I thought I had it, then... ow.

S

Sword and Shield

Joined
Apr 3, 2004
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3,536
I understand the thrill of the hunt getting people on EBay, and I'm a Scout collector, but... wow. Link

I was lead bidder on this one almost all the way down, then it went from a reasonable $60 to $180 in the space of an hour and a half. :eek: What's with people? Why wouldn't the winner bid $100 instead of $180?
 
It is weird I recently had one of these and a collector came over to the house and saw it he went nuts and I said it was not for sale he said he would give 200 I said it just became available. He was with a friend of mine who has at least a dozen of them but would not part with one of them. You are correct it is beyond me. But then again Scouts are not my passion. Still the guy drank half a bottle of canadian. Frankly I enjoyed the company.
 
Was there a reserve?

It will jump up to the reserve if someone bids thier max over the reserve.
 
It's the new "proxy" bidding system. You place the highest bid that you're willing to pay, and as others place their bids, your's is automatically raised until your max bid is reached.

At the time that "lizard" placed their $159 bid, the highest bid showing was something like $158-ish, even though a previous bid was higher.

It makes moot the practice of "sniping", bidding at the last second when other bidders won't have time to respond.

-Bob

p.s. If you collect Scout items, and ever happen through New Mexico, my in-laws have a Scouting museum here in Raton. It's worth a visit, especially if you like to yap (F-I-L's a yapper).
 
It works this way...

The person had the bid at $75 does not necessarily mean that he bid $75. He could have put a max bid of, say $158, but at the time he put his max bid in, the next highest max was $74, so he then temporarily the highest bidder at $75 since there were no higher bids.

So, at this point we have a current bid by this person with a max of $158, but he has it at $75, UNTIL the next person comes along. The next person might perhaps bid $90. Since the previous person has a max bid at $158, ebay automatically bumps the bid to $91 on behalf of the person who had $158 as the max.

This is why you see huge jumps in bid increments - Setting a "max bid" and letting ebay handle the auto-increase for you.
 
Bob W said:
It makes moot the practice of "sniping", bidding at the last second when other bidders won't have time to respond.
Click to expand...

How so? If a bidder's max is less than the snipe is set for, then the snipe takes it, right?
 
How it happened is fairly obvious why it went to that is because that was the value placed upon it. The eternal question is why that piece was worth that to some one, again anythings value is what one person is willing to give for it. I believe the bidding procedures are fairly self explanatory. Sniping which is looked down upon by some is really the only way some people can bid. There are some very well recognized bidders on ebay and some people whos reputation forces the use of alternate bidders and not bidding until the final seconds ( ie sniping.) It can be quite vicious especially if you are well known. I do not use alternate bidders ( shills ) I do snipe There are many sellers who will throw in a ringer ( alternate ebay user) to drive up prices Ah yes any new endeaver will breed the scumbags. I will only snipe, because my bids often causes other reactions. The negative of this is that often I will put a bid in against someone I know ( because I am sniping) in the past if I have driven up a person who I knews bid I will reimburse what I have cost them ( there are people on this forum who can attest to this ). If i win the item I pay the extra money and contact the person and explain that I was forced to snipe and at the time they were not contenders. Recently I was asked to broker ( buy ) a piece and authorized to bid it to 400 dollars ( more than I felt it was worth but the amount my princible wanted to go.) Another bidder who I knew jumped in so I went to my top ( since I was obligated to) in increments, until out bid I was in the middle I owed allegiance to both partys. But by bidding the piece early I showed my hand and when it went over 400, my limit, I was out of it. It drove it to high but I was committed by two alliances. The point being that often times there are factors not known. I in fact bought a similar piece privately from a forum member for the collector in question. The fact is last man standing owns it whatever the circumstances and that is the bottom line. LT
 
How so? If a bidder's max is less than the snipe is set for, then the snipe takes it, right?
Click to expand...
yes, if someone bids higher than you, they win. That's how auctions work.

The problem with sniping was that it occured at the last second when there was insufficient time for other bidders to respond. With proxy-bidding your bid is raised automatically to your max amount, no matter how little time is remaining in the auction.

-Bob
 
A couple of years ago a person I know bid 1000 dollars on a small gold double automatic knife and went to Mexico for the weekend. He came back and found the knife 4 or 5 hundred max that the knife was worth went to 1036 dollars. That is the name of the game. I hate when it says you won and the last bid was 50 bucks and when you scroll down it went to 250 in the last 2 seconds but you got er boy and that ( as the old song says ) is what makes you the winner? LT.
 
Throw in the "Second Chance Offer" and the circumstances REALLY get questionable...

Way some time ago, bid/lost/bought a welder.... My bid went to 2Gs. I lost by several hundred... Few days later got an email from the seller that the sell had fallen through and was I interested?? SURE !! at about 1500, the spot where the "winner" started jacking my bid.... Well, that dog didn't hunt... For him... 2Gs, take it or leave it!!!

It still was a good deal so I took it.... and got a da_n good welder...

Was I bamboozeled??... probably... Did I "turn him in"?? Yep!! Results.. No "evidence"....:mad:

and to quote little_64

Codger_64 said:
Because the looser bid $100???

Codger
Click to expand...

been that one also !!! :eek:

ya'll have a good one... :D

dannyb
 
Bob W said:
yes, if someone bids higher than you, they win. That's how auctions work.

The problem with sniping was that it occured at the last second when there was insufficient time for other bidders to respond. With proxy-bidding your bid is raised automatically to your max amount, no matter how little time is remaining in the auction.

-Bob
Click to expand...

Well, I've sniped myself & been sniped too. The way I see it, the rules are the same for everyone, so I don't have a problem with it. I see it as a nature of the beast with internet auctions. If you look at what happened in this auction for the Scout knife, 3 bidders tried sniping in the remaining seconds. And naturally, 2 of them we're "outsniped" by the proxy bidding in place by the highest sniper. Anyone can try to snipe if they wish to, but it isn't gonna guarantee you'll win. It boils down to who wants something (& is willing to pay) more than others on any given item. And with sniping allowed, you obviously won't know that till the end of the auction to see if your "sniping bid" was high enough to win over someone else's. So although it may not feel good to get sniped, anyone can do it. In my mind, that makes it fair.
I go to some auction sites for guns & 1 in particular has a system that eliminates sniping. If you try sniping in the last few seconds, the auction is automatically extended another 15 mins. And this will continue for as long as it takes, until there is no more bidding in the last 15 mins. For those opposed to sniping, it's a simple solution that works.
 
I for one have never understood the animosity towards "sniping" on eBay. If you have hours or days to study an auction, and determine the maximum you want to bid is $100, why should you get bent out of shape if it sells for $101.00? If it was worth $102.00 to you, then you should bid that amount up front. I rarely snipe. If I want an item, I determine my price and bid that amount. Sometimes I have lost auctions by ridiculous amounts, once by only a couple of cents, and it is frustrating when that happens, but it was my decision to bid the amount I bid.
 
Makes sense to me too. If I won't be around for the end of an auction, I just usually bid my max. Other wise, I may snipe a little...

But, I usually look for friendlies first. ;)

Glenn
 
Sword and Shield said:
I understand the thrill of the hunt getting people on EBay, and I'm a Scout collector, but... wow. Link

I was lead bidder on this one almost all the way down, then it went from a reasonable $60 to $180 in the space of an hour and a half. :eek: What's with people? Why wouldn't the winner bid $100 instead of $180?
Click to expand...

As I've said before,an auction isn't like Nascar where you earn points for laps led.
Actually on that auction,there may have been a lot more snipers! If their "snipe bid" was put in with 5 or less seconds to go and was lower than a previous registered bid that may have been placed with 10 seconds to go,the bid will be refused and won't show on the bidding list.
Computers are awful fast,fellers! Two or three seconds is long time.
Ron
 
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