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And this is why I hate Ebay
CheffoJeffo:
--- Quote from: ahofle on September 04, 2007, 02:31:42 pm ---If a seller uses another account (or friend) to shill bid, don't they end up paying ebay the fees/percentage of the sale for nothing basically?
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I know a guy who does this (no, it is not me and has actually been used to my detriment by this particular seller, although he is not a terrible guy and he did apologize profusely for it), and I expect that for high-ticket items he would just file an NPB against the shill account. For low-ticket items, I expect that he would eat the cost of the fees.
DaveMMR:
--- Quote from: shardian on September 04, 2007, 02:28:36 pm ---I don't have a problem with sniping. If I am able to snipe then cool for me. If another person tried to outsnipe me, well that sucks for me but at least he paid alot more than he wanted. ;D
The only bad thing that can come out of sniping is if it happened alot AND resulted in ALOT of things selling for way under value. The consequences would be that people would stop listing their stuff on ebay.
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Personally, if I really want something, I will bid the absolute, positive maximum I am willing to spend for an item at any time during the duration of the auction. Only when I'm only half-interested (or there are many similar items on eBay anyhow) and I have time will I snipe and try to get a lower price. I really can't trust fate to be around a computer at the exact second the bidding ends. People I know who trust sniping to work complain loudly when they lose and I usually I bring up the "well why didn't you put your maximum in early?" That really angers them. Heheh
And as a "sometimes seller", the practice of sniping does discourage me from bothering with using eBay to sell pricier items.
NoOne=NBA=:
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on September 04, 2007, 02:38:23 pm ---I will bid the absolute, positive maximum I am willing to spend for an item at any time during the duration of the auction.
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There are two problems inherent in this system.
The first is that someone else may post a better item, with a lower buy-it-now, or earlier auction end.
If you are already bidding on the first item, you either have to take a chance on winning both, or not bid on the newer posted item.
Second, this method lets people who may only be marginally interested drive your bid up for days prior to the auction end.
If you post your absolute maximum right at auction close, there is no way you can wind up worse off than if you posted the same amount earlier in the auction.
I've seen too many times where someone puts in 5-6 "maximum" bids in the middle of an auction, and does nothing but drive the price up for the eventual winner.
If the winner put his bid in at the last moment, the person that drove up the bids would have been content with their first "maximum" bid because it would have been winning the auction until the last second.
spacies:
In NZ we have a website called Trademe.
To avoid shill bidding etc they have a very cool system which if a bid is placed within the last 2 minutes it resets the closing time back to 2 minutes. This is great if you are the seller because sometimes it can boost the price by a lot and as the price rises it weans out bidders until you win. Hopefully. It also allows for that computer crash too. lol.
I lost some high end audio drivers for a DIY project on ebay because it just counts down the time and that is it! Crap system.
DaveMMR:
--- Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on September 04, 2007, 07:41:28 pm ---
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on September 04, 2007, 02:38:23 pm ---I will bid the absolute, positive maximum I am willing to spend for an item at any time during the duration of the auction.
--- End quote ---
There are two problems inherent in this system.
The first is that someone else may post a better item, with a lower buy-it-now, or earlier auction end.
If you are already bidding on the first item, you either have to take a chance on winning both, or not bid on the newer posted item.
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If it's something I really want, it's usually not something I'll find multiple instances of anyhow. There was a limited edition vinyl version of an album I liked that I just, right-off-the-bat bid $70 bucks on. I sat back and won it for $40. If someone came along and wanted to pay $71.00 for it, then they wanted it more - be it last minute or not.
--- Quote ---Second, this method lets people who may only be marginally interested drive your bid up for days prior to the auction end.
If you post your absolute maximum right at auction close, there is no way you can wind up worse off than if you posted the same amount earlier in the auction.
I've seen too many times where someone puts in 5-6 "maximum" bids in the middle of an auction, and does nothing but drive the price up for the eventual winner.
If the winner put his bid in at the last moment, the person that drove up the bids would have been content with their first "maximum" bid because it would have been winning the auction until the last second.
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It all boils down to "someone is willing to spend more money than someone else". Doesn't matter if someone is changing their maximum every five seconds. The same thing would happen if we all sniped our bids. It's basically twenty people placing their maximums (in theory) at the same time.
Sniping is not perfect. Web Pages freeze, time gets lost track of, etc. and suddenly my coveted item is lost because I "cheaped-out". As I said, I do snipe - but not when something I've been looking for is on the line. I rather just offer my money and if someone comes along with a better offer, well then good for them. I seriously can't be bothered with "eBay strategies".
--- Quote from: spacies on September 04, 2007, 07:48:36 pm ---To avoid shill bidding etc they have a very cool system which if a bid is placed within the last 2 minutes it resets the closing time back to 2 minutes. This is great if you are the seller because sometimes it can boost the price by a lot and as the price rises it weans out bidders until you win. Hopefully. It also allows for that computer crash too. lol.
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I don't know why eBay doesn't institute a system like that (or at least, make it a seller's option). It will encourage more sellers to give eBay a second chance. I know it's frustrating to see your item get no bids until the 11th hour.