Lost a bid (Thanks AS)

Hello Silvio,

I looked at your auction and you lost because you did your snipe was not a full bid increment above the current bid. eBay does not accept snipes (bids) that are not at least a full bid increment above the current bid.

Your snipe was for $6.01, the item price was $6.00.

Please read this: Sniper Tips

The fourth paragraph covers bid increments.

Also, on your 'mysnipes' page, if you look the status shows 'Bid Below Increment'.

Thanks,
Bill

Another one-post wonder.

Drive-by posts.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
Another one-post wonder.

Versus, I wonder?

Ditto..... Maybe this needs to be addressed by extra functionality in the Auction Sniper system if the increment can be extracted from the auction webpage? Seems to be a common problem without a solution on Auctionsnipers side when we look to AS to deliver ALL the goods?

DAMN...... would have got that monitor if the bid had been sucessful!!!!

FB

============ EBAY BID REPORT =================

The following must be corrected before continuing:
• Your bid must be at least GBP 25.51
Item title: COMPAQ 15" FLATSCREEN TFT MONITOR # TFT5000
Current bid: GBP 24.51 (Approximately US $43.24)
Your maximum bid: (Approximately US $43.24)
Your new maximum bid: GBP (Enter more than GBP 25.51)
You will confirm in the next step.
eBay automatically bids on your behalf up to your maximum bid.
Learn about bidding.

Hi John,

quote:

Maybe this needs to be addressed by extra functionality in the Auction Sniper system if the increment can be extracted from the auction webpage? Seems to be a common problem without a solution on Auctionsnipers side when we look to AS to deliver ALL the goods?

Not sure what you are suggesting?

quote:

DAMN...... would have got that monitor if the bid had been sucessful!!!!

I don’t see how you can be certain. With ebay’s bidding system, there’s no way of knowing the top bid, unless it’s less than one increment above the 2nd highest bid.

Maybe I’m missing something?

I don't see where to change the bid increment, or was it just I missed out as the bid increment put me above £25.00

Could the bid increment be grabbed by AuctionSniper and used in the Sniping as if in this case the snipe had gone in at £25 and a wee bit I would have had my monitor maybe?

Not knocking the system just suggesting that with only one bid on the auction when you place your snipe you are not to know that it will reach the point where for the want of a few pennies over your max you could have possibly had the thing.... could you say, elect to allow Auction sniper to increase the maximum by a percentage or a simple fixed amount (say either 10% of the maximum or £1.00) if your top end bid was close to the next increment? Then a last bid effort would go in instead of the bid not being entered and the previous one winning....

Might be a nice option for some to choose....

John

i also had a problem like this last night where snipe didn't place a bid at all for me and my max was £7 above the highest the auction went for on item 7379734084

quote:

Originally posted by Smart:
UK Bid Increments
The only reason you see 24.51 is because elly bid 23.51. For all you know hp42's bid was a million quid, in which case your 'current bid plus an increment' won't do much good!
If you're prepared to let AS bid more then enter your absolute maximum in the first place.

We actually were talking yesterday about having a feature similar to what you guys are proposing, but as 'Smart' points out above, people feel that they barely lost the item - but in reality the bid in place on eBay by the winner could have been MUCH higher than the win price. Remember, the winning price is typically only one bid increment above the next highest bid (not the full bid price submitted by the winner).

So a feature for Auction Sniper to to bid one increment higher than your max doesn't provide any real value.

Further, you are supposed to bid your max. Instead of having a feature to increase your max, just bid your max in the first place. If you lose, it is because someone was willing to pay more for the item than you.

It all comes back to:
Bid the MAX you are willing to pay and then do not cry over a loss if someone pays more or at a price that the increment rule comes into play.

Exactly.

I noted the various replies re: "why not set your max higher". Fair comments all around and I not doubting their factual correctness as it is true.........

A lot of people use the sniper to bid on stuff when they are not around... or to secure stuff for peanuts as second bidder keeping as low as possible to the first bid where there is little other interest "anticipated" and placing a second bit a second or two before the end when a delay is most critical ...

This is when the increment issue is VERY RELEVANT and a lot of "in abscentia" bidders might like a chance to meet the increment rather than failing ... in the "active bid" window it might be possible to flag up if your low max is below the next increment after the first bid ...?

MAX IS MAX all the same but to "just lose" because the sniper is going .... "what do I do now?... tell me tell me!"

...is different

.. and frustrating as the "reason for failure" is perceived commonly as that of "the system".....

.... I use the sniper to bid when I am not around, I won last night "watching" ..... I can't always do that....

People are lazy basically, Auctionsniper.com want to make money out of peoples desire to win auctions, if they can offer a "no brainer" solution to an issue that is commonly raised in these forums whether it is "right" or not.. why not?

More people will use the sniper without complaining in the forums after when they lose due to the increment issue, ie. when it is perceived as not their fault even though it sort of is ...!

"The customer is alway right according to their understanding of the truth and it is the only thing they want to discuss at the time"

If there are some fundemental flaws in my logic regarding how the sniper deals with second bids when the snipe max is below the next increment please correct me....

FB

10:4 good buddy

Maximum is alway the biggest and you will never be able to provide a software solution to deal with all the possible issues..... Thanks for promptly answering .... I was up because the cat woke me up.... (not the first time he's done it!)



Thanks again!!!!

John

Possible considerations:

1. AS doesn’t allow snipes to be changed/cancelled during the last 5 minutes of an auction. Since each snipe is loaded onto 4+ servers, I would assume that part of that 5-minute limit is to insure that the snipes reach each server. Also, AS needs to allocate part of the 5 minutes to determine ebay’s current (which is a moving target) response time. It would seem to me, that the things that AS does before the actual snipe is placed, would prevent any changes to the bid amount, and a corresponding change to each of the servers.
   
   
2. There’s a legitimate concern that has been voiced by AS before adding a new feature, and that is what level of complexity will be added for other users, both new and old. There was a recent example of this when an old time user of AS accidentally put an auction on their “My Watches” page instead of “My Snipes” page, which resulted in a nice “watch” but a poor “snipe”. Every enhancement that AS makes could cause someone else a problem. It has been suggested that an “Advanced Features” be added to the setup, but even that could cause problems for users that don’t fully understanding each feature’s impact.
   
   
3. The increment/proxy features of ebay cause problems for more than a few new users. It took me a while to figure out, and perhaps others have had a similar experience. It’s not uncommon for someone (such as the first post on this thread) to ask why their $10.01 snipe didn’t get placed when the closing price is $10.00. Another example is the “View Confirmation” button on “My Snipes”, which provides the message received from ebay when a snipe fails, but that many people don’t understand, nor do they use to get a further description of why their snipe failed. Adding an automatic-increment feature might add even more confusion to users that are still struggling to understand how ebay *and* AS function.
   
   
4. Somewhat of a repeat, but should AS add some automatic bid increase feature, there’s a decent possibility that it would open up a completely new, and more heated, series of complaints from users asking, “Why in the **** did you increase my snipe?” Already there are some that post on the forum claiming that AS placed a snipe on an auction that the user says they didn’t request a snipe (none have been able to provide evidence that this wasn’t a user error). And, some have posted that AS arbitrarily increased (no evidence was provided) the snipe amount because, “It’s in AS’ best interest to place a winning snipe, no matter what.”
   
   
5. Seems (generality) that usually (generality) snipes are placed in the last couple of minutes of an auction. Some people will place a manual snipe 3 or 4 minutes out. They are quasi-snipers (pseudo psnipers), as they should be trying for 20 seconds or less, but, at least they are a step above proxy bidders. The more traditional snipes come in at the last x seconds. I don’t see how AS, in the last few seconds of an auction, could be monitoring the price, changing the snipes in multiple servers, and compensating for ebay’s response time with any degree of accuracy – even to the satisfaction of an experienced user. And, to a non-experienced user, how difficult would that be to explain?

quote:

"The customer is alway right according to their understanding of the truth and it is the only thing they want to discuss at the time"

True, but the rub occurs when multiple customers, who are both right, disagree with each other.



Questions for John:

1. Do you remember where you got that cat toy?
   
   
2. Does it come in different colors and lengths?
   
   
3. Does it help to put some catnip or tuna juice on it?
   
   
4. How do you keep it in place?
   
   
5. Do you keep your cat’s claws trimmed?
   
   
6. Does your cat ever sit on the toy?

quote:
"The customer is alway right according to their understanding of the truth and it is the only thing they want to discuss at the time"
True, but the rub occurs when multiple customers, who are both right, disagree with each other.

Questions for John:
1 Do you remember where you got that cat toy?

2 Does it come in different colors and lengths?

3 Does it help to put some catnip or tuna juice on it?

4 How do you keep it in place?

5 Do you keep your cat’s claws trimmed?

6 Does your cat ever sit on the toy?

======

Qs 1-6 are irrelevant as the attack was promted by the cat's desire for attention nothing else, no toys were hurt in the making of this photo! Q6 reminds me of the Fat Freddies Cat Cartoon where he is dreaming of an encounter with a film star but it turns out the cat has decided to sleep on his face instead

Anyway nothing like ending a thread on a professional note... and this is nothing like ending a thread on a professional note.... the dialogue with Rick has actually proved real humans are employed by Auction sniper also that the issue will remain unadressed, at rightly so!