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Ebay Allows Sniping Apps -- Good Or Bad?
I'd like to know the community's opinion, and especially mentors' opinions, about sniping apps. I think they're terrible and should be outlawed on ebay, but they don't much care for my opinion. I think it removes fair play from the betting process on eBay. I'd love to hear your opinion!
18 comments
kh-gary
·2 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoAs a seller I love them
It isn't the last bidder who wins, it's the highest, and most bidders sophisticated enough to use sniping apps are also sophisticated enough to bid what the item is worth thinking correctly that the nibble bidders will mean the underbid (which setsthe selling price) will be low enough to make their winning bid a bargain.
As a buyer I love them.
I can bid my maximum, knowing that I don't have to hang over the keyboard when I should be sleeping or at work, without exposing how much I would pay to either those cheapskate nibblers or to any potential shill bidding.
Before I bid, I know how much I am willing to pay including sales taxes and shipping, so my only surprise with electronic sniping is how much lower than my maximum bid submitted my winning bid is.
tinsoldierunderground
·2 years agoGenerally speaking, the people who come to these boards whining about sniping, whether manually or with an app, are in need of bidding skills. As nearly everyone has stated, high bid wins no matter when it was placed. Other than being in cyberspace, there is little difference between a sniping bid and a bid that comes across in a live auction just a second before the hammer. If someone is willing to pay more than you are, you lose. There are very few things in life that are 'fair'.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThey have existed for many years.
In the past, I used one.
In the past, I was beaten by many.
Now I bid the most I am willing to pay for an item, and sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose, but I never pay more than I decided I was willing to pay.
As a seller I do not want to require a bidder on my auctions have to waste their time being online when the auction ends. Using a snipe app is one way to avoid that for folks looking to pay less.
Trying to steal an item only works if there are no other bidders. Snipe or no snipe.
jonathanr
·3 years agoI'm glad that, after all these years, we are finally having this conversation.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoWhat conversation? About sniping? People periodically come here and complain about snipers, mostly disgruntled buyers who missed out at the last minute and are unhappy. Sniping is one of those things where the aphorism "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" seems appropriate.
Unavailable member
·3 years agoI think that you need a new sarcasm detector 😉
soh.maryl
·2 years agoAlthough just read it belatedly, thank you for your advice about what I need.
msasanko
·2 years agoIf the current bid is $50 and my max bid is $100, i don't need a shill(sniper) running the bid up to the full $100 at tge last second. If eBay's is going to allow snipers it may as well allow shill bidding as well.
Since ebay gets a percent of the sale i can see why they would want shill sniping to be allowed. I may as well just go to amazon and pay full retail price, its faster, more reliable, and doesn’t price gouge the shipping price.
janet9988
·3 years agoWhat is unfair about it?
Ebay is a timed auction site. Every bidder has the same amount of time to place a bid for any amount they wish before the listing ends. Bids are valid through the last second. YOU can place your bid of 100.00 and lose to a bidder who placed their bid of 100.00 days before you. Snipe bids do not always win. Only the highest bidder when the listing ends wins.
msasanko
·2 years agoBecause it runs the bid up to the max amount, just like shill bidding. All snipers are is ebay sanctioned shill bidding. The sellers are the only ones that profit from it, and of course it maximizes eBay's cut of the profit percentage.
maxine*j
·3 years agoMy opinion is that sniping apps are perfectly okay. Since the highest bid wins the auction, it does not matter how or when the bid was placed.
The person who was willing to pay the most for it got the item. What could be simpler or easier than that? What could be fairer?
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msasanko
·2 years agoI don't always want to pay
my max bid if i can win for a lower amount. In this thread you can tell the sellers from the buyers. Only sellers are pro-sniper because snipers always run up the max bid at the last minute especially if two snipers get into a bidding war. I may as well buy from amazon if I'm always going to pay full retail price, and avoid ebay all together. Snipers are bad for ebay. Snipers provide the same service as shill bidding.
house*of*paws
·3 years agoHi @black_marketeer
I learned to snipe manually about 15 years ago ... and managed to get a few 1 sec snipes, and one for 0 seconds.
After a few years, I began using a sniping app, but lost a few auctions because of eBay requiring an extra sign-in step before the bid would be accepted. I then went back to manual sniping.
In short, sniping apps reduced my wins ... so I wouldn't say they give anyone an unfair advantage. I can understand bidders hating sniping in general ... but I don't see any reason for hating app sniping more than manual.
[I'm a Mentor ... (BFD)] 😋
msasanko
·2 years agoSniping always drives the price to the max bid. If i didn't want to get a deal id just buy from a retail site. Snipping makes ebay pointless.
dryophelia
·2 years ago@msasanko
The majority of users who have a problem with snipe bidding are the bidders who didn’t bid their maximum during the previous DAYS of a listing.
msasanko
·2 years agoOnly sellers profit from sniping because they always drive the bid to its max value.If i cant get a deal ion anything i want why shouldn’t i just buy from amazon?
lacemaker3
·2 years agoCompletely not true.
The only way that can happen is if two snipers both snipe the same auction.
That doesn't happen very often. I can only remember it happening once in more than 20 years on eBay ... only it turned the other sniper was either a shill or they placed a nuclear bid, because they cancelled and the seller sent me a second chance offer.