Suggestion for AS team

The following are some discussions on this suggestion:

>>> CLICK HERE #1 <<<

>>> CLICK HERE #2 <<<

>>> CLICK HERE #3 <<<


I hope that helps.

Thanks, Rick. While I recalled that there had been at least one major discussion on this before, I did not recall the others you linked. I suppose some people would use such a feature, so maybe the idea has merit.

I agree 100%. That ability would be fantastic.
As it is I have ended up buying somthing I did not need because I lost the first item. I was not around to cancel the second one in time. The second one was only needed if I got to first. Welll...I missed the first and ended up with the second (of course). Oh well, now I have to find another one of the first..

That option would make this site even more awesome!!

Yes, this would be a useful feature. It would remove one reason for staying up into the middle of the night to do manual sniping.

However, there are things worth trying until this feature becomes available. Many sellers are happy to hold items until later auctions end. You might even negotiate to have extra items added to your purchase from the seller's stock, or persuade the seller to start new auctions for you.

I once managed to rejoin a set after I bought one item, but not the other. I sent an Ebay email to the other buyer and offered to buy his item for a little more than he paid, or sell mine for another $5.00 more. We did a deal and persuaded the seller to accept our money and send out the items to complete our bargain. Sorry if it sounds confusing, but it worked out fine.

Rosetsu, did you know if ebay caught it, it is a boot? Because you got his email from ebay, they consider it a TOS violation. Yes, I know it is done all the time.

It does sound like a cool idea in theory.. But I see how it would be very hard to implement. The hardest thing I think would be the timing. From what I gather, snipes are set into motion about 2 minutes before they are actually placed. Add another minute or two for the results to be gathered by AS, then another couple for the next bid to be placed.. would mean the second item would have to end AT LEAST 5 mintutes later! Most people would want to use this feature for items that end seconds after each other.. that never will be possible.

It would be very cool feature though say if you were bidding a digital camera, and the memory card was being sold by another bidder and ending about an hour later. You could have the snipe on the memory card placed only if you won that camera so you would not be stuck with the memory card you could not use..

Donald,

This is from AS' faq on Bid Groups:
28. Can I add two or more bids with the same auction ending time to a bid group?
Sorry, no. It is impossible for us to detect to see if you have won a snipe, and then cancel the rest, if they end at the same time. You should allow at least 30 seconds between bid group items to give us enough time to determine if you've won the first item.

I assume that if AS can react within 30 seconds on Bid Groups, they could also do the same for Contingency Groups.

Off hand, I can't recall any of my bids that a "Piggyback" feature would have been helpful. Nevertheless, I can see how such a feature could be useful. It would probably be necessary to set up as a version of groups. It could be called a "Piggyback Group" to differentiate it from the other type of groups.

Operationally, it would seem reasonable that one primary item (more than one primary would probably get too complicated and be unworkable) would be sniped. Then, based on the results of that auction, secondary or "piggybacked" item(s) (maybe 1 - 5?) could be sniped. Secondary item snipes would be cancelled if the primary snipe lost. Like was mentioned in another note, a minimum time period between the end of the primary auction and the end of the secondary auction(s) would need to be enforced.

A "Piggyback Group" feature would clearly be the most sophisticated of the AS services offered. One can only wonder how many (few?) AS snipers would actually use such a feature.

It will be interesting to see if the AS programmers take up the challenge to provide such a feature. After all, >I< already did the HARD part! -- I came up with the NAME of the new feature!!

Snipe on!

Jabbergah

We'd like to add this feature if we get a chance. It's on the list. However, it's one of those type of things where most people wouldnt use it. So we generally try to add things that would be useful to the most people when we add them. Eventually we'll run out of those types of things and will end up adding this

Hi Mrs M,
I don't think I broke Ebay TOS. I was e-mailing another buyer to make arrangements about purchases through Ebay. I was not arranging a sale off Ebay. No money or items went directly between us.

In any case, I don't think Ebay is allowed to take sanctions against Ebay members just for arranging deals with other Ebay members off Ebay. That would infringe competition laws. It would be like an advertising company forbidding its clients from using other advertising companies. As you say, the one exception would be if Ebay could prove that the "contact Ebay member" link had been used specifically to arrange a deal. This is an issue I have wondered about ever since I started using Ebay.

Yes, this was my exact approach, but I was told that since it originated through Ebays email, it was against their TOS. Don't worry about it..it is done all the time and sure would be hard to police. lol, I in fact argued so hard for the exact things you are saying that I made the forum members mad. (not this forum)

Yup, don't worry about it. eBay will not go after these type of arranged sales as they believe all emails between members as private, unless they were sent using the 'ask a user' links.

(It can be a bad thing sometimes though..)