Just wondering what day and time you usually finish your listings... assuming a preference. Does it really make a difference?
I ask this as someone who rarely ever has a listing end other than between 8 & 9.30pm on a Sunday.
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Do you find your items get sniped? I used to sell a lot on there and nearly every time it was a snipe finish, which meant it could end pretty well anytime and not make a lot of odds. People were using services like AuctionStealer all the time.
But not sold on there for a couple of years so perhaps it's changed.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 11:44
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I don't know about getting items sniped (by auto programs I assume you mean) but I see very late (and very welcome) bids in the closing minute/seconds on most of my stuff.
I always bid manually but at about 19sec to the end which puts the bid on about 6sec before the end.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 11:48
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>>I always bid manually but at about 19sec to the end which puts the bid on about 6sec before the end.
Are you bidding from the moon? I generally use sniping software, but just occasionally do it manually - when I put the bid on 5 seconds before the end, which puts the bid on at 5 seconds before the end.
If you're bidding 19 seconds before the end you're not sniping at all.
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I mean I start to bid by typing in my bid and clicking the bid button and finally the confirm button... that's the lost 13secs.... I'm not rushing.
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...Do you find your items get sniped?...
Sniped?
You ebay fellas are going to have to use plain language so the rest of us can take part.
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Sorry - sniping - use of an automated program to place the bid for you in the very last seconds (sometimes literally a second or two). The idea is it bids up so fast no human can keep up with it so it steals the auction.
My auctions were nearly always pinched at the last second by an automated sniper. When you want something, you tell the sniper when it ends and let it do its stuff, (and your maximum bid) which is why it doesn't matter when it ends as the machine will usually beat a human bidder anyway.
There are strong views for and against this system I won't bother to go into here as it's not relevant to the original question I don't think.
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I always go for a Sunday p.m. finish.
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>>which is why it doesn't matter when it ends as the machine will usually beat a human bidder anyway.
No, no no no no. It's got nothing to do with machines beating humans, and everything to do with psychology.
The reason for sniping is because you put your best bid on at the last moment so nobody else can find out how much it actually is. eBay isn't really an auction at all (not in the conventional sense, anyway). However people - in ignorance - treat it like an auction, so they will spend several days bidding against each other, pointlessly.
eBay is better treated like a machine for comparing best offers, and then giving the person with the highest bid the winning bid, but at a price that is one level above the underbidder's (so just like an auction).
e.g. Just two people want an item which is listed at 99p. A is prepared to pay £100; B is prepared to pay £150.
Case 1. A leaves a bid of £100. B puts on £5, then £10, then in £5 increments until he reaches £101 at which point B wins it for £101.
Case 2. B puts on £5. At the last moment A puts on £100 - at which point A wins it for £5.50.
Case 3. A puts on £100 at the last moment, B puts on £150 at the last moment. B wins it for £101 (or £102 or whatever the increment is at that level).
In case 1 A has cost himself the lot (compared to case 2) as he thought it was an auction and has allowed B to work out how many times he has to raise his bid by £5 before winning.
In case 2 B has cost himself the lot because he never put in his best offer (of £150) because he thought it was an auction.
In case 3 both A and B have the correct answer. B was prepared to pay £150, so has got it cheaply; A was prepared to pay only £100 so has not lost anything by not winning it.
The moment you mention "ethics" you are effectively prohibiting somebody who first sees the item in the seconds before closing from bidding, so it has nothing to do with ethics.
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Ebay would be more fun if it worked like a Dutch auction. The clock would start ticking downwards from say £1000, and whoever clicked Yes at whatever price it had reached would have bought it at that price.
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Wouldn't mind selling my items in the same way as they do it at madbid.com
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 12:28
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What happens if several bidders are use snipe programs for the same item?
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Highest bid wins, or earliest if same bid value (or if second bid value less than the minimum increment above the existing bid).
Last edited by: Focus on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 12:42
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Good explanation Mappy.
The rule therefore for buying on ebay is bid once, bid as late as possible, bid your maximum.
I use www.justsnipe.com/ if I'm buying on ebay. It's free for a small number of auctions per week, although free membership will only allow down to 8 secs or so before close - good enough most times.
It also means you don't have to remember to be around at the finish.
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>> Just wondering what day and time you usually finish your listings... assuming a preference. Does
>> it really make a difference?
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I tend to ensure that my listings finish around the evening time, as apposed to sometime during the day or early in the morning, also on a weekend time
As these are peak times of internet users, there is more of a chance of last minute bidding.
Thats my personal preference and reasoning behind it, and it may not be that of others.
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Lets put it like this.
When buying I look for items closing mid week around 10am to 4pm.Wednesday is good.
When selling, closing Saturday/Sunday evening 8-9pm..
When buying by auction, I always snipe. Always.
esnipe.com/
Last edited by: madf on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 13:10
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I use www.quicksnipe.com Totally free, can set it down to 2 seconds.
If you really want an item, then set up two separate snipers to snipe, just in case one has soft/hardware/connection failure.
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If what you are selling is reasonably generic, or even identical to other recent sales, and there are enough of them, then a peruse of the "completed listings" may give you some data about prices expected and times of ending.
This worked well for me when I was taking it seriously.
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Just shoved a few things on today and the listings will end by lunch time next friday,Then if they sell i can post them saturday if they have paid or next monday onwards as im on nights and can post afternoons.
I always make it so im off or available a few days to post and get shut of them.
Sniping love it do mine in the last 10 seconds & win some.
Put sensible pricing on from some of you on that other post. :-).!!
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I like stuff to end on a weekend at around 7pm ish, make sure people are at home for that last irrational bid.
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The few times I have ever bought anything on ebay I have simply decided the maximum price I wanted to pay and let the system bid automatically. Is this not the best way?
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>>>Is this not the best way?
It's fine but can give you problems. Some dodgy sellers on a higher value item will use a second account to bid a daft high figure way above the value which will expose your max bid. Then they withdraw the high bid. They then know they can use a 3rd account to bid you up to your max even if no-one else does.
Then there are those that treat it like a normal auction and bid just a bit more loads of times to try and outbid you. If you bid your max amount early they often nibble away bidding a bit more than they really wanted. This too will run the price up and sometimes lose you the item.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 21 Jan 11 at 17:40
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Thanks - that makes sense. Have always waited till near the end of the auction and then put in my maximum amount which should save me from the second scenario.
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Usually have mine end around 8 - 9 pm any night. Listed an item a couple of weeks back which finished at 10am with no bids - relisted with an evening finish and got quite a few. I figure more people are at home on the net in the evening
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Ebay - What day/time do you finish listings? - Crankcase
