Bollox. I've just been outbid again.

[Qwibble]

I just thought I'd have a speculative ebay bid on a 'router table with a Woodpecker LE Router Table fence, a Leigh router vacuum attachment and an Incra Miter V27' as it was only £91 with a seconds to go. Stuck in a £95 bid and then got sniped to death as it rocketed up to £174.

Hmm...

With the benefit of two minutes hindsight I guess the sniping was not the real issue, it was just my max bid was too optimistic.

Ah well, I was meaning to make a table anyhow.. : )

 

[Benchwayze]

That or one of the online sniping services is the only way to go. There's only one sensible way to buy on ebay auctions and that's to bid once, absolutely as late as possible, and at the top price you are really willing to pay (ebay's bid incrementing process will ensure you don't overpay if your own top price is way above anyone else's).

Any other method of bidding only does the seller a favour.

Absolutely... But you do need to have a rough idea of what an item will fetch. then bid to your maximum above that.

I recently lost a pro-watercolour paint box that went for twice what I was willing to bid. It's a collectible, so didn't have a clue what it might go for, and I lost. Sniping doesn't ensure you a win every time, but it does reduce the odds against.

John

 

[TrimTheKing]

Absolutely... But you do need to have a rough idea of what an item will fetch. then bid to your maximum above that.

That's irrelevant really John. The whole premise is that you bid the maximum of what YOU are willing to pay. You don't need to know what it's likely to fetch to do that.

Stick in the most you are willing to pay for it, at the last possible moment, then if you get it great, if not then you didn't want to pay that much anyway so no loss.

That's why the bidding goes silly sometimes, because people get caught up in the wanting to win rather than thinking about how much they really want to pay.

 

[Benchwayze]

Ummm... I thought that was what I meant Mark!

If I believe an item is going to go way above what I am comfortable with, I leave it alone.

If I believe it will fetch say £100.00, depending on what it is and how much I want it, I am prepared to go £20.00 or so above that.

So, what you suggest is what I do. Put my maximum bid on the snipe, and then wait to see if I win it. Knowing of course I can't pay more than my max bid.

Is that what you meant? (It's just that I still think in £sd!) And I don't mean Lysergic Acid Diethylamide :lol:

The item I referred to went for £285.000. I was prepared to pay £160.00 as a new one is about £220.00. As used boxes of that kind are like Rocking-horse manure, then I understand why it went for such a high price. As woodworkers we know what goes into hand made goods, so the winning bidder still got a bargain! I am buying a new one from source!

Regards

John

 

[Big Fat Pig]

I am just a little confused, which is good news really as i spend a lot of my life being very confused.
However, todays confusion is to do with sniping.
I have bid on fleabay using their automatic bid thingy whereby you type in the max ammount you want to pay, and the magic in the machine will bid for you up to that figure.
Now, is this sniping or is there some software that you download that snipes for you ? ie, does it make your bid, up to a max figure, but only at the last gasp ?

Thanks in advance. ( up to a maximum of course )

Piggy

 

[big soft moose]

I am just a little confused, which is good news really as i spend a lot of my life being very confused.
However, todays confusion is to do with sniping.
I have bid on fleabay using their automatic bid thingy whereby you type in the max ammount you want to pay, and the magic in the machine will bid for you up to that figure.
Now, is this sniping or is there some software that you download that snipes for you ? ie, does it make your bid, up to a max figure, but only at the last gasp ?

Thanks in advance. ( up to a maximum of course )

Piggy

the latter , except that in most cases the sniper is web based so you dont have to download anything - have a look at www.goofbay.com

The sniper will put in the ammount you tell it to as an ebay max bid , generally with 5 seconds to go (tho you can alter the time) - the advantage of sniping rather than your approach is that you dont declare your intentions early so there is no bidding war.

its also often useful to bid a small amount over the round figure you are willing to pay - ie if you are willing to pay £15 set the snipe at for example 15.85 - ive had loads of buys recently where ive been sucessful like this with the next lowest bid on the round figure - and quite often if you are paying cash on collection the buyer will tell you to forget the pennies

one thing to watch out for though is that you need to be higher buy one increment - and increments increase as the value does , so if you are after something at say 500 notes, it is worth sniping at 505 instead

 

[TrimTheKing]

Ummm... I thought that was what I meant Mark!

John

Haha, sorry mate, I think we are saying the same thing in different words.