Pet Hates........or FFS

[walpurgis]

I have no issues with using ebay. Made another rather nice purchase today and expect to make a couple more this week and hopefully sell some bits.

[Len Co]

This is what I do, go maybe 10% over what I would want to pay as a max bid, set it up in sniping software, then forget about it. The software bids 3 seconds before the listing ends.

I always forget to bid otherwise, so prefer to do this, even if it annoys people. So many use sniping software, if you can’t beat them join them.

Early bids draw too much attention to listings and inflate prices.

If everyone is putting a max sniping bid in as above then doesn't it mean that a whole bunch of bids is going in at the death, as it were. So wouldn't putting your max in a few hours earlier be just as effective - maybe even better.
I ask partly because I can't be bothered researching sniping and I'm not sure if I can get the software anyway for my iPad.
(Excuse my ignorance, I worked in IT for many years and am now busy putting as much distance between me and computers as possible!)

[walpurgis]

No. If you bid early you indicate that bids are in. The total bid so far may not be shown though.

I'm happy to do my own sniping with a last moment bid rather than use an automatic online one. There's no way of anticipating if auto snipers may be used, but I'd bet many items get sold without snipes. If you've decided on your max bid, it matters little, because if you are outbid, it sold for more than you were prepared to pay. There's the odd chance that somebody may bid or snipe the exact amount you have. Presumably in that case the first one wins.

[Barry]

If everyone is putting a max sniping bid in as above then doesn't it mean that a whole bunch of bids is going in at the death, as it were. So wouldn't putting your max in a few hours earlier be just as effective - maybe even better.
I ask partly because I can't be bothered researching sniping and I'm not sure if I can get the software anyway for my iPad.
(Excuse my ignorance, I worked in IT for many years and am now busy putting as much distance between me and computers as possible!)

Not everyone uses sniping software, and those that do may not have set their maximum bid high enough.

If you put your maximum bid a few hours earlier, later bidders can still outbid you because they can be told to re-bid by ebay all the while your maximum is the higher. Eventually their bid would, if they were determined, exceed you maximum and could become the winning bid.

[Macca]

I never used sniping software, prefer to pull the trigger myself

I think I only lost out once and that was because the bid against me was more than I would pay. If I'd lost more often I wouldn't have about 20 cd players in the house.

[Yomanze]

For me the bad side of eBay is around bidding wars, for the buyers, which bring in a lot of opportunistic sellers who expect a buy it now price that’s similar to the bidding war items’ selling prices.

[walpurgis]

I'm not certain I understand that.

[struth]

in bidding wars things often can sell for more than there real value. folk get carried away, while in cold light of a straight price, most would balk at such a price.

[Beobloke]

Early bids draw too much attention to listings and inflate prices.

On the other hand, I’ve been involved in more than a few auctions where the item has mysteriously disappeared following a lack of bids - the latest one was only a few days ago and the seller is ignoring my “where is it?” questions. I even had someone who ended the auction halfway through and disposed of the item because “no one wanted it”. I bloody did and was going to put in a late bid!

As a result, I often put in a bid of the starting price but no more right near the beginning, just to register interest in something, before putting my real bid in at the end.

[walpurgis]

I’ve been involved in more than a few auctions where the item has mysteriously disappeared

Yes. I've seen that a few times. Probably sold elsewhere, so pulled.