I'm really, really upset that I lost an auction on an item I really, really wanted because the snipe I set for 5 seconds before went in 34 seconds before.

http://www.auctionsniper.com/SnipeConfirmation.aspx?sid=9452873

This wasn't exactly on the hour, and I REALLY wanted this item.

Linda

I guess AS must have placed it early for a genuine reason - slow connection or maybe slow server speed.

With your snipe arriving 34 seconds before the end, could you have manually placed a higher snipe yourself? it's very doubtful that someone did react to your bid with a higher one so chances are you would have been beaten by a higher proxy anyway.

What's the item number?

R2

Hi Linda

Frustrating isnt it? Below are some links to this topic, it may help you understand why it was done.

>>Click Here<<

>>>Click Here<<<

>>>Click Here<<<

>>and Here<<

They dont usually just whack your bid in early for the hell of it, as R2 said, there will be a genuine reason. Personally, I would prefer my bid to go in early than not at all because ebay slowed right down.

Sometimes it wouldnt matter if your bid was placed 3 minutes early - the proxy or other sniper that beat you, would still beat you because they were wanting to pay more.

>IF< you are annoyed because someone else won, I would say you didnt bid your MAX bid, but maybe your Medium MAX. Other wise you wouldnt mind that someone else beat you - because you would be saying "HA HA Sucker - you paid too much for that!". You have to remember that as a sniper you only get one shot and you have to decide how much you are willing to pay.

Its kinda hard to give an accurate response without an auction number or bid history (your link is too YOUR My snipes which we cant access )

Sorry I am waffling but I have been at work 12hrs and am feeling a little screwy

Lexie

"If you read - you will judge!"

I normally would grin and bear it.. but this same perfume bottle stood on my mom's dresser for years and then wound up broken when I shipped her effects here in 1981. Lots of memories and so I dearly wanted that perfume set up. I wish I'd bid higher... but if you look, until my snipe went in the bid was running about 1/3 the final bid and I had no clue it would go that high...I've spoken to several people much more experienced in perfume bottles who were also very surprised at the final bid price. I did NOT want someone else to have the time. I had another snipe set elsewhere for only slightly less just in case this one failed - that was set at 7 seconds and went in at 7 seconds..just as it should have.. problem is that this bid was already in and the party bidding against me had plenty of time to up the ante. If I'd wanted to let them know what I was willing to bid, I'd have bid that amount three days ago!

Aggravated and upset doesn't even start to describe how I felt. If the net or ebay are running slow, I'd like it up to me when I bid and take my chances.. not to have my bid time changed because of some empiric formula.

This would be an interesting auction for your bid analysis sheet.

Linda, are you Penn or Catnip?

Jabbergah                                                    

Hi Linda... Tuff break, but...

Looking at eBays bid history, it appears that terukajc saw your bid and then bid a little more than you, however... think about the proxy process. After your bid, the displayed price on eBay was one bid increment above the next to highest bid, or $309. terukajc did NOT know your max. It appears (to me anyway) you would have lost reguardless of how late your bid might have been placed. The price of $760 was only displayed AFTER they more than doubled the current price.

Sorry, but it really looks like someone else just wanted it more than you. Also remember we don't know the winners max. It could have been $1000 or more!

It's unlikely your early snipe caused you to lose because they other bidders high bid was so much higher than the price you were winning it at.

And in fact they barely made it in. There is no way they sniped at 1 second. The probably did a 10+ second snipe and just barellllly made it.

It's unfortunate, but eBays irregular stability on the quarter hours, and hours even more so require large lead times.

It's impossible to know the other bidders maximum. Hopefully you'll find this item again. Set up a saved search on our searches tab and it will email you when it finds one.

Also perhaps there are other avenues where you might find this item. With the surpising high price you werent expecting maybe even for less than your high bid. I would assume there are collectible groups for such items where you might be able to find one.

quote:

---

that was set at 7 seconds and went in at 7 seconds..just as it should have..

---

Your last bid was with 24 seconds left. How can you tell? You have no bids with only 7 seconds left. If anythig you tipped off other bidders and snipers by bidding twice with 2+ whole day left. That gave other bidders a chance to check what other auctions you bid on and prices you bid on other items, etc. And it jacked the price of the item up by $50+.

I'm sorry you lost this item, Linda. I can imagine how frustrating it must be. I've got one of those "holy grail" items that I've been watching for for year, and have never seen -- I've often thought that the only thing more frustrating than NOT finding it, would be FINDING it, and then losing the bid.

But if it's any consolation, from looking at your bid history I don't think the timing would have mattered.

A few seconds before the end of the auction, you were winning with a high bid of $309. Then, ONE SECOND before the end, Terukajc took it away from you with a single bid that more than DOUBLED the final price to $760. We have no way of knowing what Teruk's max was, but it was obviously VERY high, compared to the going rate. If Teruk had nibbled in the 34-second window, then I'd say yes, he was reacting to your early snipe. But I don't think that was the case here.

Also, if you were going to snipe an item that you wanted THAT bad, would you wait until the very last SECOND? I suspect that Teruk was also using a sniping software, and because of ebay's delays, it ALMOST didn't make it in. For your sake, it would have been nice if he had missed it...

This may be one of those semi-legendary cases where two "money is (almost) no object" snipes collided... I'm sorry that you got burned, though.

The following table has been reorganized and sorted into date order.  First
bid placed is line #1.  That should make it easier to follow the auction.
Two additional columns have been added.  They are the current bid and high
bidder, as displayed on eBay after each bid is placed.              v2.1.00
* = Winning bid. (may be less than actual maximum entered.)
 
                        Max                        Current Winning
 #    BIDDER            Bid      Day & Time         Bid  &  Bidder
                       (US $)
  1   falerno1         180.00   25-Jan  22:15:09   179.50   falerno1 
  2   nathier          201.00   26-Jan  01:53:48   182.50   nathier 
  3   delabouteille    186.00   26-Jan  02:06:16   188.50   nathier 
  4   nathier          233.00   26-Jan  02:48:02   188.50   nathier 
  5   klc411           191.51   29-Jan  17:06:36   194.01   nathier 
  6   klc411           200.00   29-Jan  17:06:54   202.50   nathier 
  7   catnipmercer     225.00   29-Jan  20:56:09   227.50   nathier 
  8   catnipmercer     250.00   29-Jan  20:56:24   235.50   catnipmercer 
  9   aimpc            238.00   30-Jan  16:35:24   240.50   catnipmercer 
 10   penn_pal         265.00   30-Jan  17:18:21   255.00   penn_pal 
 11   catnipmercer     750.00   01-Feb  20:59:14   270.00   catnipmercer 
 12   penn_pal         304.00   01-Feb  20:59:39   309.00   catnipmercer 
 13   terukajc        *760.00   01-Feb  20:59:47   760.00   terukajc 

Hmm, nothing like being FOURTH in line with the exact same insights... Oh, well, I'll just have to learn to post faster!

Linda,

I realize that you are disappointed about losing the auction and are looking for someone to blame. Unfortunately, I don't think your bid affected what teruk bid. In this auction teruk is a sniper like you -- maybe even more so than you! Teruk DIDN'T bid at all on the item until literally the very last second, so it is unlikely your bid had very much influence on teruk's bid. Your winning bid on the item at the time teruk placed the bid was only at $306.50. Teruk had no idea what your proxy was -- why didn't he snipe $350 or $400 or $500 even in response to your $306.50 bid? In all those cases you would have won! The time your bid went in is not the problem. The depth of your pocket, while quite deep, unfortunately was NOT the deepest! THAT was the problem!

Some little ray of hope that might be worth keeping in mind -- maybe teruk uses the "nuclear snipe" strategy -- placing incredibly LARGE snipes (maybe teruk's proxy was $1000 or more! ) but never wanting to pay such a high bid. If teruk backs out of the deal, the seller may offer you a "second chance" offer on the item.

If you look at the other items teruk has bought recently -- lots of perfume bottles -- must be a collector.

Jabbergah                                                    

...in line! I even messed up on the bid increment!

Ah hah! I'm the only one to mention the possibility of a second chance offer! Am I offering Linda false hope? Do you guys think maybe she should drop the seller an e-mail expressing interest if winner balks?

Do you guys think teruk was a nuclear sniper?

Jabbergah                                                    

Yes, I think Nuclear sniping is a distinct possibility...

According to Teruk's feedback, nine of the last ten wins were snipes, and SEVEN of those were at exactly 11 seconds. I didn't notice any huge increment jumps like Linda's auction. One of those items was for $308, and one was 102 GBP, and one was $42, but all the rest were under $20. Keep your fingers crossed for a second-chance offer!

You might also contact the seller and ask if he has any idea where you might find another item like this one -- Of course, now he knows how much you're willing to pay for it, though...

I'm catnipmercer on the bid list. My bid was
US $750.00 Feb-01-04 20:59:14 PST

Linda

What is a nuclear sniper? And why might there still be hope?

Linda

You didn't list my 750 bid on your list. Why?
He had plenty of time to manually snipe after auction sniper put my bid in.

Linda

>>A few seconds before the end of the auction, you were winning with a high bid of $309.<<

Look at it again. A few minutes before the end of the auction my winning bid was $750.

Linda

I often bid at least once to get it easily viewable in my "bid list" on my eBay. Many times I'll bid manually once or twice and never bid higher or snipe.. just not that interested if it doesn't go for less than what I bid. I don't see this as flagging anything.. you think it does?

I don't think there was anyway they had a clue anyone would go THAT high. Most serious collectors would have stopped far earlier.. the item shouldn't have been that much unless someone had another reason to want it, like I did because of my mom. As I said, I checked with experienced perfume collectors (I'm a novice) and was advised it should go for far less (about $350-400).

Linda

...also known as "mega-snipe".

<<<CLIK HERE>>>

The reason I suggest there MIGHT be some hope is that if the winner indeed did bid much more than he/she intended to pay, some 2nd thoughts/cold feet might become a factor. If the winning bidder of an item for some reason does not/can not complete the deal, eBay gives the seller the option to make a "Second Chance" offer of the item to the next highest bidder, which would be you. The way it works though, is the offer would be a buy-it-now at your MAX bid. You could do an ebay help search on "second chance" for more info.

Hope that helps.

Jabbergah                                                    

I should have typed seconds, not minutes.

Linda