done with Ebay

[harley .guy07]

I just got done bidding on a Martin Logan Dynamo sub that was used on Ebay and in the last 1 second one of the %$^& ebay snipers out bid me!!! I'm done with trying to mess with Ebay when there are people on there that do not care for the item they are bidding on they just want to win the bid so they have programs that do that very thing. I am not on there very much but I check it every so often and just so happened to see a first edition Dynamo on there for a decent price so I tried to get it but there was no Buy it now so I tried to bid.

The moral of this story is that I am not going to use Ebay any more due to the fact that Its a game for people instead of a legitimate buying site. I am done with the sniper thing. I will just find what I am looking for somewhere else.

[Jack in Wilmington]

If I find something that I'm really interested in, I will contact the seller and explain that I'll be away when the auction ends and ask if he has a "Buy it Now" price. If I have to bid, I put a "max bid" in that is the most that I want to spend on the item and if I get out bid, oh well. It's a game to some of these people Harley and the good guys don't always win. Sorry about your sub.

[Feanor]

I just got done bidding on a Martin Logan Dynamo sub that was used on Ebay and in the last 1 second one of the %$^& ebay snipers out bid me!!! I'm done with trying to mess with Ebay when there are people on there that do not care for the item they are bidding on they just want to win the bid so they have programs that do that very thing. I am not on there very much but I check it every so often and just so happened to see a first edition Dynamo on there for a decent price so I tried to get it but there was no Buy it now so I tried to bid.

The moral of this story is that I am not going to use Ebay any more due to the fact that Its a game for people instead of a legitimate buying site. I am done with the sniper thing. I will just find what I am looking for somewhere else.

I'll confess that I usually use a sniping service when I bit on major items on eBay. For me the sniping service is actually as self-discipline: it allows me to "set it and forget it". I decide what is the maximum amount I'm willing to pay; I enter that for sniping and I'm not caught up in any last minute bidding wars. Sometimes I win the bid, sometimes I don't but in that case I always know that the item went for more than I was willing to pay.

[TheHills44060]

I don't think I am understanding. How is it a game when the person who ultimately wins the item still has to pay for it, right? If you cut your bids too close and aren't willing to enter your true maximum bid you risk the chance of losing the item. The whole incentive for a seller to use ebay is to pray for a bidding war.

Keep your chin up harley something always comes up and who knows you may find an even better deal.

[harley .guy07]

When I have the highest bid for 12 straight hours and then at the 1 second mark some a#$ hat puts in a bid to beat mine that is a joke. instead of bidding normally and letting things play out the coward had to wait until the last 1/2 second to put in some bid in order to not allow me to answer the bid. I admit I am not a expert at Ebay but I bet because Ebay allows this crap to go on they alienate and push off the normal people that would shop with Ebay but hate the stupid games people play. I also noticed that the "person" that bid me out that way has bid on hundreds on items on Ebay in the last week or so so he must of been a reseller or something. I should have known better after hearing from other people that Ebay is a joke anymore and most normal people refuse to use it because of the bid snipers that have nothing better to do than cruize Ebay all day long

[harley .guy07]

I know I am going overboard here but it really sucks to go on and find something you have been looking for for a long time and win the bid for a long time(days) just to have some reseller take it away in the last 1/2 second! I understand the people that use the sniping service so that they can set and forget or so they don't overspend but I was bidding "normally" and had won the bid for a long time before this "person" did this. If I wanted to play games I would get a g$d#$n Playstation!!!!!!

[Feanor]

I know I am going overboard here but it really sucks to go on and find something you have been looking for for a long time and win the bid for a long time(days) just to have some reseller take it away in the last 1/2 second! I understand the people that use the sniping service so that they can set and forget or so they don't overspend but I was bidding "normally" and had won the bid for a long time before this "person" did this. If I wanted to play games I would get a g$d#$n Playstation!!!!!!

Sorry for your loss, Harley.

It's largely an artefact of eBay's bidding process. On the one hand you can bid, win, and pay less than what you bid because the final price is raised above the last bid by fixed amount; on the other hand the next bid must be higher than your bid. Thus people hesitate to bid the most their willing to pay for fear that it will encourage slightly higher bids which, of course, it often will.

The closer you bid to end of auction, the less likely that someone will enter a higher bid. So ... it's common practice on eBay today that people wait 'till the last few minutes to bid -- whether or not they use a bid sniping service -- so your bid will very often remain the highest bid until last few minutes when a higher bid will appear.

[TheHills44060]

Oh resellers. Crap I didn't even think of that...yeah that completely sucks. I think Feanor summed it up pretty well though. Either way it can be extremely frustrating but keep on trucking you'll find a deal sooner or later and all the effort you put in will be worth it.

[harley .guy07]

Yeah I was pretty mad for a little while. I am usually calm when I shop like this because I know things like this can happen but the way this one went down just rubbed me the wrong way. I know there are people out there that make a side living buying and selling on Ebay and they are pros at it and that is fine, I just was not willing to spend any more on the sub because it was used and a 2004-5 model. So I guess it is good that I did not go over my limit just to win a bidding game I guess it just peeved me off that it went the way it did. I know now how people fall into the bidding game on Ebay and end up spending way too much on an item just to win it from someone else. From now on I think I will stick to buy it now's or just stick with Audiogon since they seem to be a little more professional about the audio stuff.

[topspeed]

I hardly use ebay at all, but after reading your thread, I have to admit that whole "sniping" thing sounds maddening. Sorry to hear you didn't get the sub, Harley. I just purchased a Marantz AVR at a buy-it-now price and the service was excellent with a price 30% below msrp. I've never bid on an item though.

[blackraven]

I have to admit that I have bought a few things sniping at the last second but I never paid more than I was willing to spend. I have also lost out on a few things.