How to fix sniping, revolutionize bidding, increase sale values, and make buyers and sellers happier

[imac7065]

One of the biggest gripes from both buyers and sellers is the ebay bidding system... Buyers hate snipers, Sellers hate that someone bidding $500 on an item only shows their bid 25 cents to a dollar higher than the next highest bidder....

Here's how we solve both.... CHANGE HOW AUCTIONS END.....

Instead of ending an auction with a finite / definitive ending.... have a system in place that all bids placed within the last 30 seconds of listing increase the auction duration (10 seconds or 30 seconds would be my recommendation). With each bid the clock resets and the winner is crowned once the clock expires.

What this accomplishes: 

1) No item could ever be sniped again, as attempting to snipe would result in massively overpaying for any item 

2) Buyers will be able to keep bidding and not lose a "bidding war" at the last moment. Mad the item sold just before you click bid? Solved. Upset your were the highest bidder until the screen refreshed and said a sniper bought it? Solved. Really want that item but someone keeps outbidding you over and over? Solved

3) Sellers will have increased sales due to FOMO and increased bidding opportunities

4) Ebay will collect more fee's due to higher bids and bidding activity.

Win-Win-Win-Win

what says the community?

[gurlcat]

Yes exactly, so there has been sniping on eBay for just under a quarter-century.  You would think everyone would have a grip on it by now.  😆

[carlmarxx]

You would think so.  I though snipping  tool program  was handy  thing to  have    for  hot  auction item's i wanted to win.. 

[gurlcat]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

You would think so.  I though snipping  tool program  was handy  thing to  have    for  hot  auction item's i wanted to win.. 

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Ha IT IS!  The one I use is not just handy; it's super easy and you get 5 free snipes per week (only $6 a month for unlimited snipes). 

That said, it doesn't guarantee a win -there can always be a higher proxy bid already in place, and I think this is what people like the OP cannot understand for some reason.  Sometimes sniping is DISadvantageous.  You're taking one shot to beat the highest bidder, and if your snipe bid isn't enough, you probably don't have enough seconds left to try again. 

[a_c_green]

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@gurlcat wrote:
Sometimes sniping is DISadvantageous.  You're taking one shot to beat the highest bidder, and if your snipe bid isn't enough, you probably don't have enough seconds left to try again. 

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...which is, after all, the whole point of snipe bidding in the first place. 😁

I (in my buying account) practice only snipe bidding. You usually won't see me in your auction until the final 5 seconds*, as there is no point in giving someone with deeper pockets time to come back and bid against you. If I win the auction, great. If I don't, well, someone wanted it more than I did, and I'm fine with that.

That final thought above takes a little discipline: if you regret getting outbid at the end, then your last/highest bid was not really the most that you were willing to pay. You need to bid your true highest, and then if it's not enough, then at least you'll have no regrets.

It's also worth remembering (or learning, if you're new to bidding here) that your winning price is going to be no higher than the second-place bidder's high price, plus one bidding increment. Thus if, for example, the current price is $75 and you would be okay with paying up to $100, then bid $100 (or maybe a few pennies more as a tiebreaker just in case), and if no one else's high bid was the same, you'll get it for less than that. (e.g. if the second-place guy's hidden maximum was $80, you'll win it for $81.)

*I should add here that I will sometimes bid sooner than that for various reasons, such as:

• There's a BuyItNow price that's higher than I want to pay, and I want to be sure that no one with deeper pockets hits the BIN price, so I'll place an opening bid just to get rid of the BIN price. (This process is known as BIN-stomping, although some categories will retain the BIN price until bidding reaches a certain point, I think 50% of the BIN price, something like that.)
   
• There's a significant typo in the listing title that might help to keep it out of searches by rival bidders, so I'll place an opening bid just to lock in the misspelling and block editing corrections.

In any case, there is nothing wrong with bid sniping (as eBay has confirmed), as it's a feature of time-limited auctions, which is what we have on eBay. In an in-person, open-outcry auction, there's really no such thing as bid sniping, because that type of auction will simply continue until there are no more bids and the auctioneer brings the hammer down.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@a_c_green wrote: ... some categories will retain the BIN price until bidding reaches a certain point, I think 50% of the BIN price, something like that.) ...

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The 4 categories in which the BIN option remains available until the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price are:

1. Parts & Accessories (eBay Motors)
2. Tickets
3. Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
4. Cell Phones & PDAs

But even for those auctions, the first bid will lock up the listing so the seller cannot make any changes such as correcting a typo in the title.

[roccotacodad54]

   "2) To those that say this would be "tedious"... I disagree... one of the biggest things people have in an auction like this is the same rush you would get watching your favorite team in over time, or more sadly, gambling. It would be a massive adrenaline rush and be massive FOMO. If you don't believe me, go watch a live auction that starts at 99 cents."

   Maybe just me but I just get annoyed with nibble bidding or last second type bidding. I get no adrenline rush from that, win or lose. I also never got an adrenline rush from gambling. I did get excited from sports before they decided to get into politics.  Quit watching sports, just annoys me that they seem to think I care what they think.

   As far as Ebay auctions go, I like to just make my max bid and let the clock handle it. No fuss no muss.

   I have learned to avoid drama in general to be happy in life. I get enough adrenline rushes just driving and living life without looking for more...........................

[a_c_green]

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@roccotacodad54 wrote:

Maybe just me but I just get annoyed with nibble bidding or last second type bidding.

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I've already said my piece about last-second sniping, but I totally agree with you on the annoyance of nibble bidding. My beef with it is that I have long suspected newbie bidders of being confused by the bidding form. Specifically, eBay will show two or three marginally-higher bids as buttons to be clicked, and below those is an open field where one can type in a higher amount.

I think a lot of bidders don't notice that blank field, or don't quite know what to do with it, so they sit there and plink away on the buttons, while the seller watches with irritation as the price slooowly goes higher, a couple bucks at a time. 

I wish eBay would at least modify the pre-priced bid buttons a little by putting a much higher increment on the last button. If the current price is, say, $25, eBay will mess around with showing bid button prices of maybe $27, $29 and $31. Come on now. Offer a bigger price spread, such as $27, $32 and $40. Give the auction a chance to jump higher and faster. Both eBay and the seller will do better as a result.

[eburtonlab]

I think a lot of bidders don't notice that blank field, or don't quite know what to do with it, so they sit there and plink away on the buttons, while the seller watches with irritation as the price slooowly goes higher, a couple bucks at a time.

I have heard it described this way:

Nibble bidders bid for a bargain, hoping to win.

Snipers bid to win, hoping for a bargain.

[gurlcat]

I love nibble-bidders.  The more bids the item gets, the more visibility eBay gives it.  2 or more nibblers going day after day, that's the ultimate promotion, and it's free!