Sniping is Cheatin????

iLiad, I am a seller and I love snipers. Many times it has forced out a sleeping proxy and raised my final price considerably. Sooo, on my auction site, snipe away!!





Mrs.M

Personally, I feel it's fine to bid at any time you desire when it comes to an auction. Sometimes I bid the second I see the item...other times I'll use AS or snipe manually. It depends on a lot of factors, really. I'll normally put in as much as I'm willing to pay once I see an item I really want, or I'll use AS. I don't like to snipe manually at the last minute, I usually do all I can to avoid that kind of situation...since I might slip up, or my connection will be slow, etc. It's not cheating to bid, what are auctions for? It doesn't matter when someone bids, although some people do feel cheated when they put a bid in for something, the auction goes on for a full week with no other bidders, then at the final moment someone shows up and outbids them. It's a disappointment for anyone, I've been there myself. But, even I must admit it's not cheating. That, and I've done the last-minute-bidding thing myself, so I can't go and say it's a bad thing, I'd only be a hypocrite. ^^; Just my two cents on the subject.

*~samuraiblossom~*

Unbelievable. Someone who would call sniping 'cheating' is probably jealous, frustrated, and self-righteous. That may sound harsh but think about it. They are probably frustrated because if they had known a higher bid would come in after their's, then they would have bid higher to begin with. Look at the bidding history of auctions. Oft times the high bidder will bounce back and forth between two or three people. They only want to bid just barely enough to go over and be the current high bidder. When a sniper comes in, we don't give them a chance to come back and go pennies over.

So in their mind our bidding wasn't 'fair'. They didn't get a chance to bid again. This is where self-righteous comes in. If they bid early so should every one else. Every one should bid the same way - their way. And possibly they are also jealous, because if they knew how to snipe, then maybe they would.

I love sniping. More than once I've enjoyed an evil chuckle at taking something away from someone at the last moment - even those who bid manually within the last minute or two. If I really want to win something, I first determine how much I really want to spend, and ask myself how would I feel if I lost by 50 cents or a buck, and I then go higher. "GO BIG OR GO HOME," he roared, "LOSER."

I think my best advice is "Know thine enemy." I always look at the bid history of a currently running auction. I then click on the feedback number of the high bidders. This gives me a list of the auctions they have already won. I then look at the bidding history of every item still accessable. More often than not this will tell me tons about the type of eBayer this person is. I learn if they bid early and no gets over them later; or if they frequently bid late and try to win at the last minute; or if they bid lots, having the high bid, losing it, and then getting it back again by pennies.

I have a number of auctions of my own, ending this holiday Monday, (something else I've learned - the best times to end an auction. But as a buyer - I'll go for the item that ends Tuesday at noon, not the same thing ending Sunday after dinner!!) (Plus + Don't sell hockey cards if it's not winter! Fool. I'll certainly buy hockey cards in the summer, but I won't sell. I got a Guy LaFleur rookie card, book value $150 US, for less than $30 Canadian including shipping. The seller had to mention I got the card for way less than it's value, and I didn't have the hardness of heart to mention, Idiot. We're having a heat wave and a drought, and you want to sell hockey cards..........)

Anyways.....I have ten auctions ending this Monday. Five of them have bids already, but would I like to see some sniping? Let me think.......Duh....Yeah!

But HEY....here's the reason I actually logged in tonight......is there not some way of promoting Auction Sniper on my auctions? Are we allowed to include a link that will tell our buyers what we already know? Or does eBay forbid it? I've jumped around the various pages here and can't find what I thought I once saw, but didn't pay attention to, because then I was only buying.

Found my answer! I should be sleeping.......

FAQ #57 I think it was. Putting a link in an auction is no longer recommended since eBay has actually cancelled some auctions for having this link.

Now how does that adding a tag line to an email work? Is it simply cut and paste? Each time? Every time? Over and over, and over, and over..........................?

I've done a lot of thinking about this since I have done a lot of selling and buying on Ebay recently. The main benefit to me of using Auction Sniper is that I can change my mind about a bid I'm going to place up until right before the auction ends. Suppose a less expensive, better or more desireable version of what I'm bidding on comes up, maybe with a Buy It Now option. If I've got the winning bid on something else, I've got to wait until I'm outbid before I can do something about the new item. In that amount of time maybe someone else will meet the reserve and cancel the BIN option. Either way, with Auction Sniper I've got all the options but if I had placed a bid on the item when I first saw it I'd have almost no leeway to do anything.

I had a large expensive item to sell (an older piece of furniture worth $750-$1000. I waited until another one was listed and then I listed mine (better condition/lower reserve). i got a lot of bids and a good price. The previously listed item is now on it's fourth listing. After I listed mine, ANOTHER one showed up, even less expensive. I told my high bidder at the time that I would cancel his bid for him if he wanted me to, so that he could bid on the less expensive one (years of retail selling taught me that you want to try to kill the deal so you know if it's going to have any problems before it even leaves your store...you don't want a buyer to think he could have gotten a better deal across town...just causes probs down the road.) This high bidder ended up buying from me and he said part of the reason was that I offered to let him out of his bid. He's got the item now and I got a + feedback from him. The point of this is that I feel like he doesn't quite understand how Ebay works, because if he did he wouldn't have placed that bid so early. Maybe people think that by holding a winning bid early in the auction they have some kind of claim on the item. I personally let Auction Sniper do all my bidding, 10 seconds before the end. I've never had a seller get mad at me for bidding this way...in fact I have gotten good feedback (when they actually give you feedback...ARRRRGH!) from all the sellers I have bought from because I use Paypal to pay within minutes. So if a bidder were to take me to task for winning an item they had bid on I would just tell them that they had ample opportunity to place a higher bid...so why didn't they?

coop

quote:

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Originally posted by Kafussel:
Found my answer! I should be sleeping.......

FAQ #57 I think it was. Putting a link in an auction is no longer recommended since eBay has actually cancelled some auctions for having this link.

Now how does that adding a tag line to an email work? Is it simply cut and paste? Each time? Every time? Over and over, and over, and over..........................?

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Not mine they aint!! I just bought again last night (Thanks all you at AS, yet again a superb effort!!)I list all my auctions with the AS logo and that's how I fund all my snipes from, I am up to 15 now and have never paid a penny piece. Mind now I've said that I bet I get a letter from you know who?
All that is being kept out of my auctions at presnt is a "NOCHEX" banner?!! I have yet to find out the reason why?? Never know E-bay may just let me know?! But I'm not holding my breath!!
As for adding to an e-mail, if you use O/E it's easy. Just make your own siganture e-mail and use the required as you sig!!

Good luck!!

Chris

We are here for a GOOD time not a long time!!

Kafussel--enemy? I've heard people say they enjoy getting a widget away from someone else at the last minute, but have never felt that way myself. I snipe with my max and if I get it, great, if not, it wasn't meant to be. No hard feelings. It's a long way to a decent-sized town, so I use AS to snipe things that would be difficult to buy otherwise.
The people who complain about snipers being "cheaters" remind me of the people in school who didn't study and complained that the people who did received better grades. My philosophy then--and now--is to let them gripe. Some people prefer complaining to changing their behavior. But then, that's just my opinion. Have a nice day!
--Christine

Would this say it , Fordfalcons?







Mrs.M

Something like that....

Last night there were three auctions I was watching, all from the same seller. I had my snipe on two of the three. However, I chose to be a bit foolish and place a bid in earlier than I should for two of them and lost. I should simply have waited til the end, and gone to modify my snipes and make them slightly more. =( So I discovered that sniping actually IS a lot better than putting in bids in the last half hour or so. I think the best way to win is snipe at last few seconds, or put in a large bid amount from the start to discourage other bidders. It's all up to the person bidding, everyone has their strategy. But as I said before, mine does tend to vary. But thanks to AS, I did win the last of the three auctions. I simply put in a higher snipe for it, went to bed, and woke up to check my mail and find out I won! =) And whether fellow bidders feel I cheated them is up to them, but personally, I still feel it's not cheating, just playing the game.

*~samuraiblossom~*

Christine - Know thine enemy - Didn't mean that to sound as harsh as it may have sounded. I'm a student (sounds better than saying a fan which could lead to another misunderstanding) of WW2. The German General Rommel wrote a book on tank warfare. The American General Patton read that book and gave Rommel's army a severe butt-kicking in North Africa. He "knew the book" on his opponent. How he thinks and why he did things the way he did. Sports teams will study video tape to learn "the book" on the other team's quarterback or goalie.

In an auction, any other bidder is an opponent, and "knowledge is power." To know how he thinks and acts, can give you a winning edge.

Having said that.........this is eBay. DON'T OVERPAY......if you wait long enough, a similiar item will be listed by someone else...........

Russell

Steve told me this when I first came onboard and it has proven true time and time again!

So where has Steve been lately? Have you heard from him?

No, he hasn't been here for close to three weeks, I think. Really miss his posts!
Actually, I just looked and it was 09/22/03

Mrs. M,

It is possible that Steve's absence is involuntary.

I don't know, Rick. Does he normally do this?

Mrs. M,

Since I've been here, the longest Steve's been gone was for 4 or 5 days.

That's the trouble with not even having his email. He says he lives by himself and who know.

MRS. M

He said he raised 8 or so children. He once talked about a son visiting him. He also talked about having a lady that he was dating. I can't believe he's had some accident and no one not knowing about it.

People come and go in a forum. Some stay longer. No guarantees. Most everyone is anonymous, and since this is a voluntary activity, one can never tell what will happen. It's just the nature of a forum.

I'm sure he appreciates that he's missed.

Yes, that is true, Rick. Well, maybe if he is just busy and lurking, he will pop in and let us know he is alright.

Mrs. M

Hey Steve, (waving) if you see this, stop in and say "hi," OK?
(One of these days I need to learn how to post those little pictures.)

quote:

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Originally posted by fordfalcons:
(One of these days I need to learn how to post those little pictures.)

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from basrah, the original teacher:
>>> CLICK HERE <<<

I tried, but when I hit the control and C keys nothing happens.
And how do you post all those other neat pictures of dogs and alligators and such? I bought a scanner at a yard sale and am told it works great, but it just sits on my desk looking intimidating 'cause I don't know how to work it. Thanks.

Don't understand the Ctrl and "C" key?

I hit them at the same time. Tried several times.

Try this on Mrs. M's pix of eating the pencil. Right click on her pix. Select "Properties". Copy the url. On the posting screen, select the icon. It appears next to the "Instant Graemlins". Paste in the url. Click OK. Once that's in your post, click "Post Now".

quote:

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Originally posted by fordfalcons:
And how do you post all those other neat pictures of dogs and alligators and such?

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Here's a couple of sites to get you started:
http://www.animationlibrary.com
http://www.animation-station.com

Mrs. M has more. Search internet for "clip art" and "animation". Also, most any picture or graphic on a internet site can be copied. It you get an after you post the image, you either have the wrong url, or the site won't let you use the picture/image, or the site is down.

YOU DID IT. OUTSTANDING.

fordfalcon, before you can post any pixs, you need a site that stores them online. Many of us use http://villagephotos.com. You can use it limited for free. You scan your pix and put them in a picture file on your computer. Then, upload to the site, then you will copy to the clipboard and paste to this these posts by first clicking the image below and then right clicking on the box it brings up and choosing paste and then click the ok.. I am not good at explaining ,but if you can maybe ask LEXIE,she is better at it.

Mrs. M

Hey! I did it! Thanks!!! I still couldn't get it to copy, so I just typed the URL in by hand.

Great!! Now you have mastered copying and pasting in here!




Mrs. M

ford,

It's safest to use Village Photo, but you don't need to try that right away. I've only needed to use it once. All the other pixs I've left have been from the original sites. Most everything is available without needing Village Photo.

But, Rick she wants to use her own from her scanner.

Mrs. M

quote:

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Originally posted by fordfalcons:
I still couldn't get it to copy, so I just typed the URL in by hand.

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It's sometimes tricky. You have to move the cursor ever so slightly before you can select it. Sometimes you have to be right on the "h" of "http://".

Mrs. M

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/432508/Name.gif

OK! That came out of my "My Pictures" folder. And I know how to get photos into that folder, so....Rick and Mrs. M, you may have created a monster! Yeah!!