The joy of sniping!

[DocFrankenstein]

Sorry - catch me on gun forums for remington sniping.

EBAY is my new narcotic.

I just outbid someone by 50 cents slashing the bid in at the last 4 seconds. I've got chills and an excitement rush while bidding.

This ebay thing is turning out to be a fascinating creature.

Do you ebay? Do you snipe?

[HarleyQuinn]

Ebay is almost as addictive as gambling. I think my hubs thought I was having an affair with the UPS guy for awhile. :)

I ONLY bid in the last 45 seconds.. only way to win anything anymore.
Congrats on the win.

[Citizensmith]

I do ebay occasionally but I don't snipe. I'll place my bid at the most I'm willing to pay. If someone outbids me I don't care if its with 10 hours to go or 10 seconds. I'm probably bidding on 6 other similar items anyway.

[mellowd]

I snipe yeah, whenever I can!

[justincase724]

I used to ebay, until I realized that almost everything I bought was still sitting in the boxes that they were shipped in. Of course, I was buying aftermarket car parts that were "to good a deal to pass up". Might be a different story if I were to buy stuff that I could use right now.

[narlus]

auctionsniper.com

[Stavhp]

yeah, i got addicted for a while then i ran out of cash :(
got a nice gas mask though and now i'm looking at rest of the NBC suit, you just never know when you might need it Lol

[mellowd]

http://www.gixen.com/ <-- free!

[SHULTSIE!!!]

I had quite an addiciton to EBay at one time... I can't go on there too much now. I used to be a little agressive with bidding, but I had to calm it down a bit. It's awesome how you can buy just about anything from EBay! I started to run out of room to store everything, and I don't want to be a packrat and run out of room and cash for camera gear.

[dgcorner]

Hi, my name is John and I'm an eBay addict. I've been sober for 6 months now...:p

The bloody place burns holes in your wallet and your pocket! So I am off it until the next itch...:p

[the_incubus]

cigars, caffeine and loose women...ebay is just another thing on my things im addicted to list :D (fortunately drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and gambling are not on that list :))

[Pete]

Ali's addicted to eBay (once I taught her how to do it). It's the addiction to sniping that's got to her.

This is just today's delivery....

http://www.the-aperture.com/EE/photos/normal/IMG_6462.jpg

[StewartR]

I do ebay occasionally but I don't snipe. I'll place my bid at the most I'm willing to pay. If someone outbids me I don't care if its with 10 hours to go or 10 seconds. I'm probably bidding on 6 other similar items anyway.I used to think that. But then I realised that, the earlier I make my bid, the more time I'm giving for someone to outbid me. So what I do now is submit my maximum bid, with a minute to go. If somebody outbids me, that's life. But I've increased my chances of getting the item at a price I think is reasonable.

[SHULTSIE!!!]

Exactly what I do.

I used to think that. But then I realised that, the earlier I make my bid, the more time I'm giving for someone to outbid me. So what I do now is submit my maximum bid, with a minute to go. If somebody outbids me, that's life. But I've increased my chances of getting the item at a price I think is reasonable.

[HarleyQuinn]

I used to think that. But then I realised that, the earlier I make my bid, the more time I'm giving for someone to outbid me. So what I do now is submit my maximum bid, with a minute to go. If somebody outbids me, that's life. But I've increased my chances of getting the item at a price I think is reasonable.


Same here... I hate when people start bidding like the day it starts! All it does is drive up the price from the get go.

[BillsBayou]

"Sniperto ergo sum" (I snipe, therefore I am)

Sniping is the ONLY way to bid :).

[Radtech1]

I used to ebay, until I realized that almost everything I bought was still sitting in the boxes that they were shipped in.

Shel Silverstein as quoted in "The Winner":

Now my broken back was the dyin' act of handsome Harry Clay
That sticky Cincinnatti night I stole his wife away.
But that woman, she gets uglier and meaner every day.
But I got her boy, and that's what makes me a winner.

[JMHPhotography]

The thing I've discovered in my years of dealing on EBAY is... sellers can be shady too. Sometimes the item is pretty obscure and not many people will bid on it.. so if you enter your max bid early... they can have a friend go bid it up so you are closer to your max bid. SOooo I snipe whenever possible.

[DocFrankenstein]

The thing I've discovered in my years of dealing on EBAY is... sellers can be shady too. Sometimes the item is pretty obscure and not many people will bid on it.. so if you enter your max bid early... they can have a friend go bid it up so you are closer to your max bid. SOooo I snipe whenever possible.
I think ebay might be doing this too. They get percentage of sales, don't they?

[Lord_Malone]

I've sniped tons on ebay. I've even been sniped for stuff I didn't think people would be interested in sniping me for! I always look for the real killer "Buy-It-Now" deals more than anything else nowadays. It's such a let-down when you have your hopes high to "win" an auction, only to get outbid by some dude with a screen name like "ollie_oxen357" or some crap.

[Time Thief]

I will only bid on an item when there is 30 seconds to go. Always check the sellers other items because half the time they have more and you are bidding this one up and you could get one for a lot cheaper if you bid on the next one in line. Always know the shipping before you bid. Been burned on that one before. Look for misspellings of items. Do a general search and then look to see what the items are listed under. Bid on the ones listed wrong.

As an example, a couple of years ago I did a search for a general item description in all categories. A hit came back for a match that was listed under books, and no it wasn't a book I was looking for. Well this person had a book listed and had these two extra items with it. I got this item for $4.00 when it was worth $75-100. I told the seller I was only interested in the extra items and she could keep the book to do with as she pleased. I saved on shipping since I didn't ship the book, she got to relist the book and was as happy as could be. I am now giving away all my secrets so I should stop before I have to start charging all who read this:lol::lol::lol:

[Time Thief]

. It's such a let-down when you have your hopes high to "win" an auction, only to get outbid by some dude with a screen name like "ollie_oxen357" or some crap.
My screen name on ebay is warped-warthog does that count as the crap?:rolleyes::lol:

[Citizensmith]

My screen name on ebay is warped-warthog does that count as the crap?:rolleyes::lol:

Mine is FreelancerAlpha1-1. Pretty lame but everything good I could come up with was taken. I was playing the game Freelancer at the time, and thats your call sign in the game. Ways back I actually had Citizensmith there but my account was hijacked so it got locked.

[Lord_Malone]

My screen name on ebay is warped-warthog does that count as the crap?:rolleyes::lol:


Hey! I think I've seen you on ebay!

*eyes suspiciously*

You guys will never guess what mine is.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I use to snipe in the pre-E-bay days, the online auctions were far less automated or frequented, it was new and fun and wild west like
The auction sites I recall were Dealdeal.com, Onsale.com, and Z-Auction to name a few.

The deals available on PC related stuff were amazing in those days. Cases of 10-100 network cards used but working the less than the cost of one new one,. Enterprise Server SCSI HD drives in cavernous 4GB sizes for about the same price as the largest new consumer (1GB ATA) drives..

The best deal I ever got was a laptop for my girlfriend for about $1000.00 less than laptops sold for in those days.
It was a TI, pentium 150MHz I think, you really couldn't get a laptop for under about $2K normally, and the deals were around $1,200.00

Well Z-Auction listed the TI Laptop under the CD-RON category, as it's model number was CD - xxxx something..

This mistake meant that only TWO people saw what it really was..
We beat him at the last minute and got the thing for about $250.00!!! Woohoo!

[azphotos]

Thanks for sharing. How very interesting. I have never understood this sniping. If I want something, I order it from a store or go to the store and purchase.

On the other hand if I am interested in getting something but don't want it enough to pay full price, I will peruse Ebay and I will bid the max I am willing to pay when I notice the item. I figure out what a used and possibly abused item is worth to me with no warranty and no return policy if I am not pleased. And also figure in a lack of worth if it turns out to be shady dealer because there is a chance I will never get the item or the item may be a fake or replica, non operational or broken.

If in enusing days I get an email that I won the item, I pay for it. If I get an email that I have been out bid - I laugh at the marketing strategy trying to induce me to spend more than I want.

I have great fun watching people bid dozens of times on items I have listed. Trying to figure out the the high bid of someone else and watching the cheap bas@@@ds raising the ante by silly insignificant percentages over many days. Ha Ha.

If someone wins the item by one bidding increment over me, that is fine...I bid what something is worth to me, not what I would rather pay. So if something is worth $100 - I bid that amount. If someone bids $101 - good for them - since I was not willing to pay $101 - it is theirs at that price.

The bottom line is this - if I want something, I buy it. If I need something I buy it. If I would like to have something but don't want it or need it enough to pay full price, I bid and move on to something that may have some real meaning in my life - Ha Ha.

[Zilly]

i ahve tried to bid on ebay but never got the hang of it and always lost by people who bid in the last 2 seconds

never really understand whats going on or how to be sucessful at it

[Time Thief]

Hey! I think I've seen you on ebay!

*eyes suspiciously*

You guys will never guess what mine is.
Hey now, I have over 400 with 100% positive.;) Here let me guess yours "Cream of the Manpanties":rolleyes::rolleyes: Hehehe.

[Time Thief]

Mine is FreelancerAlpha1-1. Pretty lame but everything good I could come up with was taken. I was playing the game Freelancer at the time, and thats your call sign in the game. Ways back I actually had Citizensmith there but my account was hijacked so it got locked.
I got mine from when I was playing paintball alot. I used a warped sportz autococker, hence the warped part and when I wore the mask/goggles my wife said I looked ugly. Kinda like a warthog. So I combined the two. I also know what you mean about all the good ones being taken, it took me many tries with alot of failures to make me use that one.

You have got to get rid of that avatar. It reminds me of Kathy on here that stopped using hers and now everytime I see yours I think it is her.

[Sabarika]

When I had home internet, it was all sniping. Before, of course, eBay implemented their "if you bid in the last X amount of time it adds Y amount of time to the auction" script.
Ah.. I was a young eBayer, I think my first account was at age... 13? 12? I bought myself a $50 Furby.. What an enormous waste, but ever since I've happily wasted my money on a multitude of items. :P

No point sniping now, I have no home internet, but I watch a ton of items.

[DocFrankenstein]

When I had home internet, it was all sniping. Before, of course, eBay implemented their "if you bid in the last X amount of time it adds Y amount of time to the auction" script.
I didn't know they had it. :confused:

Do they have it?

Didn't seem like they did when I sniped the few items I did.

[Darsk47]

I've been on eBay for 7 years, with over 100 transactions. ( peanuts to some, but a lot to me)

Sniping is the way to go.

Tip - check out the feedback of the people who are on the bidder's list of the item you want. You can see what they previously bought and when their bids went in on those items' closing times..... meaning you can tell you'll be in showdown during the closing minute if you find you're bidding against a another sniper. Or not.

Then there is also two window method............

[Tom W]

Do you ebay? Do you snipe?

I don't ebay, and I don't snipe, but I've been known to fire rifles long-range.

[Time Thief]

I didn't know they had it. :confused:

Do they have it?

Didn't seem like they did when I sniped the few items I did.
They used to, Not any more.

[DocFrankenstein]

Oooh

outbid another item by 9 cents!

[Becca]

Where are you guys when I bid on something and then change my mind? It never fails... I place a bid and then start hoping someone outbids me and nobody does. But if I REALLY want something, someone comes along and outbids me. :evil: