Why do eBayers drive prices.

[gurpswoo1]

OMG it's gone to £155 now:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Witcher-2-Coll...#ht_500wt_1156

[The Russian Bear]

wow i should of bought multiple copies of it

[twistedsymphony]

Originally Posted by gurpswoo1

Alot of the time, bidders see the listing but can't be bothered to wait or remember the time it ends, so they put their maximum bid in.

There is also the practice of the seller inflating the price early to get people to put the maximum bid in.

^this

Also I think a lot of people simply don't fully understand the bidding process, they don't get that you can put in a bid higher than what you'll actually pay, and they get into emotional bid wars where they're more concerned about "winning" than about getting the item at a reasonable price.

Originally Posted by MrBubbles

I always use my ebay sniper. Don't have to worry about getting it, don't have to drive prices up in the days before ending. ...

I use a sniper too!

Unless the auction is a "Buy it now" or "Best Offer" I use Auction Sniper for 100% of my bids... http://auctionsniper.com/ (if you tell them twistedsymphony referred you I'll get some free snipes )

Auction sniper is great because I can sit and logically think about the maximum I'm willing to pay for an item, set up the snipe and then forget about it.... I don't get roped into bid wars driving the price up above my max.

Not only that but bid activity attracts more attention to the item so by not bidding you're keeping people's awareness of that item lower.

They also have a "bid group" feature which is awesome... so if there are say 10 auctions for the same item, you can put them all in a bid group and it will snipe each of them as they end and stop sniping as soon as you win an auction.

Using this feature I setup a bid group of about 75 auctions and was able to win a Wii with Zelda, the week of launch and only payed about $20 over RRP after shipping... the seller wasn't too happy as he was expecting a windfall but basically I loaded the bid group up with all the auctions I could find and I ended up winning one that ended in the middle of the night at the same time as a few others that got more attention.

I highly recommend sniping, and I wish everyone sniped... people would get the items they're looking for, sellers would get the max that people are willing to pay, and none of the bidders will pay more than they wanted to.

[lhurgoyf]

Originally Posted by MrBubbles

I disagree. Sometimes I'm looking for a specific item and if the seller comes from the US chances are big the auction will end in the middle of the night in Europe. I don't have the time to stay up all night, and if I want a item really bad I use a sniper. No cheating, it's just a service where you have to pay for.
Sometimes Ebay is running slow for some reason and you won't be able to snipe an auction yourself in time. I have missed out on some great items because of that reason.

Set an alarm and take the 2 minutes to place a bid. Like I said, if you are using a program to do the bidding, you don't want it bad enough. Half the time I do it from my phone... notification goes off for < 5 minutes hit bid button with 5s left and done. I've used this practice for 13 years on ebay, even back in the day on dialup, never a problem if you know what you are doing.

What you want is a silent auction where everyone can just write their bid down, with no one else knowing, and at the end the person who wrote the highest wins.

[asiak75]

If two or more person want the item badly and you bid in the last moment. Its not an auction anymore in my eyes its a lottery game since it is time that is a factor.
I think since I am on eBay everyday almost and my dear wife works even there i can guaranty you that its not a question of if you get it but rather when you will get it. how many times I have seen auctions going over the top and suddenly 2 days later someone puts up the same item as buy it now/ Best offer for a fraction of the price...

By the way just saw that in case:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Witcher-2-Assassi...#ht_595wt_1139

[twistedsymphony]

Originally Posted by asiak75

If two or more person want the item badly and you bid in the last moment. Its not an auction anymore in my eyes its a lottery game since it is time that is a factor.

eBay works mostly like Silent Auction... you have a time limit in which you can place your bid, it doesn't matter if you place it in the first 5 seconds or the last 5 seconds, the highest bid wins...

The only people who lose because of a last second bid at the end are those who don't fully understand how the eBay biding process works.

"If two or more people want an item badly", they should both punch in the maximum amount they're willing to pay for the item and the person who is willing to pay more will win the item.... it doesn't matter who entered their amount first, there's no "lottery" involved.

[thefunk007]

What Twisted said!

[lhurgoyf]

Originally Posted by Twistedsymphony

eBay works mostly like Silent Auction... you have a time limit in which you can place your bid, it doesn't matter if you place it in the first 5 seconds or the last 5 seconds, the highest bid wins...

Not entirely correct. eBay is a standard english auction type-- you can see if you have been outbid, you get immediate feedback on whether you are winning or not when you place a bid. A silent auction is silent. You place your bid anytime, at the end of the bidding period you see if you win.

The practice of sniping makes ebay almost like a silent auction. If 3 people are sniping, then neither has the opportunity to respond (even though they know if they did not win with their bid). eBay typically doesn't want this though.... with an english auction you know you didn't win and can re-evaulate you max bid = more $$ for seller and more fees for ebay.

[Mike1888]

Originally Posted by lhurgoyf

Not entirely correct. eBay is a standard english auction type-- you can see if you have been outbid, you get immediate feedback on whether you are winning or not when you place a bid. A silent auction is silent. You place your bid anytime, at the end of the bidding period you see if you win.

The practice of sniping makes ebay almost like a silent auction. If 3 people are sniping, then neither has the opportunity to respond (even though they know if they did not win with their bid). eBay typically doesn't want this though.... with an english auction you know you didn't win and can re-evaulate you max bid = more $$ for seller and more fees for ebay.

Just watched an MGS3 Subsistence LE get bid on a good 20 times by a guy in the last 10 seconds until he eventually bested my bid by a cent.

Is this guy using a sniper? If so, I hate them.

[gurpswoo1]

He may have manually entered one large bid and the automatic eBay system made the bids.