Ebay sniping

[AtW]

I might just as well say that increasing your bid during an auction should be banned, because you should have already bid as much as you are prepared to pay.

The base premise of an auction as means of providing good value to the seller is bidding of multiple bidders in order to establish fair price. This means that one bidder should have opportunity to bid again if the other one outbid them, the concept of one bidder suddenly going higher than the other and winning instantly without giving the original bidder (or another new one) to bid goes against spirit of the auction - it fks up the system and screws buyers (and the auction house if they get paid % from final sale value like ebay).

Additionally those people put people off, certainly happened with me, so this means good bidder that follows the spirit of the auction leaves leaving bad bidder, so the auction house ends up with junk customers that ultimately will be its undoing.

There is just one reason why snipers are not banned from ebay - they just don't give a monkey because they have got a monopoly in this area. If there was real competition in online auctions space then a lot of people (good sellers and buyers) would move to the auction house that deals with snipers very harshly (as well as with other possible underhand strategies). Sadly ebay is a monopoly so nothing is changing - I just vote with my money and don't go there again, probably not even for another keyboard that I can't buy elsewhere.

[Purple Dalek]

Then some would complain about it going on and on as they had other business to attend to. Which was the reason candle auctions came into being.

[AtW]

Then some would complain about it going on and on as they had other business to attend to. Which was the reason candle auctions came into being.

The point I am making that this should be option for sellers to choose WHEN they start auction.

Do you honestly think if sellers could tick a box when creating auction that would thwarf snipers many of them would not do that? Snipers screw up sellers just like good bidders because this results in a generally lower final sale price as well as causing grief as auction not having many bids (until very end).

I'd say 99% of sellers on ebay would choose to use that option that would make snipers life impossible, if you are a seller who likes having your good bought without proper bidding then fine by me. But not providing such option to sellers (and buyers should see clearly if auction is sniper protected) is totally wrong.

[Purple Dalek]

They could achieve the same end by adding the guttering flame part of the candle auction, i.e. some time dither to the end point.

[DiscoStu]

The point I am making that this should be option for sellers to choose WHEN they start auction.

Do you honestly think if sellers could tick a box when creating auction that would thwarf snipers many of them would not do that? Snipers screw up sellers just like good bidders because this results in a generally lower final sale price as well as causing grief as auction not having many bids (until very end).

I'd say 99% of sellers on ebay would choose to use that option that would make snipers life impossible, if you are a seller who likes having your good bought without proper bidding then fine by me. But not providing such option to sellers (and buyers should see clearly if auction is sniper protected) is totally wrong.

Just dry your eyes and get over it. Endless posts whingeing about it on CUK aren't going to change a thing. Alternatively, once you've conquered Google, you could turn your attentions to conquering eBay...

[AtW]

They could achieve the same end by adding the guttering flame part of the candle auction, i.e. some time dither to the end point.

Yes you could do that, it's not my point here - what I am saying categorically is that vast majorityof sellers would have chosen auction option (if it was allowed) for whatever measures are there (including yours) to thwarf sniping because this practice results in generally lower final sale value. Anyone here wants to argue that sniping is in the best seller's interest? It obviously isn't, and it also against interest of good buyers who follow spirit of the auction.

[Purple Dalek]

All types of auctions have their own particular problems to people who feel they lost.

[DiscoStu]

Yes you could do that, it's not my point here - what I am saying categorically is that vast majorityof sellers would have chosen auction option (if it was allowed) for whatever measures are there (including yours) to thwarf sniping because this practice results in generally lower final sale value. Anyone here wants to argue that sniping is in the best seller's interest? It obviously isn't, and it also against interest of good buyers who follow spirit of the auction.

Do stop wittering. It is in the interest of a buyer to get the item for the cheapest price possible, not to follow whatever "spirit of the auction" you're alluding to.

[AtW]

All types of auctions have their own particular problems to people who feel they lost.

I am not talking about me here. It's simple question really - in your view would auction sellers choose such anti-sniping option for their auctions if they could do so when setting it up? I say vast majority would certainly do that, they might even pay little extra for that but if it was free option 99% would do that.

[DiscoStu]

I am not talking about me here. It's simple question really - in your view would auction sellers choose such anti-sniping option for their auctions if they could do so when setting it up? I say vast majority would certainly do that, they might even pay little extra for that but if it was free option 99% would do that.

Probably not because it'd dissuade lots of people from bidding at all.