Bots and last second bids

[bootedtech]

Not going into a full story on this, eBay knows the truth. 

** REMOVE THE EBAY CONTROLLED BIDDING BOTS **

Bidding had become a JOKE and OVERPRICED

Most bidders are fake accounts, which end up "no longer being registered" once the item closes and never pay when they win.

Fix this eBay.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Shoot, sometimes I place my max with days left to go. That way I won't forget about the auction lol

Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose.

[this*old*attic]

What about nibble bidders? Don’t you end up paying more?

[smabrouk]

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@bootedtech wrote:

Not going into a full story on this, eBay knows the truth. 

** REMOVE THE EBAY CONTROLLED BIDDING BOTS **

Bidding had become a JOKE and OVERPRICED

Most bidders are fake accounts, which end up "no longer being registered" once the item closes and never pay when they win.

Fix this eBay.

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I have never encounted a “bidding bot” and I have been on eBay since 2003.

The “nibbler” bidders and the “it’s mine bidders” are the ones who raise prices:  the nibblers raise the price by a few dollars — sometimes one dollar at a time — trying to discover the value of the current high bid, and the “it’s mine bidders” raise the price whenever they discover that someone has outbid them.  If the current bid becomes too high then you should look for another item — there are always other items and some of these items are far better than the one which holds your attention at the moment.  It is important to keep in mind that just because you bid on an item, the auction is not over and you have not won the item until the auction clock runs out.  If you want to buy an item outright then you need to find a listing with a Buy It Now or a Make Offer; for the latter, you must submit an offer which is acceptable to the seller in order to “win” the item.  For auctions, there can be and ususally is competition — accept the competition, participate in the auction, and you will either win the auction or not win the auction.  Try to enjoy the fun of the auction, rather than creating reasons why the process is unfair to you.

What is your basis for stating that “most bidders are fake accounts” which “end up ‘no longer being registered’ once the item closes and never pay when they win”?  As stated, I have been a registered, real eBay buyer since 2003, and I have won many auctions:  I always pay — in fact,  I always pay immediately following an auction.  When I do not win, the winner of the auction pays for her/his item — the item is not relisted.  I have not seen any fake buyers involved in the auctions that I did not win, and the winners of those auctions paid for the items that they won; I enjoy reading the feedback of the winner of the auction to see how much (s)he enjoys the item.

If you are complaining about not winning an auction due to a bid at the last moment, there are many who bid in the last moments of an auction — some call this “sniping”, but I do not like that term as bidding during the last seconds is a choice with which there is nothing wrong.  I am one of those who enjoy bidding at the end of an auction!  I bid online using my laptop or my iPad.  There is nothing like the thrill of bidding during the last ten seconds or even the last five seconds!!!  What a rush!!!!  What a thrill to win an auction during those last seconds, especially when someone else is bidding against me!!!!  Waiting for the eBay system to post the results of the final bids is exciting!!!!  Hmm, that means that I am bidding against real, live people — no bots!!

In auctions, you have a choice, continue to bid or walk away.  Only you can make an item become overpriced — that happens when you bid beyond what you consider to be the reasonable price for an item.  Only you can make bidding become a joke — that is by grousing when you do not win and making excuses why the process is not fair for you.  Decide what you consider to be a reasonable price for the item and do not bid beyond that price.  Enjoy the auction process by deciding when it is right for you to bid during an auction:  some bid at the beginning, some bid in the middle, some bid at the end, some nibble-bid, some bid and bid again, and some (like me) enjoy the excitement of bidding during the last seconds — they are all fine ways in which to bid and all can lead to winning an auction.

[soh.maryl]

It's always surprising to me that any bidder would pay more than he wanted to.

Sticking by my statement:  Decide how much you want to spend, wait til it's nearly over, then bid.

If you win, great! If not, someone else valued it more.

Why would you "end up paying more"? Would someone be twisting your wrist to make you bid more? I don't get it.

[fuzzface50]

"What about nibble bidders? Don’t you end up paying more?"

Like Southern Sweet Tea i am an early bidder. bid once my maximum. i used to be a sniper but now i am an early bidde for many years already. works better for me. 

no, nibble bidders don't mean a thing.  2nd highest bid sets the price, not the nibble bidders. 

I was involved in an auction years ago that started at $500 and it was nibble bidded up to $90,000 over the 7 days. The last 10 seconds it jumps from $90,000 to $225,000.  How much did those nibble bidders raise the price?  They didn't, even if they never showed up it still was going to sell at  $225,000 because the selling price was set by the second highest bid. 

[maros9416]

That's great, but the bot will still be able to beat you out. To bid with 1 second left doesn't leave a chance for anyone to counter.

[maros9416]

Whenever I have had a collection of one off's and auctioned them all, I noticed that it is the most experienced, serious buyers that use the sniping tool. Probably, their highest bid would have won anyway, but you can't counter in time which I think is the best benefit of the sniper.

[maros9416]

I think paying more for something depends on the scarcity of the item and it's overall collector demand. If you have something that only comes up once or twice a year, then the new bidders may be completing against the bidder who lost out last time and isn't going to lose it again...In my opinion, if you are doing an entire collection 1 by 1, I always try to get to know the heavy hitters and try to entice them with free bees or extras. It causes them to bid slightly higher because the auction has more value to them either with extras or free shipping or simply because they have received packages from you before and they know that you deliver as described. Many times my bids on items are discounted because I am being cautious against if the item or condition is not as described, or there is too little information given.   

[maros9416]

Some nibble bids, such as my first bid are a place holder just to get sent the reminders of when the auction is ending.

[eburtonlab]

@maros9416 

To bid with 1 second left doesn't leave a chance for anyone to counter.

If you bid your maximum, there is never a need to counter, regardless of when your bid is actually placed.

Therefore, if you find yourself wishing you had countered, you did not actually bid your maximum. Use that to reassess how you choose your bid amount.

I noticed that it is the most experienced, serious buyers that [snipe].

There is a reason for that.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@maros9416 wrote:

That's great, but the bot will still be able to beat you out. To bid with 1 second left doesn't leave a chance for anyone to counter.

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Yes, that's the point of snipe bidding: to prevent reactive bids.  But the bot will only beat you if their bid is higher than yours. Sniping bots merely place a bid for a specific amount at a specific time.  The sniper doesn't get a chance to bid again, either. So if your full proxy bid is higher than theirs you will win the auction. At the end of the auction, the winner isn't always the last bid, but it is always the highest bid.

[tellmemama]

I remember having this same exact complaint in 1997.  It was so frustrating to constantly loose auctions in the last few seconds because I had no idea how it worked.  Also, just about everything back then sold for considerably more than now too because eBay was still a novelty.

You can imagine how stupid I felt after coming to the discussion boards screaming "unfair cheaters" and then being told how it really works.  Which hasn't changed one bit by the way.  After that I was told about sniping.  

And I haven't physically bid on an auction since.

<edit: spelling>

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

What about nibble bidders? Don’t you end up paying more?

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Not really. It's not about getting what I want as cheaply as I can, it's about getting what I want at a price I'm willing to pay.

I don't bother with auctions too much, but when I do, I place the amount I am fully willing to pay if it were a buy it now. If it goes for less than that, cool beans. 

If I bid $50 for a doohickey, that's what it's worth to me. Not more, not less. Now if I get it for less, that's great 🙂

[this*old*attic]

@soh.maryl

Because hiding your interest by sniping (whether in person or using a program), makes the nibble  and "It's mine" bidders who can't figure out what they want to pay complacent.

Without their dithering, there is an excellent chance I can get the item cheaper.

Just because I'm WILLING to pay $xxx.00, doesn't mean I WANT to. Why would I do anything to make that more likely?

[this*old*attic]

Sure, on something rare or valuable enough. Those items are their own category. You could list them at 99 cents, and they'd still find their market price or better.

But on significantly lesser yet still desirable items, stalling one or two bidders who don't know what they want to pay can save a fair bit of change.