Sniping on items with no bids

Rhymsta

I was just wondering about this...

I use sniping almost exclusively mainly because I might not be around and to prevent me getting auction fever at the end.

However, as a seller, I recently listed an item and then realised that I'd actually sold the last one. So I used the listing to sell something completely different.

What if a buyer set up their snipe before I amended the listing? Would goofbid or whatever still carry on with the bid ie: would a revision be noticed?

What would be the legal position if someone won an auction like this for something other than what they viewed originally?

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to put in a pre-emptive early bid before setting up a snipe.

Any views?

soolin

It is a risk you take when you snipe, I doubt it very often results in an issue.

Mindless_Clone

I actually cannot stand snipers. A couple of times I've listed things that I know will definietly go for significantly more than the start price and are desirable items but, depiste loads of watchers, there's only been bids in the last few seconds and it's gone for a lot less than similar have sold on ebay. While I appreciate that's the game and it's great for the buyer, it's frustrating as a seller. I don't mind people getting a bargain but as I tend to undervalue things, I rely on the market to determine a fair price for the final value. Sniping undermines that, IMO. I have actually been known to withdraw the item about 24 hours before the end when I can see it's lining up for a last minute snipe.

On the other hand, when people place that first speculative bid, I have no problem with this. At least this signals to other potential buyers that there's competition out there which does help manage the price and, where one bids, others usually follow so it ends up higher than the sniper would want to pay anyway.
That said, if you're going to place a speculative bid, you may as well just place a proxy bid and have done with it. This is what I do, almost universally. I place one bid - up to my maximum - and if I get outbid, so be it. If not and it goes for under my maximum amount, well lucky me! I refuse to get caught up in a bidding frenzy and pay more for something than I wanted to.


You have just explained to me why a couple of things I have listed have had instant bids but no added to the bidder's watch list though. They're obviously snipers protecting their item and stopping me from changing it.

soolin

a snipe though doesn't really lower the end price, I don't snipe and prefer to bid manually but if I get outbid at last moment by a snipe bid it is because my highest bid was not enough to win.

I am a huge buyer and often come across items that look like a bargain, so I wait until just before it ends and out in my highest bid, sometimes I win and sometimes I watch as a snipe gets in with 5 seconds to spare and outbids me- it is just how it goes and doesn't mean I would have been prepared to pay more.

alykatz

I always prefer to either bid in the dying seconds of an auction or use a snipe tool if im out because of 2 things one i bid my max and cant get auction fever and also puts paid to those that shill.
Sometimes things go for less than others have gone for,doesnt mean its the snipers fault just at that particular time that was all people were willing to pay.

Mindless_Clone

Sorry but sniping does keep the final price down. Not in all case but that's the whole point of it, otherwaise why bother; why not just proxy your bid and walk away! The reason it does so is simply because there's not enough time for anyone to asses / revise their highest bid if they are of a mind to do so. Some people will some won't. I, personally would not; my top price it my top price and that's it, but I know a lot of people get "auction fever" or they might not have a good idea that what they're bidding on is worth more until the bids roll in. And then not everyone approaches the auction with a final price in mind. If those people see other bids and have enough time to decide whether it's worth more than they initially thought and bid higher then you get a higher price. But sniping eliminates that possibility for them.

That said, you have an excellent point about shilling and one thing proxy bidding does not protect you against is the shill bid. This is a good reason why people prefer to bid late. I have to admit I tend to only buy low value items on ebay so it's not something that's of a particular concern to me, but I think I would probably adopt a more "last minute" approach to bidding if I was bidding for something expensive, purely because of the shilling issue.

I still don't like sniping though.