Very Upset With Myself
 

I'm not a big ebayer, so I thought I had this card in the bag with a reserve bid well above where it was with 30 seconds left to go. Simply didn't have enough time when I got outbid with 5 seconds left. Great looking card though. If anyone on here got it, I'd happily take it off your hands. http://www.ebay.com/itm/220944306861...#ht_500wt_1413

What I do is I bid the very highest I am willing to go right off the bat, then no need to get outbid or sniped at the end.

No need to try to snipe either. Just bid the highest amount you would possibly pay for the card, an amount you absolutely wouldnt pay 1 penny more if someone was breaking your arm, then if you get outbid, no regrets, and you don't have to try to outbid someone else either.

You might get it for less than your top amount too.

I'd much rather just set a snipe and not have to worry about anything else.

I set a snipe over an ebay max bid because I don't want the price to keep being driven up because of my max bid.

Agree with Rob, you win a whole lot more when you start snipping and pay a lot less.

outbid
 

I was also thinking about bidding on this item but it was past my max bid when I was ready to bid. Was the color faded . If not why did it only get a 2?

Also What is a snipe bid?

John P

At least it's nice to see that someone bought that for the card and not the holder. That's a great looking card.

A Snipe bid is the use of a service, such as Gavel snipe, where you can put in a bid on there, and the service bids for you w/in the closing seconds of the auction. It will only bid what is needed at the time of the snipe, up to your "snipe amount"

I used Gavel snipe for my occassional bidding on the bay, and it mostly works very well.

You just have to remember to reset your gavelsnipe passwords if you change your ebay password. :mad: Made that mistake on an item I wanted very badly.

I learned the lesson the hard way too, : If I'm sitting at my keyboard with 30 seconds to go, I wait another 25 seconds and put in my max bid with 5 seconds to go. Just like a snipe service, but I don't use those for some reason. Probably a combination of too lazy, too cheap, and something about it just doesn't seem sporting to me!

Snipe
 

Thanks for the info on the snipe bid. I always wondered how I got outbid on some items when I put in a last second bid that was much higher than the previous bid. :rolleyes:

Does anyone know if that card was faded or a color variation?

JP

I use Gavelsnipe; it is a free sniping service.

I only use gavelsnipe.com for ebay bids. I find an auction I like, decide on a price that I will pay for it, enter it into gavelsnipe.com and forget about it. That way I don't get into a bidding war at the very end of the auction and pay too much for something.

For me it works.

I use auctionsniper and have been happy with it. Don't snipe as much as I once did. There was a time when you could follow what other people were bidding on and it was a pain because I started getting a couple of guys who bid on what I wanted simply following me, hence I had to find a snipe solution.

free? OK I'm down to too lazy and "something doesn't seem sporting"

Personally, i thought the card brought a ton of money.... I would not beat yourself up too much

It was a great looking card, and the coloring on it was perfect. Much better than the way it was supposed to look. All of Hughie's portraits make him look like a clown.

If the coloring was perfect, you damn sure couldn't tell by the scan!

Kevin, you are missing my point. In my opinion, most Jennings portraits make him look ridiculous. He always has these big rosy cheeks and he tends to look like a clown. Put that over a bright Yellow/Orange background, and it adds to the effect. This card, which to me looked like it missed the Yellow/Orange coloring (although I really don't know much about that sort of thing) looked so much better with the darker background. I would have happily paid more than the hammer for it.

I thinks it brought a "ton" of money due to the background color. The eye appeal is a plus ,but the unique colors brought out the best in the bidders.

Not only is the Jennings missing yellow but it's also missing red (should be on his lips and cheeks) and appears to also be missing the color blue (should be on his eyes). The colors on the card are certainly unique. It would surprise me if the card actually came out of the factory this way, (without being scrap), but my guess is as good as yours.

Lovely Day...

Josh- i am not missing your point.... Holy cow, a psa 2 for $250 plus??? I have a t206 sgc 20 george brown(washington) nicer than this card that i will gladly sell you for $250. Alot rarer card... Also, the seller told me the card had original colors, he blamed it on a bad scan....

There's nothing there to get too excited or upset about. There are no factory print anomalies present. If anything, the final selling price was above retail.

Thanks Kevin. Very kind. I'll pass.

I realize that T206's will vary in size, and it's difficult to tell for certain by a scan only, but it's possible that PSA 2 card is trimmed (judging by the shortness in the holder and the sharp corners on the card).

Maybe my copy isn't too bad, but I never thought Hughie resembled a clown on this card. A little bit, maybe....

Send in the Clowns
 

Switters' favorite T206

Thank you!

If somebody is willing to pay more for an item than you are, it doesn't matter if they place their bid at the start of the auction or with one second left to go. I understand it's a strategy thing - I do it myself sometimes - and if the item is a rare one, losing out on it can be very frustrating. But the fact of the matter is that even if you wind up losing by one increment over your top bid, you have absolutely no idea what the guy's max bid was.

I know virtually everyone here snipes, but I am of the camp that prefers to put in the max bid right from the start and make someone knock me off. I have not done the statistics, but for me when I've sniped the results has been mixed. Often I did not win and if I did, got it at a price much higher than comparable BINs. I just make sure that if I'm going to lose, the other guy will not get a deal. With scarce cards that you don't see too often and is up auction style you don't have much of a choice; you will see sniping in the end, but with more common cards, I don't get too upset getting knocked off with a snipe. Just saying.

Craig

Trimmed
 

That was my first thought as well.

This is exactly right, that's why there is really no such thing as sniping.

You don't know what his max bid was, and if it is larger than your max bid, it doesnt matter whether you snipe or bid your max bid right away, as long as you max bid the largest amount you would possibly ever consider paying if your life was on the line and you wouldnt pay one penny more, then you have bid your max bid and if someone bids more, they get it, if they don't, they don't.

Right on target.

if everyone snipes, then no one is really sniping. its just putting in your max bid and it doesn't matter if you put it in right away or with one second left.

now if someone snipes and you lose out because you would have topped his last second snipe bid, then you yourself did not put in your max bid, either right away or sniping. that's your fault. why would you not put in your absolute maximum bid and let it get away? that's what i don't get.

sniping isn't a surprise move. everyone knows the other guy is going to snipe, all the more important to put in your absolute max bid, and let the chips fall where they may, whether you snipe or not, so it doesnt really mater if you snipe. It's a strategy but not really.

now many people say that they would have paid another dollar for the item, even over their absolute max bid, but then again, you don't know the max bid of the other guy, so one dollar more turns into 20. turns into 100. turns into 300. Figure out your super absolute crazy max bid and bid it and stick with it and there is never a need to snipe. if people like to snipe, that's fine, but its not really sniping anything.

Sometimes you do know that the other person's max bid wasn't much higher than your own.

Recently I won an ebay auction with a bid just 12cents higher than the under bidder. My max bid just happened to beat the other buyer by that much. Since I got mine in first it didn't matter that my bid wasn't at the actual bid increment that it was suppose to be. So in this case had the under bidder had time he (or she) could have quickly increased their bid by the minimum increment amount and won it.

I never did understand sniping. I agree with the previous posts. Just put in a bid the most you want to pay. If you win great, if you lose, that's OK because a similar card will be listed the next day or in a week or a month. It never ends.....

I think with sniping, you just don't show your interest in the auction. That's all.

The entire reason that sniping exists is to combat the bidders (or potentially shillers) who chip away at your max bid... essentially the less disciplined bidder who continually bids "just one more time" to see if he/she can be top bidder.

There was a card I sniped last night at a price roughly half of what I was willing to pay. If I had put in a max bid, I believe that I would have ultimately paid a higher price on that item as it would have given one or more people more time to chip away at my bid.

there is no chipping away at the bid.

Whether sniping or not, he put in the price he was willing to pay for the piece. that's it. you won it, because your bid was higher. if he wanted to pay more, you think he would have bid more before time ran out, right? he didn't, because he wasnt willing to pay more.

its a psychological balm only, this sniping, there is no sniping, you put in the most you are willing to pay, he puts in the most he is willing to pay, whether you both enter it right away or with one second left, and the highest bid takes it. if you are kicking yourself because you should have entered more, THEN ENTER MORE!

but then you could have increased it too, then him then you, and it goes on forever until the price is 50 bucks higher. if he was willing to pay 50 more bucks for the piece, then why didnt he enter the higher bid right away?

thats what i dont get? if you enter the price you are willing to pay but not one cent more, and i mean the price that would almost make you cry, a price that you wouldnt add 1 cent if your life was on the line, then it doesnt matter if you are outbid by 12 cents, because if you were willing to bid 13 more cents to win it, why didnt you make a max bid that was 13 cents higher, or 10 dollars higher.

a max bid is a max bid, and if you were willing to pay more just to be the winner, then increase your max bid the first time you bid and be content, you cant win them all! There is always another dollar to chase, its fruitless.

If i wanted a card and it is generally worth 200 dollars in the condition that it is in, and i have been searching for this card for 20 years and i want it really bad, i imagine a bidding war in my head ahead of time, and i decide the absolute max that i would bid because i might never see it again the rest of my life. if i decide i would be willing to pay 450 dollars for it because i want it bad, then i enter my max bid of 450, and if someone else wins it for 450.01 then he wins. if i was willing to bid 2 cents more to win it, then 450 wasnt really my max bid, now was it. You got to stop sometime. If I WAS willing to go higher, then i need to figure out my max bid, a bid where i wouldnt bid even one cent more. if it is 500, 600 or 1000 for a 200 dollar card, then so be it. but if someone wants it more than me, he can bid higher. but there will be a price that i say to heck with it, i am done, and if you figure out that price before you bid for the first time, you can just bid right away and be done with it, and if someone wins with a 12 cent higher bid, then good for him!

if
 

If I really want a card on ebay I figure the price it should go for, multiply it by 4-6x, and make that my snipe....and forget about it. Last night I won an auction for about $73.....my snipe was $397.77. I had never seen those cards before. If someone else wanted them then they were going to have to pay. If they did win them then I would have just felt they wanted them more than I did. I snipe approximately 98% of the time.....heck, maybe more. I don't care for the drama in manual last minute bids. Forget about all of the psychology, I just set my bid at the max I will pay. If I bid early it usually means I don't really want the card. Interesting subject. regards

ps...I should add that many times I do adjust my snipes before the end of the auction, depending on how I feel about the item...the one last night, I really wanted and upped it another $100, before the end, to be sure...

Some of sniping is psychological, but there are a few real advantages.

it does limit the degree of shilling possible. Of course a dedicated seller could enter a shill at a fairly high price. Some do it to avoid paying for a reserve.

It also eliminates the "bid big then cancel to find the other bidders max" strategy (which I have never used even though it's possible)

Done manually it allows those of us with poorer organizational skills and/or less budget to make the decision to bid and how much at the last moment.
For example, I may have a few cards in watching, all of which I want and can afford. Say it's 5 T206s that I expect to be about $40 each. But then I see one listed that's maybe a tough back or a really nice one. If I've bid my max on the other 5 I have to continue as if I will win all of them. If I'm waiting to snipe I can pass them by freeing up budget for the more interesting one.
Yes, with a service I could cancel the outstanding snipes, but I'd be likely to forget or get busy with something else and end up with a problem. I've only used credit once for a collectible, and that was a once in a lifetime or two opportunity.

Doing it manually also allows a two tiered snipe. On a very few items I'll place a bid at what I think is full price at about 10 seconds, or as early as a few days before the end. And I have another waiting to use at somewhere under 5 seconds. (This might only be possible with a fast connection like cable) I only do this on stuff I really want, and the crazy bid is only there for those cases where my realistic max might fall slightly short. And it usually means I'm done buying for the month.

The downsides?
The biggest problem with doing it manually is forgetting or missing the end time. But as others have said there's usually another cool item coming up soon.

And you really have to bid your actual maximum which can be a bit of a budget buster if two people place fairly high bids. I've had that go both ways.

Steve B

I think this where your assumption is incorrect. Under your assumption, you would only see one bid on an item from each user id. Look at bid histories of some of the items that you've bid on. It's not uncommon to see the same user id place several bids on the same item. If he put in the most he was willing to pay, he wouldn't have to bid again. He is chipping (trying to find the lowest bid that will put them in the lead) or he is undisciplined and thinks maybe if I just go $X more, I'll win (and repeats this several times). In the end, it's my belief that I win more items (and pay less for them) by sniping.

Bidding late (sniping) vs bidding your max early vs bidding often
 

Erick (and Leon) are absolutely correct.

Looking at it from a purely logical perspective :

If you bid your maximum amount early, then future bidders who you have outbid know about it instantly and have a chance to bid again, which costs you money.

Bidding multiple time doesn't make sense for more reasons than I care to go into.

Bidding your highest amount at the last possible second means that the only people who will have time to out bid you are those who either already have or are doing using the same strategy, either way you lost, so get over it.

Let's say that you and another guy both want an item. He bids the minimum early and keeps an eye on the auction. If you bid early, he has time to rebid, and rebid again, and so do you. Eventually somebody wins. Price keeps going up. Seller is very happy.

If you waited until the last possible second and bid your maximum, he has no time to bid again and you win the item for the minimum plus one bid increment.

My method does not guarantee a win, but my method does guarantee that you spend as little money as possible.

Doug

Shilling is the biggest reason to snipe. Since Ebay made it impossible to see who is bidding against you, it is open season for shilling. I usually put in a low bid to indicate that someone is interested in the card so the seller won't panic that the item won't sell, then set my real max as a snipe. I believe it has saved me a lot of money over the years.

Chipping away at a max bid is definitely real; I do it all the time. I often see an item that I would be willing to own at a certain price level but don't want enough to pay what I perceive to be full retail. If it has bids already I will sometimes whack away at the high bid a few times just to see if I can luck out and top it, running up the bid in the process. If that bidder set a snipe instead I would end up with the high bid at a lower tier and would stop bidding at that point.

Another use of sniping is bid coordination. I use auctionstealer, which allows you to create bid groups in which the first item to hit cancels the other bids on items in the group. Really useful when I definitely want at least one item of a group-like for a rare type card--but not necessarily all of them.

Finally, there are some circumstances in which I am not sure whether I want to commit to an item for whatever reason. Sniping lets me set up a bid so I don't forget the item [we all know how life can interfere with card shopping] but without really committing to it until the last minute.

The Pre-snipe snipe
 

I have not used the sniping programs, but do think chipping away at max bids is real. I prefer to place my max bid at 5-7 seconds before the end of the auction, the pre-snipe bid. This prevents manual bidders from topping me by rebidding. If I lose to Leon with his $10,000 max bids, so be it. But if I happen to match the snipe bid (and this has happened), my pre-snipe trumps the snipe.

As I tell my wife, if you lose at the casino, the money is no longer in your pocket, but if you lose to a snipe bid, you break even.

When I used to use ebay, I'd chip away at bids. Sometimes my "original" bottom line price would go out the window quickly, depending on "how bad" I wanted that card....and I didn't use a snipe program. But I see the point of snipe programs to deal with shill bidding....that makes sense.

Sincerely, Clayton

All of the preceeding posts explaining the benefits of sniping, and the disadvantages of placing an early max bid, are right on the mark. Sniping is the only way to go, whether done manually or with a service. Anyone who fails to see the benefits of sniping on eBay are simply living in denial.

And you might get someone eating into your ceiling bid. Better just leave a snipe. It's free and easy:

www.gavelsnipe.com

Bingo.

Whether or not you are willing to pay more, there are bidders who just have to be high bidder no matter what. If you use a large proxy bid right off the bat and one of those bidders comes along, you will see your bid eclipsed and the item may very well sell for much more than had a snipe bid been used.

This is not necessarily a realistic example, but it shows the logic:

For example, let's say you are willing to pay $1000. You bid $1000 and along comes the "has to be high bidder at all times" guy. He just keeps bidding and bidding until he is the high bidder. You are out, but since you placed your max bid, you walk away and say oh well, maybe next time.

However, let's say that you only bid $100 initially and then set up a snipe for $1000. That "has to be high bidder" guy then goes to work and becomes high bidder at $101.00 and then assuming no other bids, your snipe takes the win at $102.

I have found that almost every time I place a bid when I don't feel a snipe is necessary, I lose because someone outbids me early, not just snipe bids. I still lose when sniping, but I win more often and I believe I pay less along the way.

sniping
 

Good point, Curt...I believe your assessment is correct.

However, if you find a card that may be worth 1k and think I can get it for $100 with a snipe bid, let me know!!! ;)


Mike