Outsniping the (eBay) Snipers!

[yadan]

I've finally won my first pipe auction on Ebay - a beautiful 3rd generation Kirsten in pristine condition.

Perhaps I should say 'finally,' since this was only my 3rd; I was sniped in the previous two.

I believe I've learned a few lessons about bidding and sniping; I just wish their were more 'Buy It Now" options. ::

 

[mustanggt]

shineypipes has alot of very nice pipes for by it now. They are very fine at refurbishment and I have many of their pipes. Bruyerpipes is out of Germany and he is excellent also. great-estate-pipes is good as well. Those are the three I've used the most and I'm happy with each pipe I've purchased from them.

 

[eibhir]

Congrats! I'm glad you caught one! ::

 

[yadan]

"shineypipes has alot of very nice pipes for by it now. They are very fine at refurbishment and I have many of their pipes. Bruyerpipes is out of Germany and he is excellent also. great-estate-pipes is good as well. Those are the three I've used the most and I'm happy with each pipe I've purchased from them."
Thanks for the heads-up! ::

 

[yorkshirepipe]

Congratulations, there are some people with programmes for ebay that automatically snipe at 1 second, doesnt help matters, but good job on the Kirsten!

 

[wnghanglow]

I havn't used eBay in a couple of years, but don't they have an option to place a "maximum bid" that will only go up if someone out bids you? Doesn't that stop sniping?

 

[ssjones]

Yes wng...glow, your snipe is only as good as your maximum bid. I lost a pipe by .50 cents last week. I didn't want to bid any more on this piece, but who knows what the winning bids maximum was. If you get beat by a dollar or so in a last second bid, you can pretty much bet that bidder had a higher bid but only needed to eclipse your bid by the standard amount. Such goes Ebay.

 

[taerin]

Ebay needs to extend automatically any auctions that are sniped like briarbid does so that they stop having lost revenue fom this devious way to bid. Make the auction last longer every time a bid goes through.

 

[ssjones]

That is the aspect of BriarBid that I dont like (and perhaps hurts it's accecptance?). At that point, you might as well have only "BIN" sales (which can be great).! Ebay is a mix of luck and timing, which makes it fun.

 

[gmwolford]

I'm torn on that idea, Eric. If I'm selling, I'd like that I think. But as a buyer, which is what I mostly am, I think it would probably be bad: I would likely talk myself into going above my max bid and then not be as happy with the purchase or myself afterward.

 

[batdemon]

I agree with Al. When there is no definite ending time it is more like you bought the item, with cutoff time there is more a sense of winning the auction. If that makes any sense.

 

[ssjones]

I watch a ton of auctions, for my favorite brands. I've actually developed a pretty good sense on what a pipe will bring depending on the pipe/condition and the very important aspect of when the auction ends and day of the week. Many times, I watch the closing seconds and can guess within a few dollars of the winning bid.

 

[gmwolford]

I do the same thing, Al. It's a good way to research "going" values and fun, too. I just realized the other day that there's a limit to the watched list as I hit it! LOL

 

[mkelaw]

I just wish their were more 'Buy It Now" options

Don't forget, you can always contact the seller and make an offer. Ebay doesn't mind so long as the seller completes the sale through ebay.
There's nothing "devious" about sniping since anyone can do it. It costs almost nothing and, from a buyer's point of view, avoids artificially bidding a pipe up with proxy bids entered through ebay. Sniping is a buyer's dream. The seller and ebay are the ones who are potentially hurt. However, if ebay didn't want it to go on, it could easily stop it by not cooperating with the sniping services.
All that aside, sniping is also extremely convenient to buyers. Who wants to sitting over a hot computer at O Dark Thirty waiting for the auction to get down to the last few seconds to manually enter a bid?

 

[foggymountain]

You can also make an offer to the seller off ebay. The price will be less because of their high fees. Ebay is a good service, but it also is a greedy corporation with very high priced execs.

 

[ssjones]

Great point Dave, I've bought a few pipes outright by making an offer to an apparently motivated seller.
Mike: Ebay is rife with silk purses made from a sows ear, they are very collectible.
I love a pipe described as "minty". What, you are in too much of a hurry to type "mint condition"?

 

[kcghost]

This "extend the auction" thing is just a smokescreen to help sellers. As a buyer all you have to do is man up and put in your max bid and walk away. This is exactly what the people who use auction sniper do. They program their max bid and then walk away. If they win great , but if not so what? They took their best shot.
The bidders who complain about losing auctions at the last second have no one to blame but themselves. Quit trying to "steal" the item and put in the most you would be willing to pay for the item. Only the amount needed to win the auction will be used.

 

[pipeinhand]

I don't care what is sniped on ebay. As I tell my friends that have collectibles that want to sell on ebay, when they tell me this is worth XX dollars, "it is only worth what the market will bear". The reverse of that of course, if your piece that you bid on went for more than you are willing to pay, then it was worth over market, at least yours. You can't complain about not winning when you didn't put your max amount AND if you did put your max, then it went for over your market price. If you would pay $5 over your max bid while sniping, then you should have upped your max bid by $5 and stick to it. Otherwise you end up paying more than market price, as said, at least your market price. I think it is a very fair way of auction.

 

[rmbittner]

mustanggt wrote:

shineypipes has alot of very nice pipes for by it now.

This eBay seller has been called out in another thread by a member who believes the seller's online pipe photos have been Photoshopped to hide fills, flaws, etc.

 

[rmbittner]

Eric wrote:

Make the auction last longer every time a bid goes through.

As a seller, I would hate this. I schedule my auctions very carefully in order to avoid conflicts with other things going on in my life. I want to be able to fulfill my end of the deal based on the time-frame I've promised, and that often depends on an auction ending exactly when I specified.
Bob