Kilts on ebay

[Azrobert]

I am wondering about others experience winning bids on ebay. Twice, I have been winning a kilt on ebay and lose it at the last minute. Yesterday I was bidding on a kilt advertised as surplus Seaforth Highlanders or HLI. I was the only bidder and at 2 seconds to the end, someone popped in with a bid two pounds higher than me. I felt like I had just been robbed.
Has anyone else seen this? And is this what is called sniping ?

[Chas]

It certainly is called sniping and is very effective. There is software available to buy that will do it for you. I quite often snipe and have, in the past, set my alarm clock for 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning to make a bid.

The way round it is to put a high enough first bid in. Bid as much as is right, proper, fair for the goods - that is, if you really want it. Only your lowest winning bid is seen. The sniper does not know if your bid is your lowest or your highest. Many snipers, who bid higher and get beaten straight away, will give up at that point. Or if they carry on, see that the price is no longer a bargain and then give up.

Sniping software does not know a bargain (or not) and will keep bidding till it has won or time runs out.

The thing is, it is the same for everybody - "you pays your money and you takes your choice". Some times you win and some times you loose.

My advice is always, bid early and high. Do not wait and try sniping yourself - you might be trying to beat a machine!.

Regards

Chas

[artificer]

I am wondering about others experience winning bids on ebay. Twice, I have been winning a kilt on ebay and lose it at the last minute. Yesterday I was bidding on a kilt advertised as surplus Seaforth Highlanders or HLI. I was the only bidder and at 2 seconds to the end, someone popped in with a bid two pounds higher than me. I felt like I had just been robbed.
Has anyone else seen this? And is this what is called sniping ?

Sniping is fairly common.
While a bit irritating, it's a perfectly fair and valid auction technique.
If you watch auctions, you'll observe that the bulk of the bidding happens near the end. (this varies with value and collectability)

If you are at your max bid on something, you can fully expect someone to snipe it for a buck or two more (assuming the item is worth more or = to what your bid is).

The thing you don't know is HOW MUCH higher they were willing to go. eBay only shows the next increment up, but they could have bid +$25 or more than you.

The only way to prevent such a thing is to either:
A) participate in the sniping
B) bid the full amount you think an item is worth and then walk away until the auction ends.

Ridiculous deals DO happen, but more often than not items sell for a pretty established value (assuming good pix and description).

You can't expect that just because you are the 'high bidder' (when you're at the top of your max bid) that you WILL win. It's just the nature of the game.

It basically boils down to the fact that someone was willing to pay more than you. HOW they did it doesn't matter that much.

If you have a ceiling price set in your head right away, losing to someone who bids more is fine.

IF you're trying to win a $500 kilt with a $125 bid (your max) and you think you're going to squeak one by without anyone else noticing, 99.99% of the time you're just setting unreal expectations and setting yourself up for disappointment.

Happy Bidding.

ith:

edit: beaten to the punch by Chas

[CMcG]

I am wondering about others experience winning bids on ebay. Twice, I have been winning a kilt on ebay and lose it at the last minute. Yesterday I was bidding on a kilt advertised as surplus Seaforth Highlanders or HLI. I was the only bidder and at 2 seconds to the end, someone popped in with a bid two pounds higher than me. I felt like I had just been robbed.
Has anyone else seen this? And is this what is called sniping ?

That is indeed what is called sniping. I use it when I know I'll be home in the last minutes of an auction because it helps to avoid bidding wars...

Here are two defensive tactics against the snipper bidding style:

1) Put your bid at the maximum you are willing to pay for an item. From the starting bid, eBay then automatically raises your bid for you. You'll only pay the minimum required to win the auction.

2) Use an odd number for your maximum bid. People tend to bid whole numbers, so put something like $128.39 instead of $125. Sometimes those extra few pennies make all the difference.

[auld argonian]

That is called sniping and there's actually software that one can use to snipe...thus, no matter how it goes, you are screwed.

A buddy of mine who's an ebay wiz once told me this when I was in a similar place:

Just bid as much as you're willing to pay and then let it go...you win, you win; you lose, you lose. Eventually you'll get what you want.

Thus far this has been a very effective strategy...either your bid is large enough to discourage the "nibblers" who try to creep up on you a dollar at a time or you lose the item to someone who's willing to pay more than you think it's worth. At least you still feel like you have some control over the outcome instead of being the victim of the sneaky use of some software (I think that using sniping software is unethical but, of course, there will always be those who figger that all's fair in love, war and online auctions). You just have to adjust to the idea that you may lose the item by fifty cents or a dollar but that you have your limit and that's as far as you'll go...too easy to get auction fever and bid 'em up past the point of logic when the chase is on.

Best of luck on it but you might start looking into backing up your bets and either look at "buy it now's" from some of the kiltmakers in the Old Country who sell specials and overstocks on ebay or looking at sales and specials from some of our featured kiltmakers here on the forum. We'd all like to get a rock bottom bargain but sometimes there's virtue in just biting the bullet and paying a few bucks more just to eliminate the ebay b*llsh*t.

Best

AA

[Azrobert]

Yes, I was guilty of thinking I was getting a bargain. The kilt had no bids until I put mine in with 30 min to go. The opening bid was 69 pounds. I bid 80 thinking that approx $125 was a fair deal, as the kilt looked a bit "used". So, I had no warning when the bid went to 82 pounds at 2 seconds. I think it was the timing that really got my goat. I had no time to react and bid more.
Now, I am smarter and still have my "80 pounds". So, I'll continue to look and be smarter. Thanks for all the comments. I liked the idea of making your max bid an odd number. Next time, I'll bid my max and go do something else.

[McFarkus]

After being sniped several times, I downloaded a snipe plug-in for Firefox. I frequently use it and place last minute bids with six seconds to go. Many of the items I bid for double in the last 10 seconds.

My strategy is much like above. I can place my 'snipe' bid maximum at any time and it will automatically bid for me at the last second. In general, this avoids bidding the item up too much in advance and occasionally I get quite a bargain. The key, as mentioned above, is to decide my maximum bid and plug it in to the sniping software.

A couple of months ago, I got a Geoffrey Tailor 8 yd kilt for $140 through this method.

[Tobus]

Heh, 'auction sniping' is a topic that always makes me grit my teeth. It's one of the main reasons I avoid eBay unless I can't find what I'm looking for elsewhere.

While I wouldn't go so far as to say sniping is unethical, I do think it's a bit dirty-handed (or at least, it feels dirty-handed when it's done to me, and I can't bring myself to do it to someone else). It's not what I would consider gentlemanly behavior. It's like cutting in front of somebody in traffic: not really illegal, but at the same time not very nice. Sniping software takes advantage of technology and timing to snatch a win out from under the noses of the other bidders. Sadly, such is the nature of auctions with a fixed date/time to end.

And it works to the disadvantage of the sellers, too. Oftentimes, their wares could have sold for much more (i.e. a fairer price at its true market value) if the other bidders had time to respond to the bid.

Some auction sites have an automatic 20- or 30-minute time extension after every bid. This effectively kills such sniping. I prefer that, but it's too bad eBay doesn't do it. I'm actually surprised that the seller community on eBay hasn't pushed for that. They would gain, and eBay would gain too.

It's also why I like "buy now" pricing. Saves me the aggravation of being sniped out of something I really want.

As others have mentioned, the only real way to combat it is to just set your max bid as high as you're willing to pay, and be done with it. It sucks all the fun out of the auction process, though, by making it feel more cutthroat.

[piperdbh]

It's especially aggravating when you have slow internet connection and it takes 6-8 seconds for a page to load, in which time you can be outbid.

[jForrester]

If you have a slow internet connection, then you should absolutely use sniping software. But even when you are using it, set your bid at the maximum you are willing to pay. Often you will come in with less, but even when you "lose" you haven't lost. Somebody just wanted it more than you. I see nothing unethical in using software that does exactly the same as I used to do sitting at the computer and watching the second hand on my clock.