Sniping needs to stop, and I have a solution.

[hippolyta]

I lost an auction today that I have held the high bid for THREE STINKING DAYS.  Also I wasn't near my max bid.  With ONE MINUTE left this **bleep** with a 4 feedback rating comes in bids enough to hit my max. Then bids  ONE DOLLAR over my max to win and with no time for me to rebid.   I saw another auction site that combated sniping by add 5 minutes to the auction if someone bid with a minute or less left in the auction.  I don't remember how many times they would do it.  Here's my idea:  Add five minutes anytime there is a bid or bids in the last two minutes of the auction. Also add "Snip-bot" detection software as well as bans for serial snipers.  

What do y'all think of my idea?  Tell me.  Right I am seething over this, the seller isn't answering my message, and I reported it to Ebay who agreed it looked extremely suspicious and are going to investigate.  However the Ebay rep. said the sniper has already paid for the item.  GRRR. >.<

[soh.maryl]

Wait -- where was there price gouging? And the item in question (a toy) doesn't seem like an item that would qualify under the price gouging rules in a pandemic.  

[releasethekraken_1]

To summarize:

1) eBay auctions have a fixed end time

2) OP knew eBay auctions have a fixed end time

3) OP still failed to bid the most he was willing to pay

4) OP lost to another bidder who apparently did NOT fail to bid the most he was willing to pay

5) OP has tantrum, demands that eBay to change the most fundamental characteristic of their site after 26 years of success

6) Fellow members explain to the OP how he/she failed, and how to not fail next time

7) OP doubles down on tantrum, insults pretty much everyone, and plays the "woe is me" card over a plush toy.

Is that about it?

[mudshark61369]

@hippolyta,

Did you check the dates on those news articles you posted?  Some were from March 2020, just before ebay did have report price gouging links on many pages.  They were very busy taking those down and banning sellers during the shutdown.  As for them all being "legitimate news sources" that is a matter of opinion.  Just because a case has been filed, does not mean that it was adjudicated in favor of he person(s) who filed it. Or are you one of those who believe large companies are guilty until proven innocent?

  I do not know how it is, that you do not realize that with millions of new listings being posted each day from around the world, that there is no way eBay can validate each one. The cost to do that would be prohibitive and the cost would eventually be passed down to buyers, driving them away from this site. 

  "I feel like Ebay has encouraged this greedy out of control capitalistic behavior. I will NEVER forget going to a big sale at my favorite clothing store, and this cow grabbing EVERY PAIR OF JEANS on the sale rack. When I spoke up she flips me her card and says "You can by them from me on EBay"!

So ebay is greedy and out of control, because 1 person who just happened to be an ebay seller,  ripped something out of your hands in a store?  I'm sure there were witnesses to that and you could have yelled for store security, or done as the other woman did and stand your ground.  There may have been store security cameras that would have proved what happened.  But no, because of your inflated sense of self entitlement you wanted someone else to be proactive for you.  

Now you want a successful bidding strategy to be changed because you had an emotional attachment to a plush cactus toy and weren't smart enough to place your actual highest bid price, earlier.  Since you became a member back in `98, when the majority of listings were auctions, you should have been aware back then that people were bidding on auctions in the last seconds when they could. Often they were frustrated in their attempts by a dial up connection dropping, just when they wanted to place a bid. You should know how to use the Advanced search by now, and did you use it to see what the item had sold for in the past? That may have given you a clue as to how much you should have bid.

The hard end time bidding system is fair because each bidder has the same chance to bid the Most they are willing to pay for an item any time before the end time, which is available down to the second on a bid history page. You did not do that. Even if you had, the winner may still have outbid you because they valued the item more than you.  It's time to get over that and the things that happened to you in the past.

You seem to think that life should be made fair but that isn't going to happen. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad ones.  You cannot change that.  Maybe if another one, in even better shape, gets listed, you'll win it.

[u_cant_take_it_with_u]

Not to sound cold, and heartless but you were your own worst enemy here. Your desire to own was not as strong as your desire to be cheap. Heaven-for-bid, anyone should have to pay a buck or two more, than what they felt they should have to. 😒

[myangelandmyprincess]

So many sellers were price gouging at the start of the pandemic eBay had a hard time keeping up with the violations.  They've never  "allowed" it.  In order to make it easier they changed it to only authorized sellers being allowed to sell these pandemic related items.  The authorized sellers mostly consist of sellers who were already selling such items prepandemic.  If a unauthorized seller tries to list it will block the listing with an error message saying they aren't authorized.  Some items it allows any to list but only fixed price with a price limit or you get a price gouging error notification when trying to list.  So eBay is trying to do all they can to prevent price gouging. 

Now there are a lot of other reasons for sellers to dislike eBay the lack of sellers protection being the most major.  

As for the sniping.  Generally bidders who are upset they were outbid at the last minute are upset because they would have bid more if they had the time.  Which means they didn't bid their maximum which indicates they were trying to get the best price.  Yet most are upset because they feel the sniper is cheating to trying to get the best price by not allowing reactive bidding.  Both are trying to pay less to get what they want.   The difference is the sniping strategy is more effective in this auction format.   Instead of trying to change the format something you can't control. Change what you can control which is the way you bid.  

Personally I'm rarely bid anymore because auctions tend to go above what I'm willing to pay so often these days.  A lot of the time I can find a decent price buy it now. I only bid when I can't.  That said If bids went to extending times I definitely wouldn't participate.  

Most of the places I know online that use this method also charge to place a bid and I definitely avoid those places.  Like wow I won an iPhone for $20 but how much did you pay for bids!?   I'm not aware of any other major successful auction sites that use extended auctions and so far no one has named one even though they insist it's the more popular thing now.  

[Anonymous]

 So the saddest/worst sob story should win the auction ?

You can't really believe that.

When we lose an auction we should be sore losers and message the seller with a sob story and higher bid ?

You should have been given the boot for that, you know better.

If you seek out all the bad/corruption in the world, you will find it. So what, it's out there.

You only need to deal with the stuff that comes to you, that you HAVE to deal with. No sense in worrying about all of it, that would drive anyone insane.

There are many reasons we use pseudonym names here, one of those is that life stories are not needed or encouraged to do our diligence here. It helps put everyone on a more even playfield.

Yet, sellers here get sob/life stories from buyers very often. Most are very far fetched and ridiculous for the sole purpose of some agenda the buyer has.....to get the item quicker, cheaper, etc.

We hear everything from "My house burned down last night." from someone buying clothes here, to "The item reminds me of a loved one that died last week." from someone buying a blender !

The stories are a waste of everyone's time, as sellers just don't need or want to hear it.

And now, a seller has heard that you didn't win their auction, and would like to purchase the item after it was won by another buyer and is being processed.

[gosimus]

@titipeo 

< Good for you that the bots do not know spanish swear words >     

Used alone, pendejo simply means stupid.  When you pair it with a certain other Spanish word, then it becomes a swear word/expression.  

[px_455]

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@hippolyta wrote:

CHEAP!?!?! Excuse you! I bid 50 dollars on a 5 dollar toy.  Who  are you calling Cheap?  I have an Amex with no preset spending limit what I was suppose to bid $10,000 to insure I won?

---

Actually...

There is a limit on Amex cards, they just don't tell their customers what it is.

In other words it's no different from any other credit card.

It's not the last bid that wins.

I snipe bids, believe it or not same end result, either I win or I don't.

It's whoever bid the highest.

The sniper simply eliminates nibbling.

[doc-holmes]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Wait -- where was there price gouging? And the item in question (a toy) doesn't seem like an item that would qualify under the price gouging rules in a pandemic.  

---

Sorry, I think something got lost. I was responding to the OP accusing ebay of price gouging. I'm well aware a plush cactus, or whatever it was, isn't an item where price gouging would apply. My point was ebay, as a general rule, doesn't allow price gouging. 

[monroe67]

OP says:
"NO, I am not saying because I have had a rough time they didn't have  right to bid and/or win.  I am saying it felt MALICIOUS to me to do that with one minute left.   They'll probably relist for $100 or $200 that what I see 99% of the time. "

Oh, my.  A whole lot of stuff has happened in my life that felt malicious to me, too.  

Let's see:  There was my birthday in 1975.  Then, other people in my Condo Homeowners' Association do things that annoy me and it sure feels purposeful to me.  

And now there are all of the OP's posts on this one transaction.  

[banknotes_1]

Bid sniper won because they bid less than 1% above my top bid within the last half second. The seller is not interested to sell me the multiple items they've got for a 99,3%. I have lost interest in bidding on ybiai.

[simba6]

Your bidding all wrong.   First you bid your max amount.  If you were willing to bid more, you should have done so in the first place.  Next, bid just before the auction ends so other bidders won't " nibble  " at it.

Back a goof fifteen years ago many of the big search engine sites tried adding auctions.  Many of them had snipe blocking.  None are still around today.

No the seller has no control on when bids are placed. Nor does eBay.  Bids are valid from the opening to the close or anytime in between.

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue discussing this topic.

Thanks for understanding!