to play the ebay game. I'd suggest you do some research and find a sniper you would be willing to use. If you are going to be out or if the auction ends at an inconvenient time - snipe it.

Another advantage of sniping is the lack of your name on the bidders list. I collect certain types of medals from the ANA. There are not that many collectors and sometimes the competition gets heavy. If you just bid your max amount, you'll probably lose. Snipe the same amount and timing becomes important. Give it a try.

 

There is friendly little site dedicated to sniping e-bay auctions at www.esnipe.com. You enter your auction number and max bid; and a program automatically bids on your behalf within the last second, if you choose. I have used it, and like it for those auctions ending at 2:00AM. If you really want something I think its worth it! Of couse they charge a fee, (it's not much) If you don't want to pay (he-he)...you get a bunch of free bids just for signing up, with no committment to officially "deposit $$"

 

thrill of the bid

I shop a LOT on Ebay for mostly coins and if you track an item, the best thing to get is a simple timer and when it gets close,say 10,20 or 30 minutes, set it about 2 minutes before the auction ends and go looking for somthing else, of course always an excellent item at a low price.
When the timer goes off, you are ready to watch and set the final bid with in the last 10 or 15 seconds depending on how fast you computer is.
It get exciting to see if you can stay under what the coin is worth and belive you me, you will get caught up in the action and bingo, whoops bid a touch too much.
I think it is fun but habbit forming. It is a good thing.Eh

 

The fees the Sniper Co. charge are one reason I don't use them.

I do it myself and have lost too many coins....yet!!!

Speedy

 

The one I refferred to only charges if you win!!!!

 

I know...but when I bid I try to win!!!!!!

Speedy

 

Hi Jimmy!

I, too, have come to realize that an ever-increasing number of people (or so it seems!) like to take part in eBay sniping, placing their bid only seconds before the end of an auction. But mitchell's words -- see quote above -- are so very true. I had just joined eBay and was in the process of "figuring it all out" when I saw a number of auctions for the 2004 Westward Journey Series Coin Set -- the P, D & S peace medal and keelboat nickels. I was so afraid that, if I didn't buy one (or more) right this minute, the price would end up skyrocketing, and I'd have to pay ten times more at a later date. So I looked around for a combination of the most reasonable price and the best feedback comments/rating... and then I bought two sets... immediately! A week or so later, when my package arrived in the mail, I took a look at the then-current eBay auctions, just to see how much money I had saved myself by buying the nickel sets so quickly. Wouldn't you know it, there were dozens more listings... ALL at a price of $5 lower than I had purchased mine for. And here I was so proud of myself! (I have to admit, though, that the seller did do an impeccable job of packaging and shipping the nickel sets -- just as he stated he would in his auction listing -- so I wasn't too upset in the end.)


Anyway, the moral is: Don't worry about getting sniped on an auction. As mitchell correctly stated, it just means that the item sold for more than it was worth (at least to you... otherwise your maximum bid would've been higher). And you'll (almost) invariably be able to find another auction with the same item for the same price, if not lower.

Happy bidding...

- Andrew

 

I know it can be a disappointment to lose to a sniper at the last second, but the key is to make sure you bid as high as you are willing to pay. Why would you bid less than you are willing to pay in the first place? That way, you won't need to be concerned with re-bidding after a sniper bids because if a sniper over-bids you, then you know you wouldn't have paid that much in the first place. If the sniper's bid doesn't beat your highest bid, then you win. The sniper won't have a chance to re-bid, either.

 

The poblem is retrospect. I have often times put in, what I believe to be, my maximum bid - only to be outbid at the last minute, and I leave myself thinking 'well, I would have paid 50 more cents (or a buck more), if that would have purchased the coin.'

The problem is, you never get to see how much you were really outbid by. If someone paid 50 cents more for the coin, they probably would have gone higher. Personally, I don't like sniping programs, because I think they subvert the electronic auction system - but some people swear by them. I guess it just depends on your perspective.

 

I've given a lot of thought to thje sniping problem. As a seller it can be a little frustrating to have 500 auctions listed and only a handful of bids with only a day left to go. What I've decided is that eBay should implement a new auction style that automatically extends the auction 5 minutes everytime there is a bid. That way there would have to be at least 5 minutes between the most recent bid and the end of the auction. They could call it "going, going, gone time" or something. This would make the sniping programs useless since those last second bids would just add 5 minutes to the auction, giving everyone a chance to see the most recent bid and respond accordingly.

IMHO
CJD

 

Don't ALWAY'S go by the book price, decide the highest price U are willing to give, 4 the coin, and bid that amount within the last 15 seconds.
I will almost always bid a dollar or two higher than what I think...just in case I want it bad!