Skip to main content

Hi - I've had a few crazy things happen with AS, but never this one. I placed a snipe 2 hours before auction close on eBay item #7348365534 with a 5 second lead time. I lost the item. The bid history shows that my bid was placed by AS a full 17 seconds before close instead of the 5 seconds I ordered. This gave the winning bidder enough time to respond and outbid me. Does anyone have any idea what happened here?
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

A similar conversation just took place. See if the thread in the following link helps (maybe confuses things): https://community.auctionsniper.com/eve/forums/a/tpc...5608021/m/5781028911

This also might help (less editorial than the 1st link):
https://community.auctionsniper.com/eve/forums/a/tpc...851062411#9851062411

Auctions ending on the exact quarter hour are considered Prime Time periods for ebay, at least that's what we've been told.



Auction's bid history
quote:
The winning bids are for the same amount and exactly the same time, and are both less than a bid increment above yours.
True. Something I failed to see.

I think the 2 snipes with the same time stamp were caused by a sniping service that places redundant snipes, similar to AS. AS will place (the last I heard, so it may be more) 4 separate snipes from different servers. They do this to better insure that at least one of them gets placed. Now, ebay isn’t suppose to allow a bidder to bid the same amount multiple times, but if both snipes fire at just the right moment, than apparently ebay doesn’t have the time to determine that a specific bidder has placed identical bids. There was one example posted on this forum where AS ended up getting 3 identical snipes in, and recorded in the bid history. But, typically, the first snipe blocks the other redundant snipes.

I agree with Smart. This doesn’t look like someone responded to an early snipe. It looks more like a sniping service, which would have placed its snipe regardless of your lead-time.

Would be a chuckle if the winning snipe was placed by AS.
quote:
AS certainly seems to place bids earlier than requested quite often. Quite why I'm not sure
Not read the FAQs and forum then? AS adjusts lead time when ebay is busy (eg Sunday nights!). No-one can react in 17 seconds (try it on a low cost item - it cannot be done) so it had to be an electro-bid. Remember (all together now!) "It's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest bid that wins!"

R2
OK - so you are not so smart after all.
One, tell me how you can spot a high bid at 17 seconds to go, then go through the whole process of bidding before auction ends. It cannot be done.
Two, AS tells us that they adjust the time when eBay gets busy, eBay tells us that it gets busy at certain times and people see their times adjusted at those busy times. What don't you buy?
Three, what don't you get about the highest bid being the winning bid? AS just prevents bidding wars, that's all it does. If someone bids a million dollars for a $5 object at day one, they'll always win no matter what happens between then and the end of the auction (unless someone bids more) - it's called proxy bidding!

Sarcasm - better than no wit at all!

R2
I concede that it is possible, with a high speed connection, to react to a bid placed at 17 seconds, if multiple windows are already open and the bids entered, as has been described. But some of us actually have lives and do not relish sitting at the computer at all hours, at the end of every auction. We USED to do that before we had AS. And I certainly am not going to be sending mutliple bids during those closing seconds, either. I KNOW what my max is!
...and how often are you up against a sad muppet on a DSL link with multiple windows open and the reactions of a startled gazelle? Never.

I do concede that, judging on past performance, AS could very easily get it wrong - perhaps Sara could justify their algorithm. After all, they're more likely to make money if a snipe is placed so erring on the side of caution (in light of my 1st paragraph) is in their financial interest if not yours.

And Smart - stop being so nice - I like a good argument! No you don't! Yes I do! Wink

R2
“Never” sure is a long time.

Well Smart, it appears you’ve made major progress. At least two regulars (hopefully) will no longer say that it’s impossible to react to another snipe within 17 seconds, let alone 42 seconds, after they’ve seen an auction where just that has happened. Perhaps the new chant will be that it will never happen after they’ve seen an auction where it’s happened.

Now, if you could do something about the profound “It’s not the last bid that wins but the highest”, I would be forever in your debt.



It's not the first bid that loses but the lowest (assuming more than one bidder).

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×