eBay.com Item Bid History

I was even watching it to the last second but wasn't able to counter-bid in time

Gro,

If you are going to watch an auction end and think that you might have a last minute change of heart and want to bid even higher, then open up two browser windows. Have your bid entered in and ready to be placed with one "click" of the mouse (and leave your cursor over the button). Have your other browser on the auction page and keep hitting the F5 button on your keyboard (which will refresh the page each time). If you see a bid come in with just a few secs left, the hit ALT-TAB on your keyboard (which will 'toggle" between open "Windows" ). This should take you instantly to your other browser where your cursor is already hovering over the Place Bid. Just click and your counter bid is placed at the last second!

That is how to manually snipe when there is less than 10 secs to go and still get a bid in. Or just use an automatic sniping service . . . I can't really recall the last time I actually saw an auction end that I won . . . I use auctionsniper almost exclusively.

Auctionsniper is great, and free. Well, for me. Until you start using something, you are wasting time.

Yeah, I have no problem passing on items that go for beyond what I'm willing to pay, it's really just the sniper victim status that I'm trying to avoid

*raises a paw*

It would be nice if auctions got a little extension when someone bids in, say, the last 5 minutes.

Mortdred wrote:

It would be nice if auctions got a little extension when someone bids in, say, the last 5 minutes.

I don't like sniping because it just doesn't seem, well, sporting.  And it potentially keeps prices LOWER than they would be because it precludes the last-minute impulsive increase of a bid.  We've all done it (or I have  :oops: )-- you carefully and rationally establish your max bid; it gets edged out and you irrationally say "Aw screw it!" and throw in a few more bucks.  With sniping you lose that opportunity.  I would think that sellers would dislike sniping for that reason.

I've had the same idea as Mortdred-- require the bidding to be inactive for a set period of time (5-10-whatever minutes) before the auction ends.  Sort of like a going-once-twice-gone concept.

You could still have sniping in the sense that you could set a time of bid and go off to bed.  You just couldn't set the snipe to come in with 5 seconds to go, because it would set off an extension.

Deadlord36, I know.  That's why it would have to work like this:

1. Set a end date/time.

2. Let people snipe.

3. If anyone bids in the last 5 minutes, let them.  It just extends the end time by 5 minutes (or 10 or whatever).  If someone bids in the extended time period, it extends the auction by the same interval, until an entire interval passes with no new bids.  That way there is no such thing as a last-second bid with no time left for a response, I think.

The flaw to this is that some deadbeat could keep an auction alive indefinitely by making repeat bids and repeatedly extending the auction period.  I would think some method could be devised to prohibit this-- perhaps allowing the seller the option to end or continue the auction if it has been extended a certain number of times already.

That's always true no matter what, and remains the most rational practice.  That's why it's the sellers who should really object to the sniping system, not the non-sniping buyers-- it forces everyone to be rational when irrational behavior often = higher sale prices.

Achizar,

and why would a seller want a irrational buyer during bidding? Many become rational after the auction, saying 'I didn't mean to do that' and they don't pay or start whining all the way.

As a seller I'd prefer a customer that give me an easy time then one that I have to drag along just to make sure he pays up. The few extra euro isn't worth the trouble.