Roadie, you don't understand how eBay works. Sniping is a valid technique
that a lot of people use. If it didn't work, people wouldn't do it and
there wouldn't be third-party services that offer to do it for you.

Simply "bid your maximum and forget about it" is for beginners, amateurs, or
people that don't really care if they win an auction. If you truly want to
win an item at the lowest possible price, you must incorporate sniping into
your total strategy. Period.


"Roadie" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 2, 8:07 pm, Carter-k8vt wrote:
Roadie wrote:
You are giving the perfect description of someone who really doesn't
know or care to know what the value of an item is. That person wants
that radio and will snipe to get it. He is a seller dream cause he
will come in with a premptive bid 10 secods before the auction
close. Heart pounding, hands sweating he bangs the enter key at the
last possible second so that he and he alone willl get that radio and
the price is secondary.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

If snipers are concerned more about winning the auction than they are
about the price they paid, that's ok as long as they acknowlege it.
But for them to say they have found some secret strategy for
minimizing their costs and at the same time winning auctions by
sniping is largely self-delusional.



To quote you:

That person wants that radio and will snipe to get it.

So why not? He wants it, he likes having it delivered to his front door,
it's worth it to him. If YOU want it badly enough, feel free to snipe,
bid high, whatever.

And that's ok as long as the individual realizes that he is probably
spending a lot more money than he would have had he applied a little
self discipline by setting and sticking to an established price and
not getting caught up in auction fever.


eBay prices are like water. They seek their own level. Nobody puts a gun
to anyone's head to force them to bid...

P.S.
Furthermore you say:

so that he and he alone willl get that radio

He and he alone? You and you alone? I miss your point. There is only one
item so, yes, only -one- person will get it.

That is a point that some of us seem to forget. It really does not
matter when you enter your bid. It only matters that yours is the
highest entered before the auction closes. Period.


Again folks, this is an *AUCTION*, not Wal-Mart. *High* bidder wins.
What else would you expect of an auction?

On 3 Feb 2007 09:00:00 -0800, "Roadie" wrote:

On Feb 2, 7:55 pm, "Brenda Ann" wrote:
"Roadie" wrote in message

oups.com...

You are giving the perfect description of someone who really doesn't
know or care to know what the value of an item is.

Value is subjective. It is based almost solely upon a persons desire to
have the item. For instance, a specific bit of origami is made from less
than a penny's worth of paper. However, if a person wants that bit of
origami very badly, they may wish to bid hundreds of dollars to get it. This
is that bit's value to that person, whereas to me it may not be worth as
much as the paper it was made from.

"True Market Value" is an artificial construct.

Well, sure you and I likely value items differently. But the point
remains that some of us know the value we assign to an item and others
do not. Those that snipe and otherwise get caught up in auction fever
bidding are more focused on getting the item than they are on what it
is worth.

It is not a truism that sniping implies "getting caught up in auction
fever". I approach eBay, as I do antiquing, as "last chance shopping."
If there is a item for bid that I want, it is because I can't just run
down to the local mall and buy it. Manufacturers seem to be in love
with change for change sake, not necessarily for true improvement.

eBay presents occasional products that I know to be truly worthwhile.
Monitoring an auction without advertising my participation as a
bidding competitor allows me to make a last minute determination to
outbid what I think any snipers out there are likely to bid in the
final moments. If bidding exceeds my limit, so what, I'll wait for
another auction. (I'm successful about 80% of the time with a sale
price I'm truly happy with.)

On Feb 3, 7:45 pm, Michelle wrote:
On 3 Feb 2007 09:00:00 -0800, "Roadie" wrote:





On Feb 2, 7:55 pm, "Brenda Ann" wrote:
"Roadie" wrote in message

groups.com...

You are giving the perfect description of someone who really doesn't
know or care to know what the value of an item is.

Value is subjective. It is based almost solely upon a persons desire to
have the item. For instance, a specific bit of origami is made from less
than a penny's worth of paper. However, if a person wants that bit of
origami very badly, they may wish to bid hundreds of dollars to get it. This
is that bit's value to that person, whereas to me it may not be worth as
much as the paper it was made from.

"True Market Value" is an artificial construct.

Well, sure you and I likely value items differently. But the point
remains that some of us know the value we assign to an item and others
do not. Those that snipe and otherwise get caught up in auction fever
bidding are more focused on getting the item than they are on what it
is worth.

It is not a truism that sniping implies "getting caught up in auction
fever". I approach eBay, as I do antiquing, as "last chance shopping."
If there is a item for bid that I want, it is because I can't just run
down to the local mall and buy it. Manufacturers seem to be in love
with change for change sake, not necessarily for true improvement.

eBay presents occasional products that I know to be truly worthwhile.
Monitoring an auction without advertising my participation as a
bidding competitor allows me to make a last minute determination to
outbid what I think any snipers out there are likely to bid in the
final moments. If bidding exceeds my limit, so what, I'll wait for
another auction.



The bidding may exceed your limit no matter when you enter your bid.
If you know that your are willing to pay no more than $100.00 for an
item you could enter your bid at the first day or at the last minute.
It makes no difference to the outcome. Ebay will always award the
item to the highest bidder. It's that simple.

(I'm successful about 80% of the time with a sale
price I'm truly happy with.)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Feb 3, 4:54 pm, "Unrevealed Source"
wrote:
Roadie, you don't understand how eBay works. Sniping is a valid technique
that a lot of people use. If it didn't work, people wouldn't do it and
there wouldn't be third-party services that offer to do it for you.

Yes, and scads of people believe and buy purportedly foolproof
programs to beat the stockmarket and invest in real estate too.
Unfortunately the person who makes the money is the guy selling the
service. As with sniping software.



Ebay works as follows:

1. Sellers offer items for sale and sometimes they have an
established reserve.

2. Buyers make offers to purchase.

3. Ebay concludes the auction at a given time and ALWAYS awards the
auction to the person with the highest bid.

The high bidder may enter his bid on the first minute of the first day
on on the last minute of the last day. It makes no difference to the
outcome. If your bid is the highest you will win. Holding a bid
until the end will have no effect on who wins because the winner is
always determined by price.



Simply "bid your maximum and forget about it" is for beginners, amateurs, or
people that don't really care if they win an auction. If you truly want to
win an item at the lowest possible price, you must incorporate sniping into
your total strategy. Period.

"Roadie" wrote in message

ups.com...



On Feb 2, 8:07 pm, Carter-k8vt wrote:
Roadie wrote:
You are giving the perfect description of someone who really doesn't
know or care to know what the value of an item is. That person wants
that radio and will snipe to get it. He is a seller dream cause he
will come in with a premptive bid 10 secods before the auction
close. Heart pounding, hands sweating he bangs the enter key at the
last possible second so that he and he alone willl get that radio and
the price is secondary.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

If snipers are concerned more about winning the auction than they are
about the price they paid, that's ok as long as they acknowlege it.
But for them to say they have found some secret strategy for
minimizing their costs and at the same time winning auctions by
sniping is largely self-delusional.

To quote you:

That person wants that radio and will snipe to get it.

So why not? He wants it, he likes having it delivered to his front door,
it's worth it to him. If YOU want it badly enough, feel free to snipe,
bid high, whatever.

And that's ok as long as the individual realizes that he is probably
spending a lot more money than he would have had he applied a little
self discipline by setting and sticking to an established price and
not getting caught up in auction fever.

eBay prices are like water. They seek their own level. Nobody puts a gun
to anyone's head to force them to bid...

P.S.
Furthermore you say:

so that he and he alone willl get that radio

He and he alone? You and you alone? I miss your point. There is only one
item so, yes, only -one- person will get it.

That is a point that some of us seem to forget. It really does not
matter when you enter your bid. It only matters that yours is the
highest entered before the auction closes. Period.

Again folks, this is an *AUCTION*, not Wal-Mart. *High* bidder wins.
What else would you expect of an auction?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -