sorry, this is a dumb question I'm sure, but I can't seem to find the instructions. Do I place a bid on Ebay before I set up a snipe? OR doesn't it make any difference? Judy
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Judy, I can't remember the last time I bid directly on Ebay. With AS, I can even change my mind and cancel an "impulse" bid. And AS is so much more fun.
Judyw - you don't need to bid on Ebay AND on AS. Using AS you are just setting up the facility for AS to bid on our behalf, automatically, with seconds to spare.
M
M
One of the many benefits of sniping is that the opposing bidders never see you coming. They're smugly confident that theirs is the winning bid and then wham! Your bid takes the prize and they don't have a chance to counterbid. When you place a bid on eBay it's like telegraphing a punch in boxing. Other bidders know you're interested and either hold their own bids until the last moment or put in much higher bids as a sort of pre-emptive strike. Either way, you put your ability to win in jeopardy by bidding on eBay first. At the very least you're going to have to spend more to buy what you want.
Maybe you've also experienced the annoyance of having other bidders who collect the same things you collect "following" you around and letting you find the bargains, and then bidding on them too. With AS they can't do that. They can look at your pending bid record (under "Search/By Bidder") and all they see is -- nothing. Your snipes are safely recorded on AS and nobody can see what you're going to bid on.
So go ahead, as Moosemaniac says, and enjoy your anonymity while you snipe in secrecy. It's a blast!
Maybe you've also experienced the annoyance of having other bidders who collect the same things you collect "following" you around and letting you find the bargains, and then bidding on them too. With AS they can't do that. They can look at your pending bid record (under "Search/By Bidder") and all they see is -- nothing. Your snipes are safely recorded on AS and nobody can see what you're going to bid on.
So go ahead, as Moosemaniac says, and enjoy your anonymity while you snipe in secrecy. It's a blast!
makes a lot of sense, thank you all. I will no longer alert the opposition! Judyw
Steve - I do like that other bidders can't see what I am planning to bid on - altho even before I went to AS I used "watch item" and bid at the last second. However, I have still attracted a following. They may not know where I am bidding but by checking my feedback they find the sites I have searched out and they start bidding there.
I do the same thing to find new sites so I can't really complain - even tho It is irritating when it happens to me!
When you collect certain things you are always bidding against the same people. I have even thought of emailing them and suggesting working out a truce so we all save money! Has anyone ever done that?
I do the same thing to find new sites so I can't really complain - even tho It is irritating when it happens to me!
When you collect certain things you are always bidding against the same people. I have even thought of emailing them and suggesting working out a truce so we all save money! Has anyone ever done that?
Hi, Clea. It sounds to me like you're bidding on items which come from a limited number of sellers. In that case there's not much you can do about folks who look at your past bidding record and follow you around. Your bidding record is there for all to see. You might consider setting up another eBay userid for yourself, though. It's perfectly legal and it'd make things a bit more difficult for people to follow you. You can set up a free e-mail box with ISPs like Yahoo for that purpose. So long as eBay knows who you are, it's OK.
Entering into an agreement with other eBay bidders sounds a lot like price-fixing, which is a violation of eBay rules. I got into an agreement with another person one time so that we weren't always driving prices up in a bidding war, but it became unworkable since the other person was a seller trying to build up his inventory. He couldn't continue to pass things up just because I bid on them before he found them. That was a couple of years ago, though. Now we both know that if we wait, the same thing will turn up again on eBay. So, if he gets the first one, I get the next and vice versa.
Entering into an agreement with other eBay bidders sounds a lot like price-fixing, which is a violation of eBay rules. I got into an agreement with another person one time so that we weren't always driving prices up in a bidding war, but it became unworkable since the other person was a seller trying to build up his inventory. He couldn't continue to pass things up just because I bid on them before he found them. That was a couple of years ago, though. Now we both know that if we wait, the same thing will turn up again on eBay. So, if he gets the first one, I get the next and vice versa.
I too am in an area of "collecting" where I am often up against the same people - some of whom have far more money than I to spend! However I now have 3 bidding IDs and I rotate them to foil bid stalkers. I look down on people who lowball and nibble. I enjoy watching the widgets and researching the opposition - it gives me a tremendous feeling of power. Because I am manipulating these people without their ever knowing it - until they find themselves sniped! Even when I decide at the last minute to cancel a snipe because I want to bid for something else I get this feeling "well that bunch of lowballers have escaped me this time". And they never knew I was watching them or lurking or sussing out their tactics. Shooting from cover is such FUN!
Clea wrote:
"When you collect certain things you are always bidding against the same people. I have even thought of emailing them and suggesting working out a truce so we all save money! Has anyone ever done that?"
Steven then said:
"Entering into an agreement with other eBay bidders sounds a lot like price-fixing, which is a violation of eBay rules. I got into an agreement with another person one time so that we weren't always driving prices up in a bidding war, but it became unworkable since the other person was a seller trying to build up his inventory. He couldn't continue to pass things up just because I bid on them before he found them. That was a couple of years ago, though. Now we both know that if we wait, the same thing will turn up again on eBay. So, if he gets the first one, I get the next and vice versa."
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The ONLY negative I ever got on eBay was from a seller I had done a LOT of business with in the past. One of the repeat bidders in his auctions and I had become friends over the preceeding year.
One auction lot he ran had two items. I noticed my fellow competitor had bid, and mentioned I was surprised she was bidding on the lot (not her usual stuff).
It turns out she only wanted one of the items, and the other was what I wanted, so when she won, she told the seller to ship the other piece to me.
The seller was FURIOUS, and gave me this NEG:
Complaint : Contacted other bidder via email to try & hold down bidding on one of our items.
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http://shetlandsheepdogs.org/brat/index.html
"When you collect certain things you are always bidding against the same people. I have even thought of emailing them and suggesting working out a truce so we all save money! Has anyone ever done that?"
Steven then said:
"Entering into an agreement with other eBay bidders sounds a lot like price-fixing, which is a violation of eBay rules. I got into an agreement with another person one time so that we weren't always driving prices up in a bidding war, but it became unworkable since the other person was a seller trying to build up his inventory. He couldn't continue to pass things up just because I bid on them before he found them. That was a couple of years ago, though. Now we both know that if we wait, the same thing will turn up again on eBay. So, if he gets the first one, I get the next and vice versa."
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The ONLY negative I ever got on eBay was from a seller I had done a LOT of business with in the past. One of the repeat bidders in his auctions and I had become friends over the preceeding year.
One auction lot he ran had two items. I noticed my fellow competitor had bid, and mentioned I was surprised she was bidding on the lot (not her usual stuff).
It turns out she only wanted one of the items, and the other was what I wanted, so when she won, she told the seller to ship the other piece to me.
The seller was FURIOUS, and gave me this NEG:
Complaint : Contacted other bidder via email to try & hold down bidding on one of our items.
------
http://shetlandsheepdogs.org/brat/index.html
This seller has now lost your (and possibly your friend's) custom forever. What a tosser! But sellers do get very defensive when things don't go straightforward. I won 5 yards of fabric (far more than I needed but it was pretty). The under-bidder e-mailed to ask if I would sell her some. I agreen to sell her half. As I am based in the UK I asked the seller to ship half to my new freind. Obviously I said I would pay the US shipping in addition to the shipping for my "half" of the fabric. The seller eventually agreed but was very reluctant and defensive about it all. It would have been a complete waste of time for all the fabric to be shipped to Uk and then half to be shipped back to USA. As a seller myself so far as I am concerned the widget belongs to the buyer as soon as they pay for it. I will ship it anywhere - even to the moon - if that's what they want, and are prepared to pay for. I will put what value they ask me to on the customs declaration and ship is as a gift if that's what they want too. Then they may come back and buy from me again rather than some other less obliging seller.