Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Last minute ebay nonsense

[Dave G]

I know its a dog eat dog world on ebay but I'm getting heartily sick of being outbid on items within the last five seconds of the auction closing.
I suspect a lot of people are using these so called "sniping programs" where bids are automatically placed for you in the closing seconds.
Is this a common experience?

[Mark]

I always only bid in the dying seconds..... and over bid, to where i'm comfy with paying. If it goes over that price, i'm happy to walk away. Only ever been out bid twice, and second time i decided i was happy with my max bid.

Tiz very much dog eat dog mate

[dickieducati]

not at expert on ebay, but can't you put in your maximum bid amount and it will automatically bid up for you if you are out bid by someone else?

that way you just put in the max you want to pay and if it goes above your price then you didnt want it anyway.

[skidlids]

Quite right Antony, thats what I do if I can't be near the PC near auction end, otherwise I do what Flanker does.

[luckywhiteheather]

The Flanker/Skidlid technique is what I use and works best.
As far as I'm concerned it's the only way to bid.

No point in showing your hand too early, but I can appreciate how you'd get hacked off at it when auction is closing at a time you won't be near a PC.

[bradders]

why bother with all the cloak and dagger stuff? put in max bid, if it goes higher its someone elses loss not yours, if its lower you got a bargain

[Guido]

There is a website called "auction sniper" that lets you enter the details and then the site will take care of bids for you up to your pre-stated limit. It places a winning bid within 5 seconds prior to the auction closing.

I hear you get 3 free tries and then you pay for each 'snipe'

Could be that you're up against such tactics.

In my view it's the only way to stand a chance a winning your desired item. If you don't somebody else will.....

Dial-up Vs broadband could be another reason your are outbid as a dial-up connection takes longer to refresh the pages once you enter your bid.

[Road Runner]

me to I think Ive won it but lose out in the dieing seconds only ever won once and then paid well over the odds for my red mirrors....

[Harv748]

It does seem to be getting a bit silly now. Today my girlfriend had a go at three seperate items (not bike related) and all three she was the highest bidder until the last minute...and was then outbid.

I agree that if you enter your max bid and then get beat...thats the name of the game...but it seems like it isn't quite working perhaps as the site originators hoped

All seems a bit cloak and dagger to me!