Only bid if there is already a bid option....

I think I see what you're saying. Is that a typo?

quote:

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executed if no one has bid on the item at the time that the snipe is activated.

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should that be: executed only if someone has bid on the item...

Interesting... you may be onto something there!

At present, there is no way to do that.

File a support case and make the suggestion to add that option. I'd be interested in what they have to say!!

... and WELCOME to the forum. Hope to see you post again!

p.s.   I recently made the same move, except I made an offer off eBay after the auction ended instead of waiting for him to relist...

saved $780 !!

Thank you puppy raiser

"executed only if someone has bid is correct"

and I will file a support case for this
once I have got all the feedback that seems
reasonable.

Thank you again.

Puppy posted:

quote:

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p.s. I recently made the same move, except I made an offer off eBay after the auction ended instead of waiting for him to relist...

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Puppy! You CRIMINAL!! Takes one to know one!

If I want the item, I would never risk this. A seller may typically relist, but one cannot count on this. I would rather pay the extra "buck or two" to be sure that I get it, rather than gamble and ultimately risk losing the item because it was not relisted.

Here is what support case said:

I see what you‘re saying, but it seems a pretty high gamble that he‘ll 1) relist it, and 2) the relist will be that much lower to justify waiting.

I‘ll make your suggestion a Feature Request. My opinion isn‘t always the prevailing opinion.

michael
senior technical support

The case was closed so I guess he did not want my comment but I would say this is predicated on ones analysis of the seller. There are sellers who relist at a lower price as a matter of habit (relists dont cost anything or not much done within so many days). Even though he doubts this happens. It does and I would like a feature to support it. I guess I will support this with evidence for my next try at support case.

The problem is if someone puts in a 1-3 second snipe we probably wouldnt have enough time to detect it and place a counter snipe.

I understand what you want to do, and see the use but not sure there is a practical way to wait, but then also snipe if we need to. For example this would totally not work at 7:00:00pm. It would take far to long to detect if someone else sniped and placed a snipe.

Hello Sniper Sara B.

In the case you mentioned you would lose. But I think part of this option would be that
understanding. So you might need to specify this feature in this way. Let us say that you
have the normal 5 second snipe. In order to
achieve the goal of this option you would have
to look to see if there is a bid some number of seconds previous in order to be able to execute the snipe if needed. You would probably always miss getting your bid in if a snipe was used to
put the bid in. I have a particular item in mind today and know that it will be relisted at a lower price. I realize that if I wait too long I might lose it to a sniper or to a last second bidder. I would like to not sit my computer to do something which is pretty good attempt at achieving my goal.

Just because the support case is closed, that doesn't mean it won't be brought up and discussed, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Sara brings up a good point. It would be difficult to do with anything less than (I'm guessing here) 2-3 minutes, and would add a significant step to the bidding process for those that used it.

While it might work with many 'no bids' auctions (no snipers) you may end up disappointed at losing to another lower snipe because your bid was not placed or item was never relisted.

... still think it was a good idea though.

Just in case anybody wondered this is the
real example of this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3742077397&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3743153169&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

In this case if for example the initial inquiry was 30 seconds before the close. The
software would see no bid was made and not make
a bid which would leave this one for me to
bid on if I liked the new relist price. This
seller is totally predictable and that is why
this works most of the time.

quote:

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Originally posted by binhongman:
This seller is totally predictable and that is why
this works most of the time.

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I disagree. The sellers I deal with seem to fit this category only rarely. It is difficult to make a generalization and probably varies greatly with the seller and type of item.

I am new to this forum but I can see that some people don't listen they just "chatter" here.
Binhongman was kind enough to give an example of what he is talking about and now chatter
there talks about generalization. He is the one making the generalization because binhongman
gives the specfic example of what he is talking about. I commend binghongman for his clear thinking,
accurate and germaine example.

I also see the problem that Sniper Sara B. alludes to. This feature
perhaps is just unwieldy and impractical and might create as many missed opportunities and
frustrations as it helps. Also it involves a level of software sophistication that maybe does
not warrant how rare this feature might be useful.

This is a fine discussion but there seems to be a little too much nonsensical chatter.

Crushme4000, welcome to our forum!

quote:

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I am new to this forum but I can see that some people don't listen they just "chatter" here.
Binhongman was kind enough to give an example of what he is talking about and now chatter
there talks about generalization. He is the one making the generalization because binhongman
gives the specfic example of what he is talking about. I commend binghongman for his clear thinking,
accurate and germaine example.

---

I really think you misunderstand Chatter, who BTW, probably has placed far more snipes under his belt than any of us ! I think he only meant that to make this change, it would be making it for all such cases and maybe that would not work.
Do we sometimes "chatter" here? Yep, we do! It is our forum and we enjoy it, however we do try to keep it in general. Sometimes we are just "bad"!

It is probably hard to wonder about the
mysterious way and means of a deity.
"to make that change, it would be making
it for all such cases and maybe that would
not work"

What are YOU talking about. From a deity that is the lamest
sentence I have ever read. Please explain
with examples if possible what you could possibly mean. If meaning was part of your plan.

Binghongman would like them to add an option which says. If you choose this option and only if you choose this option then bid on the item if and only if there are already bids.

What is "all such cases".

Chatter talked nonsense yours seem to eclipse that by falling to complete drivel. If I was the supergod I'd reduce your status to vapor sniper. This is fun I cannot wait for the next brilliant round by either chatter or Mrs. M.

Happy sniping

Wow, what a way to introduce yourself.

Oh well, Puppy, it keeps us awake! Lol!

Wow I am impressed. This is a pretty fun place. Ever since I discovered E-Bay I have had a different life and sniping is the most fun way to bid. And I can see that the snipers are a hale and heary lot. It is a warm night here and I am going to say up too late to watch the Olympics. I want to thank Crushme4000 for his insight into the simple but not so elegant (it involves two actions by the sniper software) option I would like. I would really like this option because at least two sellers that I deal with put a perhaps little bit too high price the first time and then lower it on the relist to something more palatable and they do this with absolute regularity. I think Crushme4000 was a little hard on the chatter and Mrs. M. even though I must say I have no idea what there problem is with my suggestion. They said nothing that made even the least amount of sense in my opinion.

I do see though that for the Auctionsniper this may be just too complex and prone to be misunderstood and thus create hard feeling because of a fairly high chance of it not executing a bid because it misses the fact that someone has bid close to the deadline. The Auctionsniper may be unwilling to expose itself to unhappy sniper(ette)s. I will still use this Auction Sniper for my normal snipes but I am off to try convince another service to do this one for me. If I have luck I will post it back here. And I guess if I have no luck I will post it back here. Maybe all the snipers will come to the same conclusion that this is a grief creating option (for them). Keep the snipe you great guys and gals till later.....

quote:

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Originally posted by Puppy Raiser:
Wow, what a way to introduce yourself.

---

Yes, his lack of grammatical and syntactic prowess is matched only by his gall.

quote:

---

Originally posted by binhongman:
I think Crushme4000 was a little hard on the chatter and Mrs. M. even though I must say I have no idea what there problem is with my suggestion. They said nothing that made even the least amount of sense in my opinion.

---

Sorry if you could not follow. All I meant was that what you describe with your seller(s) did not hold true with my sellers, i.e., they do not necessarily relist items as automatically as yours did when no bids are received. I surmised that this varies greatly by seller and the types of items each one sells. Probably not enough for AS to set up such a scheme.

quote:

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Originally posted by binhongman:
even though I must say I have no idea what there problem is with my suggestion. They said nothing that made even the least amount of sense in my opinion.

---

Pretty much sums it up for me.

Welcome Crush and binhongman.

quote:

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Originally posted by Chatter:
Yes, his lack of grammatical and syntactic prowess

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Funny stuff.

Well, how do I put this without getting this forum’s grammatical/syntactic checker activated?

Here goes: Not everyone took the time to master “grammatical and syntactic prowess” – what ever that is.

Funny stuff.

Wow! Lotsa " 'tude" in this topic!

quote:

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quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by binhongman:
I think Crushme4000 was a little hard on the chatter and Mrs. M. even though I must say I have no idea what there problem is with my suggestion. They said nothing that made even the least amount of sense in my opinion.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Sorry if you could not follow. All I meant was that what you describe with your seller(s) did not hold true with my sellers, i.e., they do not necessarily relist items as automatically as yours did when no bids are received. I surmised that this varies greatly by seller and the types of items each one sells. Probably not enough for AS to set up such a scheme.

---

And, I was NOT giving any opinion on the subject, rather stating the person misunderstood what Chatter said!! And this sums it up for me!

Mrs.M

You forgot to give examples.

Well hot dam, Puppy! At my age what do you expect? LMAO!!!!

Posted by Chatter:

quote:

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Yes, his lack of grammatical and syntactic prowess is matched only by his gall.

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Actually, I prefer unmitigated gall.

Hi Dave
I think your right. Glad to see you back.

quote:

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Wow! Lotsa " 'tude" in this topic!

---

A pinch of tude,
and a dash of rude;
on both old and new.

Thank you, Jake. I had "lost" my job and did not have much time to come to the forums; plus, I took two different vacations during the past three months. "Lost" really means that my position was eliminated and I was transferred to another department; same job title, same pay, just no time to go online at work anymore. Oh, and the new job STINKS (I would have used a different word here, but....) big time!!! I used to get out on the road several times a week and now I am stuck in an interior room where the only window looks out on an aisle full of bus parts; not very scenic. Now I have a second line for the computer at home, so I can spend as much time online as I want. Hmmmm, that may not be so good! Especialy if ebay is one of the places that I visit!

DAVE!

Hi,
This topic caught my eye, because I know sellers who do what the OP describes, but my strategy is normally to do the opposite of what the OP wants to do!

I am trying to eke out a limited war chest, so, if an item is offered for less than I am prepared to pay, I don't expect to buy it even cheaper! Items offered up to 20% below my maximum are my top sniping targets. Then of course there is the option of asking a seller to add one or two recent unsold items to the one I have just sniped.

My experience is that I often see items fail to sell at reasonable prices, but, after sellers relist at even lower prices, they sell well above the original listed price.

PS
I think Puppy made an important point early in this topic. If you know that the seller always relists cheaper, why not just send an offer when you know he has an unsold item you want? You can keep within Ebay rules by asking him to "relist" at whatever price you want to offer.

Hello Rosetsu:

It seems like after a long hiatus we are returning to some semblance of real discussion.

I am not sure that I understand what your case is that is "an item is offered for less than I am
prepared to pay, I don't expect to buy it even cheaper". For me if I see something that is offered
for less than I am prepared to pay I would just bid (or snipe) on it. I guess the only time that
I would wait on a relist in this case would be if I noticed that many articles of this type or by
this seller got relisted for less when not sold. Then I might I guess try to "buy it even cheaper" especially
if only marginally cared about the article. However, This is not the case in the particular auction
which ends today that I am interested in. I thought the original $150.00 was too much and in this case I think
that the current $120.00 is too much and I don't think this item will be relisted less because of my analysis of
the behaviour of this seller over more than a few years.

I agree with your statement that I have also seen items which originally did not sell sell for more than the
original price when relisted. And I also like Puppys suggestion and your amendment to that suggestion of
buying on the QT and your way of doing it more within the Ebay rules. Thanks Rosetsu......

Now a little bit of discussion and a harangue. I need a spelling checker here and I am lazy. My expertise is in
Chinese art but I would say without reserveration that every piece of Chinese art (painting) (except by perhaps bad luck for the seller) sold that is supposed to be anything at all (I mean by somebody known) is a fake. In the normal
auction world Sothebys and Christies the number of good paintings is poor and on ebay it is non-existent. The paintings
which are done by Chinese (nobodies) are terrible. In contrast there are not many Japanese paintings sold that are
by known people. And the paintings range from poor to fair to not bad. In the case here that is the example for my
discussion this is a japanese painting by someone known. Probably with a 50% chance of being a fake. Therefore I
cannot really pay much for something I cannot examine in person. Thanks for your patience in reading this.
Love
to all sniper(ette)s.

It is really the way to buy. I cannot think of scenario where sniping does not assure you the
best price (except for a the rare missed snipe) and protects you against impulse buying.

We have asked for spell checkers many times with no avail, but if you will go to google and enter spell checker, you will find several good ones you can use here or wherever. Webster has a good one. http://m-w.com/ Of course it is not automatic as a spell checker would be that is incorporated into the program, but far better than nothing.

quote:

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I cannot think of scenario where sniping does not assure you the best price (except for a the rare missed snipe) and protects you against impulse buying.

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Funny, I was just thinking about this very subject and came up with one:

Dutch auctions

I just won one and it would not have mattered if I sniped; in fact, one might lose if one sniped in a Dutch auction as the first (or an early) bidder might win all of the items.

Sorry Dave, I don't get that. Sniping a dutch auction is actually easier than a regular auction because you can see all the bid amounts.

Pups rules for dutch auctions:

• Be sure you know how dutch auctions work
• Try not to bid on all the items.
• If you only want 1, bid your max, and bid late.
• Review bids 10 minutes before auction end

I just made that up, so the list might grow.

Yikes!! My best advise for Dutch auctions is DON'T!!! Don't snipe...don't bid! Lol! I just don't like them!

I think they are GREAT. Wish there were more in the stuff I buy. Very rare to see an old fashion dutch.

quote:

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Sorry Dave, I don't get that. Sniping a dutch auction is actually easier than a regular auction because you can see all the bid amounts.

---

As I think I understand it, the LOWEST sucessful bid sets the price for all of the items, I will have to go back to ebay and read up on them. I just won a Dutch auction for 2 of the 25 items available and that is what brought it to mind. After checking, it turns out that I was the only bidder so I guess that it didn't matter.