F@$# fleabay sniper bidders

[pagrunt]

Why in the hell do these asses even bother with using those cheater programs to kick you in the balls with a fraction of an second left bid? Was bidding on something for the Jr mechanic that I wasn't able to locate in time for Santa to give him & I got nailed just as the screen changed to say "you won". It happened so fast fleabay couldn't even give a out bid messsage. Was at 0 seconds with me having the high bid them boom, sold & it wasn't me. The time stamp was too close to manually place a bid. I wouldn't be this pissed since I'm used to it for alot of things I lose on but being for your kid, something he wanted & able to have some fun father & son time really pushes it. I hope the USPS smashes the sh*t out of it so it'll be useless when it gets delivered.

 

[motorheadmike]

They have a program for that?

EDIT: holy sh*t they do - and more than one! https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&q=ebay+sniper

EDIT 2: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/sniping-on-ebay-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-1139904

 

[565bbchevy]

The only way to do it if you truly want something is to place the bid at the maximum you are willing to spend and not a cent more and accept that you still might get out bid and not win.
The mistake that many people make especially if they are the only one to bid is to only bid the minimum amount and if someone else wants it they probably don't want a bidding war raising the price up so they wait until the end of the auction.
I am guilty of bidding in the last seconds of an auction and I have lost a few times to someone else that bid a second later with a higher bid but I have also won many times and got a great deal.
There are times that I have lost and thought maybe I should have bid higher but I know going into it what I was willing to spend and deal with the outcome no matter which way it goes.

 

[Ribbedroof]

^^^^^

That's the way to do it. I bid what I was willing to pay, and didn't even check back until it was over.....back when I was still buying on ebay auctions

 

[pagrunt]

Well the other thing I should of added I had him watching the end with my to see the count down cause he kinda gets a kick out of it. It hurts ya when tell them in this situation that we got it just to have it pulled out from under you like that then tell them no we didn't. I looked at the links motorheadmike posted & wonder why you want to pay a percentage of what you bid to a service to do the bid for you. We did bid the max amount which was just under retail for the item but never expected to get nail with an ending even a photo finish wouldn't of been able to say who won. I have never been sniped that bad ever before.

 

[565bbchevy]

I can't believe they really have a service for bidding at the last second.

 

[paul.m]

Wow , never heard of that ,

 

[455'ed80Regal]

Most people have Buy it Now on what I am interested in. If not, I put my bid in and walk away. Typically my max bid is right there at where if they want it bad enough and out bid me, then in my eyes they've probably over bid on it.

 

[69hurstolds]

It's simply how the bidding works. Someone is willing to pay more than you for the same item. If you do your homework and know the going price for something, then you know at least you won't overpay, but maybe the other guy does. But to get it, they definitely will be paying more than you. A last second field goal in a tied football game still counts as long as the ball is snapped prior to time running out. Same here.

And yes, it's amazing they've had those sniper programs out there forever it seems. I've never used them, because I don't normally bid on stuff that I'm not willing to put up the max on my original bid. Occasionally I might if it's something that I really need and is tough to find. You can't beat the computer 99% of the time. So the program will snipe, but then, you have to tell it the maximum too IIRC. So for example, an item is currently a $10.50 with 20 seconds left, you bid a max of 12 bucks. The "sniper" had programmed his maximum snipe for 11.95, then at .05 seconds left or whatever, it bids the 11.95 but loses because you've already bid 12. Snipers don't always win. Except those idiots with more money than brains. It would technically be the same had they bid 11.95 early in the auction, but that only tips their hand allowing people to overthink it. When I bid on stuff and if I get a good deal on it, great. If not and I lose out, I just keep searching.

As was said before, if you really want it, decide what maximum it is worth to you and bid that amount and check in after the auction. Or at least accept the loss once it's over if you watch it and lose out to a snipe bid. You don't always win because someone wants something more than you do and price sometimes isn't the main factor to them.

 

[Bonnewagon]

When Fleabay was new ( yes I am THAT old) I lost so often that I began using SNIPE.com to snipe bids and I began to win auctions. Then the "buy it now" option negated that need. But for a regular auction as stated you must bid an amount you are willing to pay like 10 or 20 bucks above what you would like to get it for. You can't know if someone else bid higher than you unless you increase your bid in the minimum increments and if you keep getting bumped then you can be sure that person has a hefty final bid in place. Also stay away from a pissing contest bidding war. If you see two rubberheads warring in fifty cent increments you can be sure they will bid the price up way over what it is worth. Also if you know what something is normally selling for and you see a low "buy it now" price you better jump on it because as soon as one bid is placed the "buy it now" price is gone. It is truly amazing how some idiots bid the price up over what the thing is really worth. I have seen the price for a used item go over the price of a brand new same item. And long live free shipping!!!