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Got sniped on eBay, show me how not to!

604Coast

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cbbuff

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You must not have bought much on Ebay. Because that's exactly how you get what you want, no program required. That did look like a good deal.

All you do is determine what you are willing to pay in advance (say $250 in this case, although $252.89 is better than $250 in case someone else is using a round number too). Then you put that amount in the bid as close as you can before it expires. You will outbid everyone up to your "max" price and nobody will have a chance to increase their bid after you put in your top price. The mistake most people make is only trying to outbid the current price at the end and then not having an opportunity to increase it when they would have been willing to pay more. There's really no reason to bid on an item before the last couple of seconds.

You will need to practice a bit to figure out the timing and your connection speed, etc. Also keep in mind that their will almost always be another great deal coming down the pike if you keep looking.
 

JakeLA

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You can use a service like auctionsniper.com that automatically places your bid a few seconds before the auction closes. But even then chances are somebody else is using auctionsniper and placed a higher bid.
 

604Coast

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Originally Posted by cbbuff
You must not have bought much on Ebay. Because that's exactly how you get what you want, no program required. That did look like a good deal.

All you do is determine what you are willing to pay in advance (say $250 in this case, although $252.89 is better than $250 in case someone else is using a round number too). Then you put that amount in the bid as close as you can before it expires. You will outbid everyone up to your "max" price and nobody will have a chance to increase their bid after you put in your top price. The mistake most people make is only trying to outbid the current price at the end and then not having an opportunity to increase it when they would have been willing to pay more. There's really no reason to bid on an item before the last couple of seconds.

You will need to practice a bit to figure out the timing and your connection speed, etc. Also keep in mind that their will almost always be another great deal coming down the pike if you keep looking.


Thanks for the tips. Yea in that case I had moved my max bid to $210.01, and had my high bid in the lead at $200 until it went 5 seconds left, the guy must have anticipated I would go to $210 and went to $212. He got a sweet deal. I've been looking for a high quality solid navy 2 button suit for a reasonable dollar and this fit the ticket, I'm a total eBay rook though as I proved tonight!
 

sportin_life

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Thanks for the tips. Yea in that case I had moved my max bid to $210.01, and had my high bid in the lead at $200 until it went 5 seconds left, the guy must have anticipated I would go to $210 and went to $212. He got a sweet deal. I've been looking for a high quality solid navy 2 button suit for a reasonable dollar and this fit the ticket, I'm a total eBay rook though as I proved tonight!
It sucks to get sniped on ebay. As others mentioned above, unfortunately the only way to avoid it is to use your own sniper program that will input your bid right before the auction ends also. I wouldn't recommend manually entering a bid near end of auction, since the sniper programs usually are faster than what you can enter yourself.
 

604Coast

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Would there be any sniping programs anyone would recommend? The one above's site is down.
 

kafziel

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The biggest mistake people make on eBay is bidding too soon. It drives me nuts to see a great pair of shoes with six days left and there are already 20 bids. Settle down, guys - all you're doing is needlessly driving up the price. No matter how badly you want it, never bid on anything with more than a minute to go. And I never use a program - I've always felt that if I couldn't find the time to be there when the auction is ending, I didn't really need whatever it was.
 

cbbuff

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FWIW have found my IPhone app the best for bidding.
 

mgs55

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Sniper program or not, it still comes down to how much you're willing to pay. I never use a sniper program, and rarely enter a bid before 30 seconds or less are remaining (depending on which machine I'm using).

To the OP, it only looks like you got beat out by $2.00, or whatever. The winner may have put in $350 just be sure of the win. Sometimes you just get "sold" on an item (you've sold yourself, of course), particularly if it's relatively rare or it fills your want or need perfectly, and you'd pay more than it's worth (I usually only do that for things that are no longer made). Other times, you're just looking for a good deal.

If you know exactly what you want, and how much you'll pay, you're set. Then you'll either get it or you won't. No worries, either way...
 

CashmereLover

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I've successfully used myibay online sniper.
 

JTA

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Originally Posted by 604Coast
Thanks for the tips. Yea in that case I had moved my max bid to $210.01, and had my high bid in the lead at $200 until it went 5 seconds left, the guy must have anticipated I would go to $210 and went to $212. He got a sweet deal. I've been looking for a high quality solid navy 2 button suit for a reasonable dollar and this fit the ticket, I'm a total eBay rook though as I proved tonight!

Just my two cents.
The suit doesn't warrant that price though it is OXXFORD and in solid blue.
I think it's from the older seasons since it has low gorge.
 

alliswell

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Originally Posted by JTA
Just my two cents.
The suit doesn't warrant that price though it is OXXFORD and in solid blue.
I think it's from the older centuries since it has low gorge.



You dodged a bullet. That suit collar makes me think of Eeyore. You're not going to get an Oxxford that looks good for anything like $200.
 

ktrp

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Originally Posted by 604Coast
Was bidding on this great bang for the buck staple navy 2btn Oxxford suit:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190503360356&ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT


The last 4 seconds I got sniped, for another 2$ on top of my "max bid". I'm a bit irritated because I'm thinking the ahem, gentleman, sniped using some sort of program. How have you iGents avoided being hosed like this?


The sniper may have been willing to go another $100 higher. You don't know.

The 'simple' answer is you set your max bid to your max bid, and you walk away. If someone else pays more then your max bid, then you don't buy the item because you no longer want to pay that much.

You don't need to use a sniper program to 'fight' snipers. If anything, 'sniper' programs are to fight idiotic non snipers who change their max bid all the time. The sniper doesn't want to let other (irrational) buyers jack up their max bid to 'win'.

In fact, what happened here is the sniper bought at a reasonable price and prevented you from overpaying. This is bad for the seller, but perhaps not for you.
 

nelly

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That did not look like a good suit to me so +1 that you dodged a bullet. Authentic or not, if you look at the close up photo, the fabric did not look high quality at all. Looked more like a Brooksease type fabric if you ask me.
 

giraffe lookout

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I guess I never really understood this. I try to establish what I'm reasonably willing to pay for an item. I set that as my max and try not watch it anymore. I find that my willingness to pay goes up when I'm outbid which I don't really see as a good thing. Does that make sense?
 

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