STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

luckylily · Gucci

ebay bid sniping?

honey · Gucci

i use www.auctionsniper.com . the first 3 snipes are free, and they only charge you (1% of the final price) for the auctions you win.

sfclinevandy · Coach

I also use Auction Sniper and love it. I like how you can just pay with Paypal.

Maddie · Coach

I have a question. Doesn't eBay do this automatially? You can enter your maximum bid, right, but it only goes up like $1 at a time. What's the difference between this and a sniper?

fashionista L · Coach

Wow I didn't know there were services for this, but I do know this happens to me constantly!

honey · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: Maddie
"I have a question. Doesn't eBay do this automatially? You can enter your maximum bid, right, but it only goes up like $1 at a time. What's the difference between this and a sniper?"

not really, ebay does proxy bidding. say you the starting bid for a pair of shoes is $10, and you enter in $20 as your max bid 3 days before the auction end. ebay will register your bid and list you as the high bidder at $10. a day later someone else comes along who really wants the shoes, they enter in a high bid of $15. ebay tells them they are not the high bidder which is good, b/c they don't snatch your shoes, but the price for you then goes up to $16. the person can also keep trying to outbid you and push the price up higher and higher or you can get into a bidding war with that person. all this is great for the seller, but it sucks for you as a buyer b/c the price keeps going up. additionally part of the "fun" of ebay is the whole thrill of "winning" so it's possible to get carried away and spend more money than you actually want.

w/ sniping you enter your maximum bid and the time you want them to bid for you. so if you're willing to pay $35 max for the shoes, it can enter your bid 5 seconds before the auction ends and it will enter your bid at that time. i use it b/c lots of other people do too. (not the best justification but whatever...) and b/c i don't have to compulsively stalk an item. plus it prevents me from getting carried away. my max bid is set, and if i don't win, then i don't win.

luckylily · Gucci

Great - I'll try auction sniper then! Thanks!

Maddie · Coach

Thanks for the clarification, honey!

Mia · Kate Spade

I *hate* watching a bidding war break out on an item I want. I am always so close to contacting the bidders (I know this isn't kosher so I don't actually do it) and telling them to chill out. I see so many things sell for a lot more than they would have because of this, often due to one bidder.

I sometimes sell on eBay and once ended up selling somehting I thought would go for about $60 for $175 because two people kept bidding about 6 times a day...even though I was the seller I wanted to yell at them for their bad technique!