Sniping on auction sites. Should it be illegal?

I know a few days ago I told of my frustration of the prices of old stock out of production models and just outright junk. It was suggested to me to try sniping on ebay. However, Being that I didn't think it was right decided to just be patient and watch for the "Best Deals" to show up on ebay! Alas one of the best deals I ever seen came up last week. It contained 7 built buildings, an all metal crane used for the coal tipple, and the big one which was the highlight building of the lot was a Built up 14 stall roundhouse made by CONCOR and the lot included another 6 stall addition and details out the wazzoo. I took everyones advice and bid a very handsome bid on it and was the high bidder all theway up to 1 minute and 30 seconds to go on the lot when some "SNIPER" outbid me. Keep in mind I was the high bidder all throughout the duration of the auction.
Do you think it would be fair for ebay to make it to where if you dont bid within the last 10 minutes of the auction since you have had all week to make a bid, that your bid shouldn't be accepted? I dont wanna sound like I am whining because I am not a whiner, I just find it disconcerting that a person has 6 days to make up their mind on an item and wait till the last minute to make an offer. I think ebay should have a live bidder showdown, or give the first bidder an opportunity to bid higher. Sort of a last stich offer on an item or items as to eleminate the "SNIPING" Technology gives us several ways in which to keep track of things and to monitor activities even on action sites. EBAY should take some sort of action on this. DO you agree or disagree?|-|

 

That is kinda, how I see it, but, Right now I am bidding on another auction listing that was listed today. And so far myself and another bidder have been bidding higher and higher back and forth which is pretty fun to do. But "Sniping at the very last minute is bologna. I would agree with it, and I see what your saying about firing the last missile in time to snatch back what you may really want. I will have to try it next time. The Roundhouse I was bidding on wasn't just a roundhouse, It was a DREAM! As I have said before I am trying to do my lay-out on a paupers budget and in some cases it may be out of the question. A 3 stall roundhouse is usually going at a rate of $47.00 or higher with add on stalls going for just under that. In hindsight I guess I will have to play the game like some of the others do. I for one am not for SNIPING and I feel that ebay should take the measures to put an end to it. I appreciate your input on this matter Ken, I just cannot find it in myself to agree wholeheartedly with sniping at all.

 

Your'e missing the point of an auction. The auction concept puts the seller at risk. He may or may not get the price he would like for any given item. The auction is a buyers market. You have to be willing to beat the bid of other buyers. If you you are willing to pay $50 for an item and you enter that bid then thats what it's worth to you. If someone else decides in the last ten minutes it's worth $60 to them then you will probably lose by a dollar unless you are sitting there watching the item and start a bidding war in which case you will wind up paying more than you wanted.
All a snipe does is let someone put there max bid in at the last minute. If that bid is still not more than yours they will not win. If it is, they thought it was worth more than you and were willing to pay the price. If they had done that 2 days before and you didn't have your max bid you would still lose. An auction can be a good way to get a bargain as long as no one else is looking for that same item.
Ebay is not what it used to be

 

Will:

Maybe you are going to the wrong place to try and buy certain things. What was the roundhouse you wanted and maybe one of us can help you find it somewhere else? Brass steam loomotives are different, you will probably only find them on Ebay.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

Actually I understand the point of an auction. WHat I dont get is why someone has to wait till the last minute until they make just the one bid. In this particular auction the guy had 6 days to make a bid, but waited till the last minute. The seller in this case, is a power seller on ebay and buys estates at very low prices and sells everything on ebay at a profit. So it really wasn't his loss either. The seller in this case, contacted me through ebay at no prompting from me and told me that he had been keeping an eye on the auction as well and he hated snipers too, but was obligated by ebay policy to sell the item to the guy who did the sniping which was the reason for my post here. He told me that he would contact me if he had another roundhouse like that one. As far as what I am looking for, I am looking for a roundhouse big enough to back my FRISCO 4500 into as well as hold other locomotives either what I have now, and others I will aquire in the future. I agree that ebay isn't what it used to be, but what I am looking for is anything that would make my layout and my locomotive roster, and rolling stock roster, as realistic, and prototypical as possible. I just dont wanna settle for a bunch of junk I aint happy with. This particular roundhouse was very well weathered, had 14 stalls on the built part and 6 more that I could build and add to it. I was just seeing if my frustration was shared by others. I now know it is shared by atleast one seller. I wasn't trying to upset anyone I just wanted to know how ya'll felt about this subject. Here in San Antonio, I have 2 hobbyshops to go through for anything I might need. One is way over priced, or they will order a higher priced similar item than what I actually wanted, and bug me until I come pay for it and pick it up, no matter how wrong they were in the first place, even if I tell them it isn't what I wanted. This particular hobby shop is the same one who also tried to sell me a 98 foot used cornerstone turntable at a new price, and the particular owner told me that it wasn't complete because he was still finding parts to it at home. But he assured me that it was the same size turntable that they used to turn "BIGBOYS" on, so you hopefully now see that I am dealing with somewhat of a crowd of imbassills and ebay is my only other outlet. The other hobby store is very small, has very little inventory on hand, however they do have a rather large selection of detail parts, and I get 10 to 15% off everything just for being a regular customer. As far as their stock of buildings or trains, they dont have much at all because they deal more into model planes, or roll playing games than they do trains. They do have alot of new stuff as far as deisel but that dont serve my purpose. The reason for the post was to see if others felt the same about sniping.|-||-||-||-||-|

 

When I first started on eBay about a decade ago, it was their policy that if anyone bid during the last five minutes of an auction, it was extended by five more minutes........in a true "going once, going twice" methodology.

Then they changed to allow sniping. I used to gripe and moan about it too, as I got zinged many a time.

But then I decide to stop fighting it and join in. I love sniping, and it is far more effective than posting your highest bid up front.

If you post your highest bid up front, early on, others will peck away at you over the course of a few days, driving up the price.

Leave the price alone, and avoid running it up.......then wait til the last minute and snipe it for the absolute highest price you are willing to pay. Actually, if you have DSL or Cable internet, wait til the last ten seconds, then click.

Using this method will save you a lot of money in the long run.

With nearly 3000 eBay purchases over the last decade, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I do have a lot of experience.

John M

 

Just to prove a point...........

I went on eBay last night, and found a brass, Sunset GP9 in HO.

I bid about $100 bucks for it, and was promptly outbid. So, I raised my bid to $140, and was promptly outbid by the same guy........so, I bumped it two more times, up to $260..............for a stinkin' brass GP9 unpainted !!!!! Of course, the guy couldn't stand it, and outbid me again and got it for just under $270. Yah, it was a high-stakes game of stones on my part, but you learn the tendencies of bidders over time. Some people just can't stand not to be the high bidder throughout the auction.

Now, if I really wanted it, and was willing to go $260.........I would have sat back while it was at $60 bucks and waited until the last few seconds....then BAM !!..........and I likely would have gotten it for well under $100.

People's egos on eBay can become very costly. If you can't beat 'em, join em. Try sniping a few items then get back to us.

 

I have been buying items on EBay since 1999, and I will tell I have been snipped many times and I have done it myself. The seller (having sold a few items) loves to watch that auction rise at the last minute, and who would not!

But I have found that patients pays off, sometimes I have had to let 5-20 auctions go by, because I knew it was overpriced and another one would surface in a week to a month's time.

Also be for warned, sellers have friends. If they feel that it is going for too little, they can have a friend bid it up and they do not have to pay them. The seller only pays the percentage, which is cheaper that let you have it for nothing. But that has been going on for hundreds of years.

So my advice for what it is worth - patience's - it will all work out - Paul

 

I wondered if anyone would be bold enough to bring up what Paul just did, which is called "shilling" or "shill bidding". and is illegal on Ebay. It takes its origin (I think) fom an old practice used by carnivals to lure innocent locals (what they call people from the town they are set up in) into thinking they can win one of the big dolls hanging in the game joints. They use a carnival worker, usually one of the workers wive's with a small child and parade them around the grounds carrying one of the prize stuffed animals.
This practice is not used anymore because of laws and rules stating that a carnival must award a certain percentage of winners. Also today's carnivals don't mind giving out plush (what they call the stuffed animals) as they have learned the more people carrying around toys, the more people will play and the more they will make. This is a similar principal to the term "loose slots" at a casino.
In regards to Ebay, several years ago they (Ebay) found a way to monitor this practice and I think it has diminished considerably.
Bottom line, this is all part of the American way and if one choses to go into that arena, whether it be a farm auction, an antique auction, or Ebay they need to just go with the flow.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

Bob you are absolutely right. we know when we go to Ebay what is going to happen. Sometimes we benefit, and sometimes we do not. I glad to hear that they are monitoring people bidding up their own auctions, I felt I have been a victim of that a time or two. But no the less, where else are you going to go to find all the things you can find on Ebay without leaving the comfort of your own home?

 

It's their "company," you'll just have to play their way--or move on...Maybe some other auction site would suit you better. There's also an HO modeler's "yard sale" on the Yahoo groups. One for N scale also.

TAG1014

 

The Yahoo Group that you are referring to is HOYARDSALE and it currently has over 2,250 members and is growing by leaps and bounds. I have a couple of friends who are also on this group that buy and sell there.
It is based solely on honesty and integrity and has a loose but very good set of rules to abide by. Every post is screened by the moderator before being allowed and one can even post requests for things.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend