I just don't like ebay anymore...

[Bryan]

There you go, that works. But then, a simmilar shoe is on another foot, because you know a lot of people think sniping is wrong.

 

Yes, but at least a snipe is a bid placed within the duration of the auction. This is where I would apply the "what you're willing to pay" argument. If you got out-sniped, you didn't bid enough.

 

I remember the early days of ebay where nothing was hidden. Things had to change since harvesting email addresses was a no-brainer, but now I don't feel like I have access to enough information to protect myself.

[mrnukem]

All I'm reading are the same two gripes...

 

Sellers not getting as much as they wanted, and buyers not getting something they wanted.

 

 

Hey, sellers, set a reserve price then. Not the buyer's fault you wanted/expected more.

 

Hey, buyers, just because you want something doesn't automaticly entitle you to have it. If you're not willing to pay what it costs or take the time to monitor the auction, that's your problem.

 

 

Sour grapes is what it all is.

 

 

This is exactly right....

[Gabriel]

This is why I quit bidding early and started sniping. Nowadays, I don't even do that. If someone doesn't offer a BIN, I don't even look at their listing anymore.

 

Like the original poster, I noticed people bidding in minimum increments to key breakpoints (such as just below a $5 increment). They'd bid over and over, and it looked very much like someone solely attempting to drive the bid up. A few sellers I investigated suspiciously had these same users on the bid histories of their items over and over, always bidding minimum increments multiple times. Some were even more blatant, bidding up until they would overcome the high bid, and then the seller cancelling nothing but the very last bid by the shill, thus causing the legitimate bidder's highest bid to become the new accepted price.

 

In addition, I went through a time where I adopted the assinine habit of hunting ebay and randomly bidding on items solely to drive them up. I never had any intention of buying the item in question, but if it was what I considered too low, I'd throw in a bid which I fully expected would be beaten. Luckily, I never bid on anything I wasn't genuinely interested in, and I eventually learned my lesson. I bid on a classic Transformers Jetfire figure, and expected my bid to be defeated. Instead, no one else bid on the figure, and I sheepishly forked over the dough to buy it. I never did that again.

 

By sniping, I don't give the shills and bored people like I once was a chance to screw me. Say you went to a garage sale. You found Quadrun new in package. You ask how much the guy wants for it and he tells you "$10 sounds good." Are you really going to say, "I'd go up to $1,000!" and let the seller adjust his price accordingly? No. You're going to pay the $10, take the rare game, and count your lucky stars for such a deal, even though you were willing to pay more.

[RegalSin]

There is no oblogation by anyone to buy what you're selling just because you want to sell it.

 

Ebay should not be a place where you spend mountians of pennys for fun. If your going to list something on ebay it should sell and not leave with you with a feeling of wow I put my item up and only got 75% of what I original wanted.

[Artlover]

There is no oblogation by anyone to buy what you're selling just because you want to sell it.

 

Ebay should not be a place where you spend mountians of pennys for fun. If your going to list something on ebay it should sell and not leave with you with a feeling of wow I put my item up and only got 75% of what I original wanted.

Then don't use ebay.

[Gregory DG]

No wonder everyone snipes.

Yup. I don't think I've EVER won an auction without sniping or BIN. Frankly, I think people are dumb to bid with more than an hour to go. They're just going to get outbid anyway.