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Partial bid sniping
I’m bidding for this item and I set the top end of my bid. Some **bleep** starts to bid until he reaches my threshold then pulls his offer. Why is this ok? Now they know the top end now instead of at the end…lame
2 comments
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoNeither of you was sniping, in whole or in part. *
"Sniping" is placing that true maximum bid that you placed early enough for someone to probe it and then retracts (or probe it and let it stand just under your maximum bid--there is about a 50/50 chance of revealing your max without outbidding you) in the final few seconds so that anyone intending to react to it (like s/he reacted to your bid) won't have time to do so (s/he might be able to get in 1 or 2 reaction bids by clicking the suggested amounts based on the minimum bid but no probing and then retracting).
If you want the advantages of sniping be aware that the countdown is not an accurate measure of how much time you have to bid so it is received in time. I now use and recommend a "snipe service" to place your one true maximum bid about 6 seconds out; mine allows limited snipes for free (up to 4 wins per month) or several different pay plans if you are using it more frequently (or want a bit more reliability that comes with a "mirror server" in another location than the main server) and uses an eBay supplied API instead of the glitch user interface. It also captures any error message that eBay returns if the bid is unsuccessful, as opposed to you using the user interface where any such error message is overwritten when the countdown gets to 0 so you generally don't even see it much less be able to read it. There are other snipe services out there with their own plans, but we are not allowed to make unsolicited recommendations of particular ones.
ETA: A sniper does not concern him/herself with what the hidden maximum of the current leader might be (except for any bid you should assume that someone will bid about the same as you so you have the advantage in what might have been an exact tie to bid a bit over the round number you both are likely to come up with--if s/he has previous bids outbid and exposed you might look at whether and how much s/he adds an extra bit above the round number). It is not enough to beat someone who bids before you, you must also outbid anyone who bids after you, even if you set your snipe for the last second (what you can do unto others, so they can do unto you).
dryophelia
Mentor2 years ago@firemanpfd
A key to bidding on eBay is to bid in a manner that gives little or no time for others to react to your bid.
Bid once, bid your maximum and bid as late as possible.
If you’re outbid it’s because someone was willing to pay more.