Selling my stuff via auction on eBay used to be really fun, but now everyone waits until the very last second to bid, which means that I have this constant anxiety that my products aren’t going to sell at all and then, just before the timer runs out, there are suddenly a flurry of bids. I’m sick of it. eBay isn’t any fun any more because of all these snipers. How do I avoid having them ruin my auctions??
While I completely understand your issue with snipers (people who bid at the last minute in the hopes of getting a great bargain by preventing others from counter-bidding and raising the price of the auction), I am surprised at your hostility towards the practice on eBay!
The way I figure it, as long as the auction ends with a successful bid that’s higher than the reserve, you’ve accomplished your goal of making money through your eBay sales. It’s not as fun as watching a week-long drawn out bidding war between a few buyers, as your item goes up, up, up, in price, but I would suggest that this still happens today, just in a much more compressed period of time at the very end of the auction.
By the way, I think that one way you can get a sense of whether people are going to “snipe” your auction by looking at the “Watchers” column in your My eBay view. Here’s what I see with my recent auction, for example:
You can see here that in less than 24 hours (they’re 7 day auctions) I’ve picked up four watchers for the mixer and 3 watchers for the inline patch, my two higher ticket auctions. I could say “oh man, they’re going to wait until the last second and end up getting a better price on the item by sniping” but instead I see it as “hurray! People are paying attention and I bet at least one of them will go wild bidding up the price in the last few hours”.
If you check the eBay help system, you’ll find that they say “Placing a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing is called “sniping” within the eBay Community. Sniping is part of the eBay experience, and all bids placed before a listing ends are valid – even if they’re placed one second before the listing ends. To help avoid disappointment, ensure that the maximum bid you enter on the item page is the highest price that you’re willing to pay. The eBay bidding system automatically increases your bid up to the maximum price you specify, so entering a higher maximum may help prevent you from being outbid in the closing seconds of a listing.”
Sniping isn’t a violation of any rules on eBay, and with the rise in slick sniping tools like BidRobot.com, I think it’s rather inevitable that this practice will just increase in the future too. On the other hand, these sniping sites do recognize that the practice is at least a bit controversial. BidRobot, again, from its help FAQ:
“Do sellers hate last-minute-bidding? Many do. For one thing, sellers are unable to gauge the interest in ongoing auctions because last-minute bidders are delaying their bids until the flurry of bids at very last moment. For another thing, last minute bidding often forces sellers to sell items for less than what they would like. There is nothing a seller likes more than to see a several day long bidding war at the expense of several bidders. In the early days, sellers unsuccessfully lobbied eBay to prohibit last minute bidding. Some sellers understand that while BidRobot may keep the prices of items down, it also attracts last-minute bidders who might not otherwise bid for an item. Whether sellers like it or not, last minute bidding wins more auctions and is here to stay.”
I have to echo that last line: if you are going to continue as an eBay seller, I think it’s just inevitable that you’re going to see more effects of sniping software on how auctions transpire and the closing price. I can’t possibly see how it can be avoided, frankly. Sooo…..
Hope your auctions all end well nonetheless, and do remember that’s really why you might want to have a reserve price or consider starting your auctions at a higher opening bid, to circumvent the “bargain hunter snipers”.
Okay, so I’ve read through some of the comments to this older post. It’s quite obvious who the snipers are in the comments. Just so you are aware, you’re the problem and you’re why ebay has turn to crap. Dont get me wrong. as a buyer I love getting things for super cheap. But not at the expense of someone else, that in my heart, is stealing. Just because a thing can be done legally doesn’t make it a good thing.
Firstly I want it understood that ebay is probably one of the ONLY only auction websites that even allow sniping. Every other platform (that I am aware of) uses what is called a “soft close’ meaning if a bid comes in, in the last minute or so it automatically adds 2-5 minutes to the ending time. Sure, being able to come in and pay 99 cents for an item that should have sold for 100’s is a steal. I bet the seller that sold it will not being participating in another auction.
So, why then would ebay allow for sniping to happen? How is ebay making money if they are allowing items to sell for pennies? Ebay positioned themselves so that regardless of how much an item sells for it doesn’t hurt their bottom line. Long story short, ebay makes millions by allowing this issue of sniping to happen and then charging the seller if they want a solution.
Alll the other online auctions collect a buyer’s premium of roughly 15 to 18 percent of what it sells for. So the auction house and the seller are both benefitted whenever an item sells for more. The buyer is still sitting good because ultimately he is only ever paying what he is willing to pay for an item. (But that’s not good enough for you snipers, the hell with the seller doing well i want to pay even less than what I’m willing to pay)
Ebay, i imagine, in hopes of attracting more sellers, marketed themselves as an auction platform that doesn’t charge a premium. Sweet deal for sellers right? Wrong, Instead they just have little minor fees here and there. They also have a promotion feature that will cost according to how much a seller’s starting bid is (I believe). You want a smaller promotional fee? Start your bid for a smaller amount? Well if I start it at a smaller amount then it will end up getting sniped for a price much lower than what it should. Which is a very truthful assumption/expectation. But wait, good ol ebay has a solution for the problem of sniping but it’s going to cost you.
How many sellers get on ebay with their item that they are sure is going to sell but never does (I bet its pretty high). Obviously, Ebay would love to get fees from those people even though their item does terrible. A way for ebay to combat this is to create a fee that will no matter what, makes them money. Well that is what the buyer’s premium is for you might say. They wouldn’t want this fee to drive others away from selling on their platform so they don’t want to call it a “buyer’s premium” because has mentioned above, that’s the whole allure to using ebay in place of the other auction platforms. Instead they create a fee that the seller has to choose to pay. No right minded person will choose to pay a fee just for the heck of it.
So here is what happens….:
Seller has an item they are wanting to sell. They set the price low to attract more bidders. Seller wants it to reach more people so they pay for the promotion. Seller also doesn’t want item to get sniped so how to solve this, oh I know, add a reserve price. (which by the way costs NO MATTER IF THE ITEM SELLS OR NOT. Boom, ebay has you paying for a promotional fee and for a setting a reserve price.
Ebay allows the problem of having people snipe and then charges you, the seller, for the solution.
Excellent commentary and explanation, Steven. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
Here in 2022 with the same issue. I used to eBay my old lego sets with my Dad as a kid and “back in the day” people had to manually bid for things. There wasn’t automatic increments, the price you entered was the price of your bid and found the increments often much higher this way. We used to start bids for all items at 99p, the low price would grab peoples attention and they would get hooked on bidding manually and your item would shoot up in price. I had no idea it had changed until now. People can enter a price, go away and forget about an item and not have to engage at all in the bidding. This new system only works if the starting bid is the minimum price you’re willing to accept for it – I wasn’t aware of this and am currently selling brand new items for a fraction of their RRP! It’s also too late to cancel or change to include a reserve.
Just set your opening bid to the exact amount you want for the item or list it as BIN…This way you always get the price you want and if more than 1 person bids on it, thats great…..I have to admit i also snipe bid….If the auction is to last for 5 days that means i have 5 days to bid on the item, weather its day 1 or the very last min
As a seller I sometimes move up the price of the item if I started it out really low and
There are no bids after a couple of days. The only way to stop me from doing this is
by bidding early.
I have tried a lot of ebay sniping services and what i have found is it seems ebay is starting to block these services with asking for verification before the snipes are placed. I have found one service called ebidsniper.com that seems to have found a way around this ebay verification. So if you are looking for a sniper service that works you should visit there website
Try Ezsniper. Works great.
I’ve seen someone do that, it put me off of bidding completely.
I’m a buyer and a seller on ebay. As a seller I don’t sit around for a week and say,
“Ho hum. This is so boring. All week and nothing. It’s not going to sell…….Huh?! Whut?! AAAAARG!!!!! Five bids in the last twenty seconds???!!! No fun!!! No fair!!!”
No, I watch the watchers. If there are at least two, I’m usually sure the item will go for the starting bid that I entered and I’m comfortable with. But seeing the watchers jump up to ten+ or even just three or four over the course of the week is exciting for me. That’s fairly decent interest for some of the vintage items I put up for auction. I know they’re about to let me know the REAL value on that last day. That last minute to last few seconds is a riot. I love it. I sign out and watch the bids real-time…since I guess the seller isn’t allowed to see if they’re signed in? Ping ping ping. Up up up. That’s fun. That’s exciting.
As a buyer/bidder, I HATE auctions with a passion. I hate playing the game the same way I’ve never found gambling to be fun. It makes me physically ill (just for a few minutes), but it’s usually the only way to get some of the vintage and older items that I REALLY want for myself or to give as gifts. No, not to resell. At least not for a long time. I never make an offer to the seller to end an auction early either. Don’t be that guy. He’s not cool. But, YOU BETTER BELIEVE I’m a so-called “sniper”. No sniping bots or whatever they’re called. I do it all by myself. It’s already been in my watch list and I’m ready within the last few minutes to get an idea of the current price and I watch. I’m poised and ready watching the bidding go up, if it actually is going up, with my maximum bid entered and ready to click the bid button. I have super fast and reliable internet and a super fast DESKTOP computer with gigs of “mega-RAM”…a gaming computer when I’m not a gamer (Thanks to a cheap ebay auction!). I can even let it count down to 3…or 2 seconds and BAM! My bid is in and the item is almost always mine. If not, then, hey, that’s the game.
Okay, so I don’t hate bidding THAT much, especially once the heart rate slows and the nausea subsides. I got my coveted “thing” that I’ve been wanting for a long time. That makes it worthwhile.
But, hey, you really can’t blame us for have faster internet speeds and faster mobile devices/computers/phones/wifi adapters…and being masters of “The Game”. That’s your problem, your fault. Get over it. Fix it. Get a new point of view.
Personally, as a buyer, the thrill for me is waiting for the last minute bidding war. It’s an achievment to be the highest bidder and beat out the rest. And as a seller, I like the constant eBay notification sounds ringing out one after the other from my phone signaling more money. It’s strange to me that a seller would be aggrivated about his items price rising at the last minute. But to each their own.
By the way, I don’t feel obligated to give other bidders a chance to come back and outbid me.. I try to get the best price I can – that’s the name of the game. Otherwise, I’d just go and buy something on Amazon, or from a dealer, if I wanted to pay full price.
That’s what eBay is about to me – the thrill of the hunt and getting the best deal possible.
What a bunch of crybabies. There is no rule against bidding at any time during the auction’s duration. If you bid early, you just put yourself out there to be outbid by others who bid late. A snipe bid is worth the same amount of money as if it was placed earlier.
Myself, I snipe so that I don’t give the person I outbid a chance to come back and outbid me. Why would/should I? Regardless, as long as it’s a timed auction, this is going to happen. DEAL WITH IT.
eBay could change their format, though, to include a “30 minute” rule like RR Auction does. Basically it states that once you hit this phase of the auction, 30 minutes must go by without a bid before the auction can end. If someone else bids, the clock restarts and other bidders have a chance to come back in and place another bid if they want. That seems fair to me.
And if you’re worried about your item selling for too little, simply start the auction at the minimum price you’d be willing to accept (or whatever price you want to get). Or do a Buy It Now. Problem solved. It isn’t rocket science.
Just found your link after searching on Google as to why I keep getting outbidded in the last 2 minutes on eBay. First of all, I’m strictly a buyer, and not a low bidder, and yes I have won most of my bids. I’m done with ebay though.
I have been outbid 3 times in the last 48 out hours for items which I helped drive up their price, by, according to Ebay, placing my maximum bid initially, only to be outbid in the last 30 seconds, even when I’m watching the auction, I can’t bid fast enough to increase my bid. How can I beat sniping software? I can’t. Goodbye eBay, you
used to be fun.
From a buyer with a 100% rating.
You can beat sniping software by placing a higher bid. Sniping software is no different than someone physically sitting that their computer placing a bid with 2 seconds left. A bid is a bid.
As for “not having time” to come back and place another bid.. This indicates to me that you didn’t place a bid for the maximum amount you were willing to pay. Why not? If you didn’t place your bid at your top price, then that’s on you.
Same here. Just been outbid on ebay with 2 seconds remaining for the fourth time. I’m not even going to bother looking on ebay for anything to buy in future, can’t be doing with this shite, and not interested in buying the same snipe software than everyone else.
The reason why people think snipers are underhanded jerks is because snipers ARE underhanded jerks. A simple code change at eBay, one that allows 2 extra minutes after a bid to allow people time to respond, will spoil all the fun for snipers and restore some fairness and decency to eBay.
FYI – people have been sniping on eBay for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been a member since 1997. This isn’t a recent phenomena.
So, at a “real” auction, once the hammer has dropped, the auctioneer should allow another 2 minutes? !!
If you want more time to come back and if someone outbids you with 2 seconds left, then that tells me that you didn’t place a bid at your top dollar. Why not? Sorry, but that’s on YOU if you only bid $20 but were willing to pay $30…
If I’m not mistaken, you say you are waging a war on nasty ebay snipers by cunningly rejecting / cancelling their last minute higher value bids. Then, in order to REALLY twist the knife, you block them, to prevent them from placing even more higher last-minute bids, in future. In doing so, you personally loose a ton of money.
Your suggestion may be best described by the old proverb as “cutting of the nose to spite the face”. You really must “hate ebay” a lot if you are prepared to throw money away to teach snipers a lesson. This strategy for discouraging sniping is also self defeating for other reasons.
By rejecting higher, last minute bids, other buyers will generally see specific items going for artificially low prices and will assume a lower going rate for such items and so will be inclined to bid / pay less for the same item in future. This will hurt future sellers – exactly what you are accusing bid snipers of.
Ebay also loose profit, so they won’t like you either and will be inclined to stop sellers cancelling bids.
Even the increadibly lucky buyer, who benefitted from your self-inflicted financial loss, by winning, in spite of the three higher last-minute bids you just cancelled, will be oblivious to the fact that they won the item at your financial expense – so don’t expect any thanks even from the buyer.
But never mind about any of that, though. You really taught those wicked snipers who’s boss and IT WORKS. LOL
At a real auction the auctioneer does give more time after a bid is placed for a counter bid.
Real auctions end when the auctioneer believes no more bid are going to be placed not at a set time like ebay.
Again, not the snipers problem. Why you didn’t bid your top price for your last bid is on you and simply foolish.
I suppose not everyone has actually been to real traditional live auctions and might assume as far off the mark as Mary. But I had a good chuckle. Absolutely the auction would go on if the Auctioneer had an honest way of knowing how many bidders were interested in an item!
If E-bay worked like real auction bidding wars then the bidding would not truly end till everyone manually “resigned” from watching! ( signed off the watch list! )
Think about it! Why would an auctioneer not want to make that much more extra for himself and his “client”?
In real life “going finally” is a warning that the Internet version usurps because real life does not have automated digital bots that can slide in a wall of last millisecond bids at the speed/form of fiber-optic binary light pulsating frequency data bursts.
I think a happy compromise would be a specific/optional bidding format the seller could opt in ( much like buy it now ) But formatted in a way that penalized last minute bidders. Which would be a preference that might lose as much interest/opportunity as it raises just as “buy it now” is a consideration that must be weighed.
In such a bidding war the minimum bid would “rise” aggressively exponentially in the last seconds/milliseconds of an auctions lifespan. Catering to sellers that want real sales feedback early on ( perhaps because they need to gauge viability before proceeding on similar and time sensitive stock where storage/perishable conditions/or good ole burdensome stress has become a paramount issue of more importance than waiting till the end and last millisecond of an auction for that crucial data feedback one is building a market strategy upon! )
Which then caters to the anal segment of bidders who feel slighted by the invisible army of bot services out to “get them”.
More categories of auction types serving a broader array of concerns. Which equals another layer of complexity to the game adding interest for everyone in lieu of additional consideration.
Sniping is no doubt opportunistic which is all well and good but destroys the incentive for sellers to sell goods. If sniping continues, there will be much less sellers – simple as. And no Ebay. And no more sniping.
How do you figure this “destroys incentive for sellers”? If their item sells for a fair price, then what’s the issue? Besides, if you’re worrying about it selling for too little, simply start the item at the price you want for it. If it sells, great. If it doesn’t, you’re not out anything.
What’s wrong with sniping? As a buyer, I always wait until the last few seconds. It’s fun, nail biting and stressful. If another potential buyer is miffed because I outbid them, tough. They should put in a better max bid. What’s the problem? I always put in a huge last minute bid, anyway, to make sure that I get the item. Sometimes, it isn’t enough to outbid someone else who has also put in a huge maximum. Sometimes, it pushes me way up to my max bid. Them’s the breaks. What’s the alternative? To give up on an item with a few minutes of the auction to go, just in case I upset someone else who might want to bid? Nonsense. My money is just as good as theirs. If I put in a last second bid that’s higher than the previous bidder, then why complain about accepting my cash? Are the sellers really saying, I don’t want your higher bid because it came in just before the end? Can’t believe that. If sellers are complaining that a bidding war hasn’t ensued, then put your items in at a higher starting price. If people want your item, they’ll pay it – last minute or otherwise. I reckon that you’re thinking that bidders are getting items at the starting prices and you’re missing out on people going bonkers, trying to outbid each other during the run of the listing. But, the bidding war happens during those last few seconds, when bidders put in their maximum bids and cross their fingers that it’s higher than the other last second bidders. If I’m daft enough to snipe the minimum or starting price, then that’s no way to try to win in the last few seconds as that gives me no chance to increase my bid if someone else is bidding, too. If no one else is bidding, then, perhaps, no one else is interested in your items? You’re just assuming that other bidders are being elbowed out of the way. Did you think of that?
Exactly right. All bids are fair, regardless of when they’re placed. If you’re ticked off because you wanted the opportunity to come back and bid more when you get outbid with 2 seconds left, then in my mind, you should have placed the max you’re willing to bid in the first place.
To place a bid that’s less than what you’re willing to pay, and hope it’s enough, and counting on the opportunity to come back and bid again if you’re outbid, is sheer stupidity.
[…] How do I avoid snipers on my eBay auctions? | AskDaveTaylor https://www.askdavetaylor.com/By the way, I think that one way you can get a sense of whether people are going to “snipe” your auction by looking at the “Watchers” column in your My eBay view. Here's what I see with my recent auction, for example: … […]
eBay is NOT like a REAL auction. REAL auctions do NOT have a set time to end. If someone bids at the last moment at a REAL auction the auction is extended and keeps going with the auctioneer giving those in attendance ample time to respond to the last bid. Some countries have online auctions that extend the auction 2 minutes after a bid to discourage sniping. eBay is behind the times. No wonder many people don’t bother with eBay at just sell the “old way” via yard sales, estate sales, garage sales, swap meets, etc. rather than eBay.
I also hate snippers. As a seller I want the opportunity to check the bidder’s feedback.
As a remedy I cancel fast bids that come in the last few minutes. Snippers may get away with this tactic, after that it’s time to block them.
IT WORKS.
Sniping combined with Ebay getting rid of the Reserve (how can you have a realistic auction without a reserve?) has effectively ruined Ebay auctions. I sell rare collectible items, years ago it was fine – interested parties used to bid on them and somtimes they went cheap, other times the price went up, it worked out on balance. Now what I see happening over and over again is that the items have dozens of watchers and no bids. Then the sniping bids come in but as often as not they don’t come in because the bidders have forgotten to snipe/not used a snipe-bot/are at the pub and have forgotten about the auction and I keep getting emails after the auction has ended from people saying “oh i really wanted this item and would have paid $x, do you have another one?”
Setting the start price at the minimum you want is not how auctions work/have worked for the last 100s of years. It fails to generate interest and you may aswell just set everything buy it now which is what I do but which means buyers no longer get bargains.
This however is what Ebay seem to be intending as they seem to want to be nothing more than a shopping portal these days.
What most non-snipers don’t get is that sniping is fun! And it’s perfectly fine. You don’t like snipers coz you want to get an item for pennies on a dollar. Otherwise, if you tender your maximum bid, and it’s high enough, snipers can’t steal it from you.
I would buy at Amazon if they take sniping out and believe me, if you don’t snipe, chances are you’re better off with Amazon and you’ll save.
I am irritated and insulted that it is assumed that all snipers use software or hacks, and that we are all underhanded jerks. I am a frequent buyer on eBay and yes, I place my bids within the last 10 seconds usually, and no, I don’t use any software, hacks, or other assistance to do it. I wait patiently starting at the minute mark, and place my bid manually as the timer hits the single-digits. Don’t be mad if you don’t have the skills or patience to do whatever it takes to win an item you’ve been watching for weeks, and don’t be mad if you only want to bid the very minimum of what you’re willing to pay and I beat you by a few cents. If you want it that badly, put the money up for it. When I bid, I go all in, sometimes up to retail or higher if I’m bent on having it. That’s my prerogative. Get over yourselves.
I agree. If someone doesn’t have the skills or patience to wait for the last second to make that bid… then that sucks for them. And if you want an item badly enough, set your “maximum bid” higher.
I also agree – you can bid at any time during the auction’s duration. But waiting until the last second doesn’t really increase your odds of winning, because it still comes down to who placed the highest bid, regardless of WHEN.
And to people who want to cry about not having the chance to come back and place another bid once they’ve been outbid, let me ask you this: If you’re willing to come back and bid more, then why didn’t you place your max bid in the first place? Or is it just emotional bidding because someone outbid you?
Simple suggestion, to the sellers list your item at the minimum YOU want for it. Buyers since there is a good chance there maybe dozens of like products ending in that same hour pick one that is nearing its end and place (just once) your max bid. Why is because your goal is to win the auction paying a fair price.
I have never met a self confessed sniper who was not also a jerk who loves being anonymous.
I’ve been working in the Auction Field long before there was an internet and remember sealed bids well. I doubt if any of the self confessed snipers here would show up at a live auction. I know of one larger Virginia Auctioneer who lost most of his bidding base before he adopted a delayed ending. I have never ever seen the delayed ending go past twenty-five minutes, so the “the bidding would go on forever” is very, very weak. Eventually the E-Bay sellers move on to Amazon.
I’m a sniper, and not a jerk. So that disproves your theory, I guess.
It’s a timed auction – there is no rule that says you can’t bid when you want. If there’s time left on the clock, then you can still bid.
Besides, it’s not about who bids last.. It’s about who bids the MOST. I snipe, and I probably lose just as many auctions as those that I win, because previous bidders bid more than I did.
The poor guy/gal in the article may have an anxiety disorder. He/she also may not take the ebay experience seriously. It may be that,for him/her, the ebay experience is more like a video game. Well there are video games out there that won’t dissapoint your gameing desired experience.
If you are a serious seller on ebay, post it and forget it. Analyze your sales at the end of each month–you will see if you made enough money for your effort or not! Selling on eBay is not meant to be fun and games. It’s a very good tool for people who really need it make a few extra bucks to survive as well as a comple online packaged, full time business opportunity. Where else in the world can you go and make money without a huge capital investment or getting ripped off by some criminal who offers “free” business opportunities that you have to pay for only to find out that the only opportunity was for the seller of the “free” business. I’m going to go get another cup of coffee now.I’m not hyperactive enough yet this fine Sunday morning in November.
I’ve won most of my items by what you call ‘sniping’ within the last 10 seconds. You have to be one major dumb ass if you place a maximum bid and hope that you win. People are stupid, you can place a maximum and someone will come along and bid it up to that amount 6 days before the auction finishes. I’ve also seen people get into emotional bidding. A second hand desk I was interested in went to £150 it had 24 watchers and two idiots were bidding against each other everyday, no one else bothered bidding. Anyhow, the same desk came up two weeks later as a Buy It Now for £35.00 and well done me. How on earth are you going to get a bargain otherwise? Not to mention unscrupulous sellers shilling it up as well especially when bidders are private otherwise known as “shill by invisible method.” If you don’t want snipers offer Buy It Now Best Offer. I hope eBay never bring in the method of extending the auction time, if that day happens I will stop using eBay as who wants to pay loads of money for second hand goods.
‘Sniping’ is pretty annoying. I joined ebay only this year, and I got outbid a few times at the last minute by these ‘snipers’.
As a result, I’ve become a bit more like them, but I still try to play fair. So i’ll place my bids early in the auction, but if there are more bidders, sometimes I’ll wait till 15-30 minutes before auction ends, and place a higer bid.
This way, I stop myself from inflating the price too much, but I still give other buyers the chance to counterbid. If I have time, I stay online for those last 30 minutes or so, to try to win the item by upping my bid if necessary.
This way, I think it’s good for myself, but also fair to the seller and to other buyers. It’s like soft mini-sniping, or something 🙂
You know what all these people are really complaining about? It’s not sniping, it’s timed auctions. If they had their choice no item would ever end until the seller got what the wanted or more for the product they are trying to sell.
What’s the difference between bidding with 6 days left and 6 seconds left? Nothing, both bidders are bidding what they are willing to spend at that point. If the guy who bid with 6 days left didn’t win then that bidder didn’t want to pay what the winner was willing to pay. If he was willing to he would have won the item.
The only way to prevent this is to treat the auction as an actual auction and that mean to look for a bid from a buyer that meets a criteria.
For example:
Starting Bid $100
Once the bid is met by proxy of at least $100 then the next bid should increment to say $110 and so on. This way unless you are willing to meet the next bid you are out and the snipers have nothing to snipe at. This practice of sniping while legal is IMHO equivalent to walking into a casino and counting cards. It allows buyers an unfair advantage over the seller getting the best possible price for their item. Don’t think so buyer then try being a seller and watch what happens. Snipers will increment by a dollar or so until they have the high bid. Unless you have a bidding war, you cannot be sure you will get a fair amount for you item and with a reserve this only turns snipers etc. towards auctions with no reserve. Ebay has destroyed itself and I agree with Tim.
sniping took much of the fun out. Ebay is a terrible place comapared to what it was. Might as well just shop Amazon now. Ebay killed itself trying to be amazon which they will never be and in the progress lost its identity completey. Its all fraud and generic poop now.
I’ve been an eBay member since 1997, and sniping has been going on for as long as I can remember. This is not a new phenomena. If sniping took the fun out, then eBay was never a fun place to begin with.
What’s taken all the fun out of eBay is everything being a Buy It Now, at dealer prices or more. If I want to pay full price, I can walk into any dealer’s shop and pay full book value for a collectible.
The “fun” was the opportunity of MAYBE getting a good price on something via auction.. Now 90% or more of all listings are BIN’s, and the prices are usually laughable.
I have no idea why so much angst about placing bids at the end of the auction, or what people are calling ‘sniping’. As a buyer, if you don’t want to snipe then just bid the max you willing to pay, and just let the auction play out.
Of course there’s no such thing as ‘sniping’ in real-world auctions, because the rules for these auctions are different. I don’t think it makes any sense to try to duplicate real-world auction system on EBay, there’s internet and network latency that could cut out bidders trying to bid. You also have bidders worldwide that may not even be awake when an auction ends. So EBay set it up so that anyone can place whatever bid they want, at any time while the auction is active.
Automatically extending auctions by a few minutes when there is a bid near the end is a good idea, people will still snipe but I guess you get a chance to increase your bid in the ‘overtime’ period. But if you simply bid your max price then it won’t matter anyway.
Just go with BUYNOW option or MAKE an OFFER. you have the control ! either pay or dont buy. and prevent person who can not pay ofr it bidding on your item. CK off that box REQUIRES IMMEDIAGE PAY!. this way who buys with out having funds(like peole after winning try to sell off their item to pay yours ) will be weed out! NO money dont buy it. I hate auction format as waiting waiting then nothign happens unless you ahve item that will draw alot of attention for sure its pure dumb idea to leave it to chance. bidding is effected by many things. timing of listing , timing of ending, How they are bidding and other factors why bother take chance. BUYNOW is the best option!