The ones that got away

[Fleur De Guerre]

I don't have the slightest problem with sniping as, like Daisy said, putting your bid in at the last minute is also sniping, just a bit earlier than the actual computer program. I have a super-fast home internet connection and put in a bid within the last 10 seconds anyway when I am sitting at the computer. It's better for my blood pressure to use proxy bidding to be honest, when I'm sitting there I tend to get really super nervous as the auction ends (quite sad really! lol)

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Another bidding phenomenon I find weird is that an item won't have ANY bids for 6 days, then in the last few hours it gets bid up very high. I mean, I understand why it happens, but why can a person hold out for 5 days and then not wait the extra few hours and bid in the last few minutes of the auction? It just seems like it would make the price go up, and don't we try to avoid that if at all possible? [huh]

 

[pigeon toe]

Bella, I avoid bidding early on because I know there will be bidding wars at the end of an auction, so if it's already at, say, $20 by day 3, instead of the starting price, it'll be that much more expensive by the end. Maybe my logic is flawed, but that's how I think of it.

I have been avoiding bidding lately on anything but blouses, since those seem to go the cheapest. Everything is just getting out of control expensive! A 1940's house dress, similar to the one in Lizzie's avatar, went for $81! As cute as it is, I just thought of how Lizzie made hers and didn't even bother to bid. Hopefully one day I'll be a good enough seamstress to make something like that, but until $80 is way over my budget so I'll just have to do without.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Bella, I avoid bidding early on because I know there will be bidding wars at the end of an auction, so if it's already at, say, $20 by day 3, instead of the starting price, it'll be that much more expensive by the end. Maybe my logic is flawed, but that's how I think of it.

I agree with you! I think it's weird NOT to do that!

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Incidentally, this didn't really get away because there was no way I was spending $122 on a bikini, but look how cute:

 

[pigeon toe]

I agree with you! I think it's weird NOT to do that!

Oh, I must've misunderstood you, I thought you were saying the opposite!

And that bathing suit is darling. But jeez, too expensive! I wish there were more Buy It Now's at reasonable prices. It would make things so much easier.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Oh, I must've misunderstood you, I thought you were saying the opposite!

And that bathing suit is darling. But jeez, too expensive! I wish there were more Buy It Now's at reasonable prices. It would make things so much easier.

lol I know, sorry, sometimes I just don't make sense!

Anyway that bikini started at like $9 I think, so it was worth that much to SOMEONE...good for them.

 

[maisie]

I think sniping is great, especially as all the nice thing these days are on the US ebay and normally finish in the early hours over here in the UK!
If I bid for something in the UK most of the time i just bid normally. Sometimes i do this for US items to, but i find if i put a bid on something in the US before i go to bed and the auction has a few hours left other bidders will just keep on bidding and bidding until they are winning it, pushing up the price.

 

[Donna Stewart]

Uhh... I could kick myself. I'd been watching a pair of shoes on eBay for the best part of the week, and today, 50 minutes before closing, I decide to go out and pick up some lunch from the grocery store 5 minutes away. It turns out the store didn't have what I wanted, so I decided to walk to another store about 15 minutes further away , blissfully forgetting the auction. I came back to find that they had sold for about half of what I'd been willing to pay. Oh well... this means I can start looking for a more expensive pair to cheer myself up, right?

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Another bidding phenomenon I find weird is that an item won't have ANY bids for 6 days, then in the last few hours it gets bid up very high. I mean, I understand why it happens, but why can a person hold out for 5 days and then not wait the extra few hours and bid in the last few minutes of the auction? It just seems like it would make the price go up, and don't we try to avoid that if at all possible? [huh]

That drives me nuts too! It's so incredibly frustrating because I get my hopes up. Each day I check on a watched item and it has no bids, I sigh a breath of relief. Then I'll check on it an hour before the auction is up and some person has gone and placed a bid, which prompts for some silly reason another person to place a bid. These bidders just elevate the price of an item.
I've been watching a dress that is a 7 day auction that still has 4 days left and already has 11 bids I knew when I put the dress on my watch list that it was going to be bid on by others. It's just one of those dresses, in a great size in mint condition, it's lovely. I just wish these people could hold out, because they are just upping the price.

Another thing I like about snipers, and I know I've said this on another thread, is that I put a maximum bid in and then leave it alone. This prevents me from raising my max bid in the last few seconds of the auction because someone else has bid more. I set a price and I stick to it. If I'm doing the bidding on my own I get in competitive mode and just have to win. I end up paying more for an item than I want to. Bidding myself, constantly hitting the refresh button, figuring the perfect second to hit the place bid button, all of this stresses me out. Especially when I place a bid and I see that there's still some seconds left in the auction. At first I think I've definitely got it, I hit refresh again and that sad big "X" comes up saying that I have bin outbid and the auction has ended. Gotta love that message "Auction has ended you are not the winner." Thanks for rubbing it in Ebay!!

 

[catsmeow]

It's better for my blood pressure to use proxy bidding to be honest, when I'm sitting there I tend to get really super nervous as the auction ends (quite sad really! lol)

That's funny you say that, when I'm bidding and it comes to the last few seconds, and winning, my heart is beating like a rabbit. I have also noticed no bids and last minute I get outbid. Very frustrating. I've actually had to pay too much because someone has come in at the last minute. But that's auctions for you.

 

[doghouse]

I REALLY hope someone from The Lounge won this. I wanted it so bad I bid on it even though I wasn't sure it would fit.

and this

 

[pigeon toe]

I lost these pumps! I was hoping they would stay low since the seller described them as super narrow, but that wasn't the case!

 

[Kim_B]

Oh, PT, those are lovely!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Oh Pigeon Toe, my heart goes out to you! A lot of collectors probably bid on those. Well just think, now you have money in your pocket to buy an even better pair of shoes

Doghouse, sorry about your loss too. I know how your feeling, even with the sniper service, I lost all my auctions this weekend on every dress I bid on My "good weather luck" that I had a week ago went out the window when the bad weather came back! I did win a few fruit necklaces and a pretty brooch, so at least I won something!

Gosh, I feel like we should arrange some sort of ceremony when we all get together to pay tribute to all the things we didn't win on ebay! Kind of like a wake, or a Shiva call for our lost goodies!

 

[Kim_B]

Gosh, I feel like we should arrange some sort of ceremony when we all get together to pay tribute to all the things we didn't win on ebay! Kind of like a wake, or a Shiva call for our lost goodies!

Hehe, thanks Daisy - this made me giggle!

 

[pigeon toe]

I totally spaced out and was gone all day and forgot to bid on these! And they went for $19.99! I hope someone from the Lounge got them, they are just too amazing.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I wanted this SO BAD. But it went for $130 and change.

 

[Trixie]

Oh I wanted that dress too! I knew it would go for a bundle though.

By the way, the newly listed BIN's get snapped up so fast it makes my head spin! You cant hesitate for a minute! I lost out on a pair of perfect red babydoll pumps with white stitching for $30 because I was hemming & hawing over whether I needed to spend more money. (I didnt) (But I would have!)

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Oh I wanted that dress too! I knew it would go for a bundle though.

I know...but I HOPED!