early bid

quote:

Originally posted by Smart:
Mmm, coffee.

Nice machine isn't it?

Darkfrog - I suggest you send AS a very nice "thank you" note.

Seriously. They have saved you $332.25cts (+ postage of course)

Sometimes you have to lose to win if you see what I mean!

If any of you reading this don't grasp the point - just look at the auction again.

Darkfrog you had a very, very, narrow escape.

Motto - Never bid on an expensive item from a zero feedback seller. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then lo and behold it is a Duck!

Paul

Wow! You bid on stuff located in China?!? Have you had any previous experience with such transactions? Personally, I wouldn't risk it....

At this point in time (@2100 hrs EST) the seller is showing as "not a registered user"; so, Darkfrog, you are really lucky.

I’m impressed. Is the serendipitous-early-snipe, also referred to as the NARU-presentiment, an option on “Modify Account”? What's the default value? What's the best lead-time to insure it's success? What happens if two AS snipers NARU-presentiment the same auction? How many free premonition-snipes am I allowed?

quote:

Originally posted by Jabbergah:
Wow! You bid on stuff located in China?!? Have you had any previous experience with such transactions? Personally, I wouldn't risk it....

Jab - I am a regular purchaser of these Asian based products these days. You save a bundle even with the HUGE shipping charges.

BUT - I only buy from reputable sellers that have not only Excellent feedback, but have been dealing with this particular transaction for a period of time.

I have had one problem (with some NIKE for my boss' son, wrong colour AND size), but the seller sent me a replacement and didnt charge me extra shipping.

Darkfrog - I have purchased 2 of those in the past 18 months....FANTASTIC machines!!

I have purchased a few dozen times from Hong Kong and China and saved tons of money. I don't know why some people get so scared with overseas sellers. I pay with methods that assure that I can get my money back if there is a problem. When I emailed the seller prior to the end of the auction, he understood that having no feedback was a potential problem and was very polite and had no problem with escrow services, especially since I was willing to pay the fee. Even thought his English wasn't very good, he seemed to understand everything I was asking fine. I don't know why he is NARU since there is no FB, it could be a simple matter of incomplete contact information, it doesn't necessarily mean I would have lost my money.
I don't look at this as AS "saving" me from myself. I have been eBaying and ASing for many years and have rarely been burned. There have been questionable purchases before, but I never send the money right away on low FB sellers and only after talking to them first (email or phone) and on anything pricey, they have to abide by my rules or no sale. I have never been negged for refusing to go through with a questionable seller, some of them were NARU'd before I made any payments anyway.

To each his own. I, myself, have been burned by sellers in China. So, I am very careful of ratings and feedback. A lot are fly by night and gone today.

Hi Darkfrog,

2.5 minutes early sounds very odd. Usually early snipes happen for auctions ending on Sunday evenings or that end on the exact quarter hour – neither of which is the case with this auction. And, the most I can remember a snipe being early was maybe 1 minute. I checked ebay’s system status, and that didn’t provide any help. I also checked out some of the auctions that isisales has sniped and they were all within 4 seconds of the close of the auction, so his 2-second snipe on the auction you listed “suggests” that there wasn’t a slow response time on ebay.

Don’t think we can give you any info on why it went in early, or if it will happen again, so you might want to fill a support request:
http://support.auctionsniper.com/

I have a feeling you’ll get a canned response from AS, but then again, maybe there was some kind of hiccup “out there”.

If AS does provide you anything definitive, sure would like to hear about it.


Good luck.