Ebay Bids

[NEV]

Hi all and good day to you old faithfulls.

I've been a ebay buyer for a while now and have studied all forms of selling ,buying etc,etc.

What i don't understand and can never get my head round is,why people see a record they want,put in an early bid and others follow ,long before it's gonna end

Surely all you are doing is bumping up the price????

Forget the fact that there are unscrupulous people out there who use the mal practice of hiking up a friends sale etc.

Surely if you see something on ebay you have wanted for ages ,you can put it in your "watched items" then wait till near the time and keep the price down.

Ok some peeps are too busy ,or work means they aint gonna be around for the finish post ,so yeah put your proxy bid in and live in hope.

Just looking at the incredible records being washed up on ebay lately ,i'm amazed to see prices rising with many days to go??

Are these people crazy (if you are one of these please enlighten me)

Same with mannys auction or any auction for that matter.

The only way i can see a valid reason for doing this is if there is a reserve set!

Personally i and many people i talk to ,use a sniper(less stressful) or sit at the pc with some beta blockers (joking) and wait till dying seconds to pounce with the magic number!

I await with baited breath your thoughts on this long overdue question

[Phild]

Hi all and good day to you old faithfulls.

I've been a ebay buyer for a while now and have studied all forms of selling ,buying etc,etc.

What i don't understand and can never get my head round is,why people see a record they want,put in an early bid and others follow ,long before it's gonna end

Surely all you are doing is bumping up the price????

Forget the fact that there are unscrupulous people out there who use the mal practice of hiking up a friends sale etc.

Surely if you see something on ebay you have wanted for ages ,you can put it in your "watched items" then wait till near the time and keep the price down.

Ok some peeps are too busy ,or work means they aint gonna be around for the finish post ,so yeah put your proxy bid in and live in hope.

Just looking at the incredible records being washed up on ebay lately ,i'm amazed to see prices rising with many days to go??

Are these people crazy (if you are one of these please enlighten me)

Same with mannys auction or any auction for that matter.

The only way i can see a valid reason for doing this is if there is a reserve set!

Personally i and many people i talk to ,use a sniper(less stressful) or sit at the pc with some beta blockers (joking) and wait till dying seconds to pounce with the magic number!

I await with baited breath your thoughts on this long overdue question

I am one of the guilty ones.

From my perspective, if I see summat I want I'll usually try and bid the max I want to pay straight away, then I don't have to waste time constantly looking at the same items over and over again.

I don't always have time to spend looking at ebay and often records I bid on end at times that are inconvenient for me to bid last minute.

So if I pay more than I may have done by waiting, then I really don't care. I'll never pay more than my maximum bid will I? And to me that's what the record is worth to me.

Make sense?

Phil

[Guest bazrico]

Hi all and good day to you old faithfulls.

I've been a ebay buyer for a while now and have studied all forms of selling ,buying etc,etc.

What i don't understand and can never get my head round is,why people see a record they want,put in an early bid and others follow ,long before it's gonna end

Surely all you are doing is bumping up the price????

Forget the fact that there are unscrupulous people out there who use the mal practice of hiking up a friends sale etc.

Surely if you see something on ebay you have wanted for ages ,you can put it in your "watched items" then wait till near the time and keep the price down.

Ok some peeps are too busy ,or work means they aint gonna be around for the finish post ,so yeah put your proxy bid in and live in hope.

Just looking at the incredible records being washed up on ebay lately ,i'm amazed to see prices rising with many days to go??

Are these people crazy (if you are one of these please enlighten me)

Same with mannys auction or any auction for that matter.

The only way i can see a valid reason for doing this is if there is a reserve set!

Personally i and many people i talk to ,use a sniper(less stressful) or sit at the pc with some beta blockers (joking) and wait till dying seconds to pounce with the magic number!

I await with baited breath your thoughts on this long overdue question

why use ebay why not contact the record dealers at you local soul do if can't attend i am sure they offer a postal service

[NEV]

I am one of the guilty ones.

From my perspective, if I see summat I want I'll usually try and bid the max I want to pay straight away, then I don't have to waste time constantly looking at the same items over and over again.

I don't always have time to spend looking at ebay and often records I bid on end at times that are inconvenient for me to bid last minute.

So if I pay more than I may have done by waiting, then I really don't care. I'll never pay more than my maximum bid will I? And to me that's what the record is worth to me.

Make sense?

Phil

Thanx for theat Phil

By putting in your highest bid you may think it's ok but, for arguments sake you are willing to pay £100 and the bid starts at 99p,you put in your proxy bid.The bid sits at 99p because you are the only one on it. Next day someone elses decides he's gonna do the same.

Sets his max bid at £99 .You two are now in a bidding war ,his bid jumps above yours and then yours in turn ,until yours hits £100.

5 days still to go and mr sniper comes along and nicks it for £102 .I bet you'd be willing to pay £2 more to finally own that record.

If people waited till last minute then it would go to the bid that was top at the time the auction ended ,i'e it would probably run out of time before it got to £100 .

In theory of course.

I was getting more at the big records that i see in most soulsource threads (ebay sponsored link)

In particular Bob& Fred and Salt &Pepper.

These are for serious collectors and not lucky bidders who put a bid in 5 days to go ,in the hope theyre gonna grab a bargain

[Guest dundeedavie]

i'm like phil , i put a bid on early and just wait for it ..if i win i win , if i don't i don't . also of course there is the fact that i've lost hundreds of items over the years because i have forgotten to bid on them

[Guest bazrico]

I am one of the guilty ones.

From my perspective, if I see summat I want I'll usually try and bid the max I want to pay straight away, then I don't have to waste time constantly looking at the same items over and over again.

I don't always have time to spend looking at ebay and often records I bid on end at times that are inconvenient for me to bid last minute.

So if I pay more than I may have done by waiting, then I really don't care. I'll never pay more than my maximum bid will I? And to me that's what the record is worth to me.

Make sense?

Phil

again i have to ask why use ebay

[NEV]

again i have to ask why use ebay

Hi Baz

am assuming you mean those who cannot watch ebay items until they end??

[paultp]

again i have to ask why use ebay

ebay is cheaper

[pow wow mik]

I've bid on stuff early before to try and stop people contacting the seller and convincing them no one wants it and their 'offer' is a great opportunity for the seller.

But only then really.

[Guest bazrico]

ebay is cheaper

you must be buying off the wrong record dealers

[Kris Holmes]

I'll bid early with my max bid just so my life isn't rulled by sitting around the computer waiting for ebay auctions to finish & I don't want to have to pay a snipe service. Ebay usually has a bigger selection of stock than local soul dealers & the cheap stuff there is way cheaper than what the local dealers price things at. Why wouldn't you use ebay?

[ajb]

if you bid early, like six or seven days early...............

and the record your after comes up for sale on soul source for instance at an affordable price........ what then?

[Guest vinylvixen]

if you bid early, like six or seven days early...............

and the record your after comes up for sale on soul source for instance at an affordable price........ what then?

Reach for the soul sword and commit soul hara kiri

Edited January 24, 2009 by vinylvixen

[Guest]

Hi all and good day to you old faithfulls.

I've been a ebay buyer for a while now and have studied all forms of selling ,buying etc,etc.

What i don't understand and can never get my head round is,why people see a record they want,put in an early bid and others follow ,long before it's gonna end

Surely all you are doing is bumping up the price????

Forget the fact that there are unscrupulous people out there who use the mal practice of hiking up a friends sale etc.

Surely if you see something on ebay you have wanted for ages ,you can put it in your "watched items" then wait till near the time and keep the price down.

Ok some peeps are too busy ,or work means they aint gonna be around for the finish post ,so yeah put your proxy bid in and live in hope.

Just looking at the incredible records being washed up on ebay lately ,i'm amazed to see prices rising with many days to go??

Are these people crazy (if you are one of these please enlighten me)

Same with mannys auction or any auction for that matter.

The only way i can see a valid reason for doing this is if there is a reserve set!

Personally i and many people i talk to ,use a sniper(less stressful) or sit at the pc with some beta blockers (joking) and wait till dying seconds to pounce with the magic number!

I await with baited breath your thoughts on this long overdue question

When i bid is dependent on when the item finishes if i'm on nights i'll bid early - if i win fair enough - if i don't who gives a sh*t really they usually (always) come round again.

Derek

[Phild]

Thanx for theat Phil

By putting in your highest bid you may think it's ok but, for arguments sake you are willing to pay £100 and the bid starts at 99p,you put in your proxy bid.The bid sits at 99p because you are the only one on it. Next day someone elses decides he's gonna do the same.

Sets his max bid at £99 .You two are now in a bidding war ,his bid jumps above yours and then yours in turn ,until yours hits £100.

5 days still to go and mr sniper comes along and nicks it for £102 .I bet you'd be willing to pay £2 more to finally own that record.

If people waited till last minute then it would go to the bid that was top at the time the auction ended ,i'e it would probably run out of time before it got to £100 .

In theory of course.

I was getting more at the big records that i see in most soulsource threads (ebay sponsored link)

In particular Bob& Fred and Salt &Pepper.

These are for serious collectors and not lucky bidders who put a bid in 5 days to go ,in the hope theyre gonna grab a bargain

Well I don't really care how high an auction goes. Like I said I'll usually make an early bid for as much as I'm willing to pay.

If I win and pay the full amount of my bid I'm still happy. If I lose then it was higher than I wanted to pay so I'm still happy.

Bob & Fred is a good example, I bid $830.00, it's gone above that now so I won't win the record, but I'm not overly bothered as I already have a VG copy of it.

Some you win, some you lose. But I win more than I lose. I must admit it can be a little frustrating to lose out on $1000 record by $10-$20 though

Phil

[bri pinch]

NEVER BOTHER BIDDING EARLY, JUST USE ONE OF THE SNIPING SERVICES BUT NEVER PUT ON MORE THAN THE RECORD IS WORTH TO ME ANYWAY, BUT BIDS ATRACT BIDS AND IVE LOST MORE RECORDS COS I'VE BID EARLY.

BRI PINCH

SUNDAY CHILLOUT, 1ST MARCH, HORSE AND GROOM PUB, EAST LAITH GATE, DONCASTER.

[Jordirip]

Nev, I often put an early bid in like Phil does because I have a max in my mind that I want to pay and if I get it, great, if not, tough shit. At least I know that I put down what I was prepared to pay, so no regrets. I've watched snipes come in like confetti at the end and still not beat the bid I put on 3 days before, so it all comes down to what you're prepared to pay for the thing in first place. Also you don't get drawn in to bidding fever wars. You still have to sneak out of bed in the middle of the night and pretend you've heard some burglars to check the end result though.

Jordi

[Guest stonedsoul]

i'll always throw an opening bid on a record that i want (assuming the item has yet to be bid on) so the seller can not change the starting price of the auction, i've seen records open at $9.99 and after a few days of zero bidding the starting price all of a sudden jumps up to $100, sometimes the sellers panic thinking they're not going to get shit for there record and so they up the opening bid to the price they want to get for it, once a bid is placed the starting price cannot be changed, that's the only reason i will bid early

also after placing the opening bid i'll always place a snipe on the auction as well, if i get it for the opening bid great! (usually not the case) if i don't i've got the sniper to back me up, can't think of too many records i've lost using a sniper, i pretty much win everything i snipe, if i do lose i'm always the second highest bidder

also anyone who doesn't use a sniper service is stupid, they're actually really cheap and will save you a ton of money in the long run, if someone really wants something bad they're going to keep upping the bid, maybe even more than they were first willing to pay, until they see they're the top bid and are satisfied, it's ebay psychology, i wouldn't be surprised if their were some professional studies done on this matter

[Samson]

Hi all and good day to you old faithfulls.

I've been a ebay buyer for a while now and have studied all forms of selling ,buying etc,etc.

What i don't understand and can never get my head round is,why people see a record they want,put in an early bid and others follow ,long before it's gonna end

Surely all you are doing is bumping up the price????

Forget the fact that there are unscrupulous people out there who use the mal practice of hiking up a friends sale etc.

Surely if you see something on ebay you have wanted for ages ,you can put it in your "watched items" then wait till near the time and keep the price down.

Ok some peeps are too busy ,or work means they aint gonna be around for the finish post ,so yeah put your proxy bid in and live in hope.

Just looking at the incredible records being washed up on ebay lately ,i'm amazed to see prices rising with many days to go??

Are these people crazy (if you are one of these please enlighten me)

Same with mannys auction or any auction for that matter.

The only way i can see a valid reason for doing this is if there is a reserve set!

Personally i and many people i talk to ,use a sniper(less stressful) or sit at the pc with some beta blockers (joking) and wait till dying seconds to pounce with the magic number!

I await with baited breath your thoughts on this long overdue question

I've been thinking about sniping. What service do you use? Any not to trust?

[paultp]

you must be buying off the wrong record dealers

I think this is one of those statements that some would say is "playing devils advocate" whilst others would suspect is being made using a large, excrement stained paddle.

It looks a one liner that invites a response which will get another one liner response and this will inevitably descend into an argument, which isn't what I, or presumably the thread starter, want.

Anyway, the reason I said ebay is cheaper is because that is my experience. I'm sure for some it can be more expensive than UK record dealers, maybe they don't care what they spend on records and like the thrill of "winning" an auction - who knows? My experience of buying records off ebay is that it is cheaper than buying in the UK.

Staying on topic; I don't bid on records at all I always use a snipe bid which I set at a level I'm prepared to pay depending what I intend to do with the record. If I want to sell it on I bid about 30% less than I think I can sell it for; if it is for my collection I bid what I want to pay - given I'm a Yorkshireman this is always less than I think I could buy it for in the UK. I win about 30% of records I want to sell on and 75% of records I want for myself.

Like someone else said, I think that bids attract bids so I never bid on ebay.

I don't know why, maybe I feel I should back up my argument and I know I'm sticking my neck out to be shot down, but I'm going to give you two examples of records bought recently for my own collection off ebay. If you can get them from UK record dealers at less then I'll buy them off you and sell them on my web site.

Chubby & The Turnpikes - I Didn't Try - Capitol demo - Ex £120

Been after this for ages but it always seems to go for about £200 and I'm too tight! JM's guide says £300 for the demo.

Troy Dodds - Try My Love - El Camino demo - M- £400

Not turned up yet so not definite on condition but I'll be surprised if it isn't M-, saw an issue go through eBay UK for £500 "Buy it now" recently but generally not seen it for less than £600. edit: this should have cost me £375 but the bloody exchange rate got me! JM's guide says £750

I can understand that if you know loads of UK record dealers that sell records cheaply you wouldn't want to divulge your sources, (I certainly wouldn't - I'd be buying their stock) but perhaps you could back up your comment in a similar way?

Cheers

Paul

Edited January 25, 2009 by paultp

[Suzannek]

I tend to bid on records right at the very end, call me stupid or whatever, but never use a snipe. Yes I have been outbid on some records, but the majority I tend to win. I am the fastest hand on the mouse The only time I would place a bid beforehand is if the record ends at 4 a.m. in the morning and that is not very often.

Suz

x

[Phild]

anyone who doesn't use a sniper service is stupid, they're actually really cheap and will save you a ton of money in the long run, if someone really wants something bad they're going to keep upping the bid, maybe even more than they were first willing to pay, until they see they're the top bid and are satisfied, it's ebay psychology, i wouldn't be surprised if their were some professional studies done on this matter

I don't use snipers and I don't class myself as "stupid".

I just put a bid in for what I'm willing to pay, and if I don't win it's fine as it obviously went for more than I wanted to pay.

I don't really care if I have to pay the top amount I bid. That's fine by me.

And, yes, I have very occasionally got involved in a last minute bidding war to win something. But again I don't care. The money's irrelevant if it's something I want, and the fun of the last minute bidding is worth the extra.

Phil

[Guest stonedsoul]

if you used a sniper you would probably have won a lot of the records that you didn't win and for less than you were willing to pay, someone who wants a record more than you is always going to keep outbidding you until they see they are top bidder, if you use a sniper you avoid bidding wars that drive up the price, the early bidders are satisfied thinking they have the auction won until 2 seconds left when your snipe goes through, it's not that hard to understand and in the long run using a sniper service will save you a lot of money

[Samson]

i'll always throw an opening bid on a record that i want (assuming the item has yet to be bid on) so the seller can not change the starting price of the auction, i've seen records open at $9.99 and after a few days of zero bidding the starting price all of a sudden jumps up to $100, sometimes the sellers panic thinking they're not going to get shit for there record and so they up the opening bid to the price they want to get for it, once a bid is placed the starting price cannot be changed, that's the only reason i will bid early

also after placing the opening bid i'll always place a snipe on the auction as well, if i get it for the opening bid great! (usually not the case) if i don't i've got the sniper to back me up, can't think of too many records i've lost using a sniper, i pretty much win everything i snipe, if i do lose i'm always the second highest bidder

also anyone who doesn't use a sniper service is stupid, they're actually really cheap and will save you a ton of money in the long run, if someone really wants something bad they're going to keep upping the bid, maybe even more than they were first willing to pay, until they see they're the top bid and are satisfied, it's ebay psychology, i wouldn't be surprised if their were some professional studies done on this matter

I've watched too many records get their price jacked because nobody was bidding on them........and then I buy them anyway. Good tip. It seems so obvious but I didn't even think to do that.

So, which sniper services are everybody using? I was looking at e-snipe and Auctionsniper. Anybody use these? It's time for me to give it a try. I don't have the patience to be on call for the end of bids and my early bidding is driving my winning prices way up and my pocket book way down.

-Dan

[Phild]

if you used a sniper you would probably have won a lot of the records that you didn't win and for less than you were willing to pay, someone who wants a record more than you is always going to keep outbidding you until they see they are top bidder, if you use a sniper you avoid bidding wars that drive up the price, the early bidders are satisfied thinking they have the auction won until 2 seconds left when your snipe goes through, it's not that hard to understand and in the long run using a sniper service will save you a lot of money

I understand the logic behind it, but it's not for me.

Aren't snipe service disallowed on ebay though?

Phil

[Jumpinjoan]

I understand the logic behind it, but it's not for me.

Aren't snipe service disallowed on ebay though?

Phil

Funny you should say that Phil.

I have always used a sniper in the past and had no problem what so ever. But a couple of weeks ago I left a snipe on a record only to find that the record had ended and sold for a price lower than my snipe but I wasn't the winning bidder.

When I checked on my snipe it said that the seller did not accept snipe bids?

I had never come across this before. Anyone else had this problem?

[Dave Rimmer]

I must admit I've never used a snipe bidding service, but then again I don't buy that much off Ebay. Out of interest, how much does it cost to use a snipe bidding service ?

[Jumpinjoan]

I must admit I've never used a snipe bidding service, but then again I don't buy that much off Ebay. Out of interest, how much does it cost to use a snipe bidding service ?

The one I use charges one percent or less of the final auction price if you win. Nothing if you lose.

[Guest john s]

So, which sniper services are everybody using? I was looking at e-snipe and Auctionsniper. Anybody use these?

-Dan

I've been using esnipe for about 6 years - in that time it's failed (i.e. failed to register a bid) twice, I think. Obviously I still get outbid if someone else has put a higher bid in than my maximum, but I reckon it's saved me a lot of money over the years.

[Pete S]

Funny you should say that Phil.

I have always used a sniper in the past and had no problem what so ever. But a couple of weeks ago I left a snipe on a record only to find that the record had ended and sold for a price lower than my snipe but I wasn't the winning bidder.

When I checked on my snipe it said that the seller did not accept snipe bids?

I had never come across this before. Anyone else had this problem?

Yes, happened to me about a dozen times over the years. Why don't they just say they won't accept snipes?

[Diggin' Dave]

Yes, happened to me about a dozen times over the years. Why don't they just say they won't accept snipes?

Another question is: Why don't they just accept snipes? It's obvious that they'd make more money if they would...

[CAMBRIDGE SOUL]

Funny you should say that Phil.

I have always used a sniper in the past and had no problem what so ever. But a couple of weeks ago I left a snipe on a record only to find that the record had ended and sold for a price lower than my snipe but I wasn't the winning bidder.

When I checked on my snipe it said that the seller did not accept snipe bids?

I had never come across this before. Anyone else had this problem?

i've had 2 snipes come back as other erorr in the last few weeks...... never had this in the past 3/4 years.... one was on Jimmy Delphs on 19/01 was gutted .... if this happens again will have to push the snipe company to find out why...

[Pete Eccles]

Another question is: Why don't they just accept snipes? It's obvious that they'd make more money if they would...

Could understand it if they stated no 'snipes' as this would encourage open bidding/bid wars, but with no warning of no snipes then i'm confused too,

[boba]

Another question is: Why don't they just accept snipes? It's obvious that they'd make more money if they would...

how can a seller not accept snipes? the whole reason ebay can't stop sniping is because it's equivalent to bidding manually at the last second and they can't tell the difference. the only way they could somehow not accept snipes is to block bids within a window of time of the ending. is there a setting on ebay selling to do this? anyone manually bidding would be hit with the same issue too.

[boba]

Its a seller option within ebay to exclude last m minute bids or something simillar. Notion is that sooner bidders bid, better chance of a bid war/frenzy. Not good for seller or ebay.

Reality is seller could have lost out on big money.

I too have had several snipes knocked back of late.

It's pretty stupid of them to not make that fact public if they don't. I would just set my sniped to bid earlier (if that's a setting, i think it's not in bidnapper, which I currently use, but it was in auctionsniper, which I used before).

I haven't noticed that happening, I look at my failed snipes every once in a while and have gotten a few "error"s but very rarely, more often it's a seller that has blocked me without me realizing it...

[boba]

It's pretty stupid of them to not make that fact public if they don't. I would just set my sniped to bid earlier (if that's a setting, i think it's not in bidnapper, which I currently use, but it was in auctionsniper, which I used before).

I haven't noticed that happening, I look at my failed snipes every once in a while and have gotten a few "error"s but very rarely, more often it's a seller that has blocked me without me realizing it...

I just checked and I don't have any "errors" for the last year and i bid on a large number of items, I'm surprised I have not encountered this "no snipes" seller thing if it exists

[Guest]

Yes, I do the same thing, I can't help sticking a bid on.

[pow wow mik]

i'll always throw an opening bid on a record that i want (assuming the item has yet to be bid on) so the seller can not change the starting price of the auction, i've seen records open at $9.99 and after a few days of zero bidding the starting price all of a sudden jumps up to $100, sometimes the sellers panic thinking they're not going to get shit for there record and so they up the opening bid to the price they want to get for it, once a bid is placed the starting price cannot be changed, that's the only reason i will bid early

also after placing the opening bid i'll always place a snipe on the auction as well, if i get it for the opening bid great! (usually not the case) if i don't i've got the sniper to back me up, can't think of too many records i've lost using a sniper, i pretty much win everything i snipe, if i do lose i'm always the second highest bidder

also anyone who doesn't use a sniper service is stupid, they're actually really cheap and will save you a ton of money in the long run, if someone really wants something bad they're going to keep upping the bid, maybe even more than they were first willing to pay, until they see they're the top bid and are satisfied, it's ebay psychology, i wouldn't be surprised if their were some professional studies done on this matter

very true, and it's more than psychology. If you're bidding on an item where you've no real idea what it'll go for and you don't even know if it's known or not, then other people bidding on it will show that it's known to some extent and make you bid higher.

i've stuck small snipes on lesser known stuff then raised them when i've noticed people have bid.

Also, auctions with several bids on attract viewers who, even if they dont know the track from the listing will maybe seek out a soundfile somewhere on the net to see what the fuss is about, and if they like it, have a bid themselves.

It's not as bad an idea as it was when you could look at what people were bidding on but I still dont see much up-side to not sniping. The cost of it is barely noticable and bids just do attract attention.

[Guest Martin Coleman]

i wouldn't be surprised if their were some professional studies done on this matter

Edited January 26, 2009 by Martin Coleman

[Phild]

very true, and it's more than psychology. If you're bidding on an item where you've no real idea what it'll go for and you don't even know if it's known or not, then other people bidding on it will show that it's known to some extent and make you bid higher.

i've stuck small snipes on lesser known stuff then raised them when i've noticed people have bid.

Also, auctions with several bids on attract viewers who, even if they dont know the track from the listing will maybe seek out a soundfile somewhere on the net to see what the fuss is about, and if they like it, have a bid themselves.

It's not as bad an idea as it was when you could look at what people were bidding on but I still dont see much up-side to not sniping. The cost of it is barely noticable and bids just do attract attention.

Well I stand by my earlier comment that you don't have to be stupid not to use snipes.

Why not just bid as much as you're willing to pay for an item and then forget it? That's what I do and I win a LOT of records, and not just on ebay.

Phil

[boba]

Well I stand by my earlier comment that you don't have to be stupid not to use snipes.

Why not just bid as much as you're willing to pay for an item and then forget it? That's what I do and I win a LOT of records, and not just on ebay.

Phil

because even if you bid what you'll willing to pay, you'll end up losing more items (from people rebidding) and paying way more for items you do win? you approach might make sense if you rarely bid but I think is unmaintainable for people who bid on many items as the losses add up. Unless you're a millionaire. Also, I think you said in another post that you are annoyed if you lose by $10 or $20? If that's true, I think that you didn't put in your true max which you say is the most you're willing to pay. Your true max has to be a little more than you are willing to pay so that if you lose it at that price you just say "screw it" because you didn't really want to pay that much anyways.

[Guest posstot]

why use ebay why not contact the record dealers at you local soul do if can't attend i am sure they offer a postal service

Because, if you are looking in the right areas, you can pick things up about 80% less than the soul do dealers!!

[Samson]

I've been using esnipe for about 6 years - in that time it's failed (i.e. failed to register a bid) twice, I think. Obviously I still get outbid if someone else has put a higher bid in than my maximum, but I reckon it's saved me a lot of money over the years.

I just won 3 auctions using esnipe. I'm sold!! No more being a slave to the computer. It's even kind of fun........sort of like setting booby traps for unsuspecting bidders. Thanks for the tips.

-Dan

[Denbo]

Yes, happened to me about a dozen times over the years. Why don't they just say they won't accept snipes?

How do they know you're using a sniper and when they find out isn't it already too late, considering the sniper trips in with seconds to go.

[Guest john s]

I find that the real bargains come in other ways. Last year I spotted a Sam Fletcher Demo on Tollie which ended at 9am on a Monday morning. It was from a Belgian seller (scary) but it said 'Original' so I took the chance. I got it for £103 (Mint-). The seller tried to pull out but I wasn't having any of it. I paid and got my record! Sold it on for a massive profit!

I must confess that if I see a record I own then I will sometimes bid on it just to make sure it doesn't go too cheap i.e to maintain the sell value. If I win (doesn't happen too often like that) then I re-sell it usually at a profit.

[Mike]

I use snipes occasionally but I tend to bid early with what I am prepared to pay. The reason I use these two tactics is to avoid watching the 'countdown to the end of the auction'. My reasons?

If I watch a countdown I sometimes end up bidding more than I intended.....competitive spirit(daft!), adrenaline, suddenly want the record more and don't want to lose it for just a fiver etc.

The bottom line is that the reord will go for what someone is prepared to pay so it doesn't matter when you bid, does it? If you see a copy of a record worth a £100 book and the early bid is say £80 then do you bid? I doubt it.

At the same time if you see Dena Barnes for £100 and you bid £150 on it and walk away then you won't win! Equally if you bid £200 on Dena Barnes with 30 seconds to go via a snipe then you won't win either!

I find that the real bargains come in other ways. Last year I spotted a Sam Fletcher Demo on Tollie which ended at 9am on a Monday morning. It was from a Belgian seller (scary) but it said 'Original' so I took the chance. I got it for £103 (Mint-). The seller tried to pull out but I wasn't having any of it. I paid and got my record! Sold it on for a massive profit!

I must confess that if I see a record I own then I will sometimes bid on it just to make sure it doesn't go too cheap i.e to maintain the sell value. If I win (doesn't happen too often like that) then I re-sell it usually at a profit. (Everyone hates me now but this is the real world - we all try to protect our investment!!!)

Regards

dogstoat

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/Book-Pr...oke-t91845.html

lol

[NEV]

QOUTE

I must confess that if I see a record I own then I will sometimes bid on it just to make sure it doesn't go too cheap i.e to maintain the sell value. If I win (doesn't happen too often like that) then I re-sell it usually at a profit. (Everyone hates me now but this is the real world - we all try to protect our investment!!!)

[Raremusicdirect]

i've had 2 snipes come back as other erorr in the last few weeks...... never had this in the past 3/4 years.... one was on Jimmy Delphs on 19/01 was gutted .... if this happens again will have to push the snipe company to find out why...

EBay used to allow BidPay and PayPal. BidPay was very popular. EBay then bought PayPal and assumed it into its processes. Whatch out for them buying an electronic snipe company. Until they do, the sniping companies will face a harder and harder time going forward.........just a hunch........