Slightly OT: Snipe issues on eBay

[t206trader]

As an aside from the snipe issue which is frustrating... I understand the frustration but I fail to see "death" of the 99 cent auction. Ebay receives more eyes from the public than any other auction site. Generally speaking a 99 cent auction that lasts 7 days should sell at close to a true market value. The fact that sellers want more is irrelevant. Sports cards have almost always been a margins collectible. If a seller feels that the auction prices that cards are realizing aren't enough, then either they need to find a new business venture or sell for above market BIN's that will likely languish for months/years. Either way, nobody wins.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by t206trader

As an aside from the snipe issue which is frustrating... I understand the frustration but I fail to see "death" of the 99 cent auction. Ebay receives more eyes from the public than any other auction site. Generally speaking a 99 cent auction that lasts 7 days should sell at close to a true market value. The fact that sellers want more is irrelevant. Sports cards have almost always been a margins collectible. If a seller feels that the auction prices that cards are realizing aren't enough, then either they need to find a new business venture or sell for above market BIN's that will likely languish for months/years. Either way, nobody wins.

That is all good and all, and I agree that a collectible should sell close to market value, but we have an issue here that needs to be addressed. ALOT of people snipe, especially on higher dollar, rarer cards. It hides two facets. #1 - It doesn't alert anyone that they are interested in the item until the very end. #2 - it allows them to win items on the cheap. When Ebay is restricting these snipes from coming through, then we have items selling a lot cheaper than they normally would.

If Ebay is "crashing", or doing something that is limiting these last second bids from coming through, then that is very much a problem for sellers/consignors. These items are selling for only a fraction of their market value. No different than stealing.

[t206trader]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

That is all good and all, and I agree that a collectible should sell close to market value, but we have an issue here that needs to be addressed. ALOT of people snipe, especially on higher dollar, rarer cards. It hides two facets. #1 - It doesn't alert anyone that they are interested in the item until the very end. #2 - it allows them to win items on the cheap. When Ebay is restricting these snipes from coming through, then we have items selling a lot cheaper than they normally would.

If Ebay is "crashing", or doing something that is limiting these last second bids from coming through, then that is very much a problem for sellers/consignors. These items are selling for only a fraction of their market value. No different than stealing.

I agree that crashing and software issues need to be addressed. If the software (as in this case) doesn't work then the seller is getting hosed and I have no qualms with the seller being ticked off.

Having said that, it seems many sellers lately generally complain about low selling prices which just seems like sour grapes.

[ATP]

Personally, I think the selling prices for straight auction items...good items that attract a lot of attention, is still pretty strong. Some go a little less than expected, some a little more, but it evens it out in the long run and it guarantees a sale that week. The issue isn't with prices received in a straight, start at 99 cent auctions when bids are received, at least for me, it was having items end for lower than expected...and then getting messages from folks that their snipes did not go through and they would have bid significantly more. And yes, I did have a reserve on some larger items, but with the exception of snipes, reserve auctions typically do not generate the same amount of interest or bidders. The last minute snipes might be similar, but not usually the ongoing bidding...which one again is an issue if the snipes are rejected.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by t206trader

I agree that crashing and software issues need to be addressed. If the software (as in this case) doesn't work then the seller is getting hosed and I have no qualms with the seller being ticked off.

Having said that, it seems many sellers lately generally complain about low selling prices which just seems like sour grapes.

I can confirm Bobby left money on the table on his Williams. I had a snipe in at $850 that didn't fire off. I originally had it at $900, but lowered it in the last hour based on winning some elsewhere. I wasn't aggressively pursuing the Williams, but set my snipe at that amount because it would've been a really good deal at that price.. Especially knowing it had gone for about $1050 at JVAC weeks prior.

My specific snipe wouldn't have yielded a huge difference in end price, but I've gotta think there was a least one more person (maybe a few) that had higher snipe bids at the ready.

I do not think eBay would want to block these because that leaves money on the table actress the board. I agree with the other poster that said the problem lies with fully relying on a 3rd party service (hence I manually bid whenever I can). That said, looks to me like it was an eBay issue since Gavelsnipe was not the only one that couldn't get bids through on Sunday.

[itjclarke]

I also agree with Bobby in that I think this Sunday's low prices will have at least some effect on value. Given how commonly used CardTarget and VCP are, I think people will be more apt to wait to get an $800-$850 Williams as opposed to spending $1100+. I understand the concept of each bidder "paying what it's worth to them" but most/all worth is perceived and a large part of that perception is based on past sales history. Think this is especially true on cards that are pretty regularly available. For cards like these, people are more willing to wait until the next one comes along.

IMO these low prices were probably aberrations based on snipe issue, and will eventually correct themselves, but if you get even one bidder to back off a current auction and/or lower his max due to a lower recent sale price, the card is effectively worth less.

[Econteachert205]

I don't use sniping services, they are frustrating though I am not against them as I both buy and sell. I don't use them because I would buy a lot more if I did. Being forced to make a decision at the end of an auction, or care enough to be there has kept me out of spending more, so if I'm there, it's because I really want the item.

[Republicaninmass]

Missed hundreds of dollars in bid today with bidding scheduler. Is there a fix?