Is snipe bidding killing the hobby?

[Samets]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I agree with others here about sniping, which has has been around from the beginning. I manually snipe unless there's something ending when I know I won't be able to bid; if it's something I want real bad and don't want to forget to bid; or, if multiple items are ending at the same time--then I use a free service (this is rare).

I probably shouldn't say this, but I often actually invite shilling in a way. Many times my placeholder bid is set at about 50% of what I actually would be willing to pay. I want there to be early interest on the off chance a seller is thinking of pulling the card for non-bidding and/or selling off-line at a "panic" price--obviously this would not apply to knowledgeable sellers. Anyway, I am hoping others bid up to my "max" and I don't care if it's shilled to get there--philosophically I wish the card would have been started at a higher price or a reserve set but I understand some sellers for whatever reason don't/won't do that. This let's seller know he won't get absolutely fleeced if it sells. When I get an outbid notice by email I then look to see if I think the interest is legitimate or I suspect shilling. Also, if that outbid notice comes real early after my bid, it signals in some sense that this card may draw real interest for the duration of the auction. In short, it's kind of a litmus test that makes me look at the auction more closely and consider whether this is something I really want and how hard I may have to fight for it with a late snipe. Obviously far from fool proof but makes things a little more interesting, for me anyway. Plus, it helps prevent me from kicking myself when I occasionally forget to bid in ebay auctions that ultimately sell for a small fraction of what I would have paid (it happens)--this way I could get a great deal or at least know I pushed someone else to pay closer to market value.

I'm doing pretty much the same things! If a seller lists a jersey knowing what it is or unknowing what it is at a low price, I will throw in a decent bid to see what the interest level is and to show the seller that he shouldn't sell outside of eBay. This sadly works only fraction of the time. I see too many things that don't get the bids the seller wants and he/she freak out and sell it outside of eBay. I bet they will make more if they let the auction take its course (most of the time)... There are a few guys out there that collect exactly what I do and I can't think of a time where I got a "steal" The only steals I've gotten is from a seller that lists a BIN that is below fair market and I will jump on that.

As a seller, I've been contacted with offers and even a guy with the math of how it makes more sense to skip eBay FVF/PayPal systems...

I'm shocked with as greedy as eBay is that they haven't implemented a 15 minute rule with their auctions. I love it with NFL Auctions. I get an e-mail and I have 15 minutes to decide if I want to go higher. In this case everyone wins. eBay gets the maximum dollar value to get their fees. The seller gets the item sold for the maximum price at that time. The buyer knows that he paid a fair market price.