Is ebay becoming a snipe fest?

Buster_Danog

I only started using goofbid myself recently, and it certainly does the job for me as I have a slow internet connection and I don't particularly enjoy the tension of bidding at the last minute. However, I am getting the impression I am late on the bandwagon and most people are doing this instead of bidding at the last second.

At the moment I have five items listed in auction style listings and have 37 watchers with only one bid on one of the items. I listed them as 10 day auctions. I guess I sell whatever I sell and people will bid with their maximum price, but it seems ebay has changed in the last few years.

bartelbe

For a seller ebays auction style listings don't work and snipping is one of the problems. Snipping means that for allot of listings you will simply get the starting price. The whole point of an auction style listing is to let the item reach its natural value.

An auction never really takes place, no-one bids except in the last minute. So tons of bidders are not around at the time, forget about the item or aren't tech savy enough to use snipping software.

I am sure many will defend the current fixed ending setup, it allows you to get great bargins, leave it alone. Good for buyers, bad for sellers.

I'm not so sure, once you get burnt enough times as a seller, you avoid low starting listings. 99p listings are for junk, no real point snipping that. So auction style listings simple become inconvenient fixed priced listings. Fixed priced listings with one selling time.

Ebay could fix the problem by a simple rule change, there are a few ways to do it. Have listings continue if a bid is entered in the last minute. Only allow people who have bid on previous days to bid on the final day.

I doubt these things will happen, I suspect ebay knows auction listings are broken, and wants to push people into fixed price with no free listing days, and higher insertion fees.

theoretica

If you are interested in the theory of auctions everyone sniping is (nearly) equivalent to a sealed bid second price auction or indeed leaving absentee bids in a bricks and mortar auction house. Theoretically, a perfectly good form of auction. Its weakness lies with very unusual items where people want to see who else is bidding and how much to confirm their own uncertainty about an items value. Relatively few items on ebay will belong to this category.

Crowqueen

For a seller ebays auction style listings don't work and snipping is one of the problems. Snipping means that for allot of listings you will simply get the starting price. The whole point of an auction style listing is to let the item reach its natural value.

Sniping doesn't mean an item won't reach its natural value. It means that it won't get bids until it is close to the end, but in some very crowded categories, most of the first page of listings are due to end within a few minutes anyway, so ordinary bids will be indistinguishable from 'snipe' bids.

I don't usually bother to snipe but nine times out of ten now I will buy outright as I often need something quickly and can't bothered to wait up for an auction to finish. Sellers gain by providing buyers with what they want when they want it, not making them play some never-ending-story game.

Having tried to snipe a coat recently I found auctions getting loads of last-minute bids. The sellers were probably delighted at the number of people bidding in the last minute and a half.

It's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest. So if the seller is only getting start price for an item, then either they have overvalued it in their mind, pitched it at market value when they priced it up, or are happy to accept that price.

What's good for buyers is usually good for sellers as buyers are the ones with the cash. If someone is prepared to pay a certain amount for it, then that's what an item's worth. If your items are not attracting bids or not getting the prices you'd hoped for, you need to re-assess either what you are selling or how much you are pricing it at. Overvaluing an item means you probably won't get too many bids. Perhaps your coat as it stands is only worth 99p because you have poor terms on your listing, meaning a competitor is poaching your buyers, or you have fewer photographs, or there is not enough description.

Buyers are not parasites; they are what a seller needs to stay in business. If you think of this as an antagonistic relationship then maybe you need a rethink.

There's nothing to be gained by insulting buyers when you are trying to sell something. Equally, eBay's system works well for the majority of people; whilst I wouldn't necessarily be averse to a change, they don't need to do it, and judging by auctions I've seen where bids flood in and prices soar in the last five minutes of an auction I see no evidence that it needs to change.

bartelbe

Crowqueen wrote: »

For a seller ebays auction style listings don't work and snipping is one of the problems. Snipping means that for allot of listings you will simply get the starting price. The whole point of an auction style listing is to let the item reach its natural value.

Sniping doesn't mean an item won't reach its natural value. It means that it won't get bids until it is close to the end, but in some very crowded categories, most of the first page of listings are due to end within a few minutes anyway, so ordinary bids will be indistinguishable from 'snipe' bids.

I don't usually bother to snipe but nine times out of ten now I will buy outright as I often need something quickly and can't bothered to wait up for an auction to finish. Sellers gain by providing buyers with what they want when they want it, not making them play some never-ending-story game.

Having tried to snipe a coat recently I found auctions getting loads of last-minute bids. The sellers were probably delighted at the number of people bidding in the last minute and a half.

It's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest. So if the seller is only getting start price for an item, then either they have overvalued it in their mind, pitched it at market value when they priced it up, or are happy to accept that price.

What's good for buyers is usually good for sellers as buyers are the ones with the cash. If someone is prepared to pay a certain amount for it, then that's what an item's worth. If your items are not attracting bids or not getting the prices you'd hoped for, you need to re-assess either what you are selling or how much you are pricing it at. Overvaluing an item means you probably won't get too many bids. Perhaps your coat as it stands is only worth 99p because you have poor terms on your listing, meaning a competitor is poaching your buyers, or you have fewer photographs, or there is not enough description.

Buyers are not parasites; they are what a seller needs to stay in business. If you think of this as an antagonistic relationship then maybe you need a rethink.

There's nothing to be gained by insulting buyers when you are trying to sell something. Equally, eBay's system works well for the majority of people; whilst I wouldn't necessarily be averse to a change, they don't need to do it, and judging by auctions I've seen where bids flood in and prices soar in the last five minutes of an auction I see no evidence that it needs to change.

I respectively have to disagree. I will use an example, a 1st edition book. The cheapest it was listed for anywhere else was £40, and that edition was no where near the condition of mine.

I listed for £29.99 and got no bids. Listed again, no bids. Third time, one bidder paid the asking price. Now if I had taken your advice and listed at 99p, it would have sold, more than likely for 99p. Someone would have made a packet, and I would be out of pocket.

The form of the auction changes the eventual selling price, some benefit sellers, others buyers. The current system on ebay doesn't work for sellers, unless it is a very high demand item, the only safe stragedy is to list at the finishing price you want. Effectively making a fixed price listing.

That is, because many bidders are put off by snipping. Automatic snipping maybe simple for you to setup, but for someone less tach savy like my parents, they simply wouldn't bid.

Snipping also changes the psychology of the auction. It becomes a closed auction, you don't see other people's bids. There isn't that pressure to win the auction. Instead the aim is to go as low as possible. You don't bid the market rate, you bid below it, so will most other bidders.

Snipping leads to lower selling prices, which is good for buyers, until it puts off sellers from using auction style listings, which I think is happening.

forgotmyname

If its a common item i will look to see how much they sell for and if there is a BIN one for pennies more i would rather buy that.

Other items i bid with less than 20 seconds to go.

My max price will be the same if i bid with 3days to go or
20 seconds.

bartelbe

theoretica wrote: »

If you are interested in the theory of auctions everyone sniping is (nearly) equivalent to a sealed bid second price auction or indeed leaving absentee bids in a bricks and mortar auction house. Theoretically, a perfectly good form of auction. Its weakness lies with very unusual items where people want to see who else is bidding and how much to confirm their own uncertainty about an items value. Relatively few items on ebay will belong to this category.

Yes, but is that because ebay is not used for such items, or because the auction process has put sellers off using ebay for such items?

In theory ebay should be ideal for people selling rare items with uncertain values, it reaches a huge pool of buyers.

bartelbe

forgotmyname wrote: »

If its a common item i will look to see how much they sell for and if there is a BIN one for pennies more i would rather buy that.

Other items i bid with less than 20 seconds to go.

Well that is one of my points, I think that auctions are becoming obsolete. Frankly if free listings weekends included fixed price more often, I don't think auctions would see much use.

Which goes against the initial predictions for the internet. Many economists thought online selling which make fixed price obsolete, with dynamic pricing taking over. Actually you do kind of see that with the repricing robots on Amazon.

RFW

bartelbe wrote: »

Well that is one of my points, I think that auctions are becoming obsolete. Frankly if free listings weekends included fixed price more often, I don't think auctions would see much use.

Auctions are evolving online. They are the oldest form of selling and won't ever become obsolete.
There's a problem with the amount of auctions and how some sellers use them. Low start auctions do still work, but not as well as they used to, that's as much a problem with the economy as too many listings.
Late bidding works in all auction places, on and offline. All types of auctions are cyclical, when I held live auctions the worst week for selling always followed a better one. If prices go too high in one sale customers are less likely to return for the next one and prices dip again.

bartelbe

RFW wrote: »

Auctions are evolving online. They are the oldest form of selling and won't ever become obsolete.
There's a problem with the amount of auctions and how some sellers use them. Low start auctions do still work, but not as well as they used to, that's as much a problem with the economy as too many listings.
Late bidding works in all auction places, on and offline. All types of auctions are cyclical, when I held live auctions the worst week for selling always followed a better one. If prices go too high in one sale customers are less likely to return for the next one and prices dip again.

Well i won't argue with greater experience, but I did read somewhere that ebay are now 80% fixed price listings. Sellers like them, because they give them more control over selling price. Buyers like them, because they are more convenient.

RFW

bartelbe wrote: »

Well i won't argue with greater experience, but I did read somewhere that ebay are now 80% fixed price listings. Sellers like them, because they give them more control over selling price. Buyers like them, because they are more convenient.

It possibly depends how you count the listings as to the percentages. Obviously larger sellers have more items on fixed price in multiple variation listings. There is also probably a higher turnover of value on fixed price, that said the number of listings is still about 50/50.

Ebay have had a problem with auctions for some time, they don't get that much revenue from them, however they are their backbone and what made them so popular. A big percentage of Ebay customers enjoy auctions and even sniping, it would be a dangerous decision for them ever to get rid of them.