Original 3 D&D books from TSR + Blackmoor!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... egory=2545

7 day auction with no reserve.  Opening bid is $7.00.  Lizard Logo Blackmoor along with the other books.



Blackmoor! 2nd Supplement for the D&D game system (TSR)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3180447717

7 day auction with no reserve.  Opening bid is $5.00.  Another Lizard Logo Blackmoor.

Don't plan on "sniping" either of these auctions.  See the sellers "Revised Anti-sniping policy."

No sniping on sales...

Sounds like this guy got beat out on something and now he is pissed. Last second bidding is a practical technique for buyers who want to keep cost down. Yeah, it sucks sometimes, but it is legit.

I do agree that it shouldn't be too hard for ebay to install a "catch" for last second bids. If an item recieves a bid in the last 60 seconds, ebay should add 60 more seconds. That would solve the sniper wars but only for those who are truly watching the item expire. So really, it doesn't do a hell of a lot of good.

A better way to protect sellers, would be to increase the minimum bid amounts in the last ... say ... 30 minutes of an auction. Make the min. bid increase $5.00 or something. That would increase the dollar amount of the sniping bids and help the seller out. It would also promote earlier bidding.

Don't plan on "sniping" either of these auctions. See the sellers "Revised Anti-sniping policy."

Yeah, I'm not to big on this either.  The seller states in his rant that he's tired of being beat out by snipers.

I, too, will bid at the last moment for things I really want.  But, I enter the max bid I am willing to pay for the item, not just a bid a few pennies over the current bid.

By putting my maximum bid on items I don't feel bad if I'm outbid, even at the last minute.  I didn't want to pay over that max bid amount anyway so what difference does it make if I'm outbid at the beginning of the auction or the end of the auction?

I am going to snipe them. I don't want them, but his "anti-sniping" policy is irritating. Besides, what he proposes to do is illegal by eBay standards. Winner gets it, that is how it goes. If he wants to whine about it, DON"T FUCKING Sell on Ebay! Pretty simple, don't you think?

bbarsh wrote:I do agree that it shouldn't be too hard for ebay to install a "catch" for last second bids. If an item recieves a bid in the last 60 seconds, ebay should add 60 more seconds. That would solve the sniper wars but only for those who are truly watching the item expire. So really, it doesn't do a hell of a lot of good.

A better way to protect sellers, would be to increase the minimum bid amounts in the last ... say ... 30 minutes of an auction. Make the min. bid increase $5.00 or something. That would increase the dollar amount of the sniping bids and help the seller out. It would also promote earlier bidding.

I think these are both good solutions to a perceived sniping problem that snipers shouldn't have too much of a problem with as well.  I like the "catch" rule similar to the one above.  "Real world" auctions don't have sniping so it's fair to imagine that eBay shouldn't either.  Give everyone a last chance, and eBay and sellers would make more money in the process.  

Of course the counter-argument is to bid your maximum and if you lose to a sniper, well, that's the breaks.  That's absolutely true, but I can't help but be a bit more peeved when I'm constantly sniped by one of the "regular" snipers.  If I know this person is going to snipe me then I would make a really, really high conditional bid just to make sure they don't get the item.  Another 60 seconds extended to the auction would allow me to see their participation and then to up the bid to astrospheric levels.  If I win, great, and if I still lose, then at least I know that I made him/her pay a small fortune for it, thus depleting their treasury of gold for the next item we both desire.  

Deadlord36 wrote:And let's be realistic: eBay is a business. It has no affiliations with real auctions. It cares nothing for real auctions. It, like any other business, wants to make a profit, as much as possible, and keep happy customers. Obviously eBay is aware of possible anti-sniping measures. Have they been implemented? Uhhhh, noooooooo. Why should eBay care how people bid? They take their cut one way or another.
Here's the scenario:

That's exactly what I don't understand.  eBay is a business so they should be most interested in maximizing their profits.  Therefore it would be in their interest to implement a "catch" rule since it would bring in even higher final bids.  It would also make a lot of their customers who don't like sniping happy, and for those who snipe, well, they could still kind of snipe.  

From a businessman's POV, I don't understand it.  I want more profits, therefore I would implement a rule that would bring them to me.  It's not even as if eBay has any competition in the online auction world to worry about.  They could implement a "catch" rule, make more money and make many buyers more satisfied.  And as for the snipers who don't like it?  They have no place else to go anyway so they'll have to just accept it.  As a publically-held company, eBay's first priority is to maximize profits for its shareholders, yet it doesn't implement a simple policy that would do so.  Whether you agree or disagree with the "catch" rule as a principle, it's still perplexing it hasn't been implemented from a purely capitalist POV.  

I can not imagine eBay would even begin to think of changing the policy.  Any possibible changes open up incredibly confusing and entangled scenarios that would compound the "problem" far more.  And what is the "problem".  I am a huge sniper, but so are many bidders who aren't "big-time" ebay people or resellers.

 Back when I just bid on comicbooks for my collection I might have $50.00 per week to spend.  What am I supposed to do?  Put in my $50.00 on an auction that ends in 4 days?  That ties up all my funds - and then I might not win!  I didn't even look at items except those "ending first".  That way if I won, I knew immediately how much more I had available to me.

Now I just use it as a tool to acquire new inventory.  Bidding on an item just gives away your interest and takes up time.  Sometimes I get really "confused" by some of the other resellers tactics.  Does cougarretard really need to bid on something 10 times?  Hasn't he ever used ebay before?  You can bet that my "snipe" helps the seller out in the long run - every auction that I "win" would have gone for that much less it I hadn't "sniped".  Either my snipe increases it to my max bid and I win - or it just increases the bid amount with 4 seconds left and the seller gets it bid up by that much more.  

By the way, I find that three browers windows open, with two max bids ready, and a "refresh" on the page to count down the seconds works best.  The second "max bid" is in case your first leaves you about a $0.33 short of winning.  You can do an immediate "alt-tab" and left click submit with about 3 seconds to go.  It is insurance so you don't lose an auction by a nickel.  

burntwire wrote:  As to bidding someone up, I think we could all look at what people are bidding on and play "make them pay" all day long(how childish). Get a second job if you are really interested in winning . If this offends anyone I am sorry but the truth sometimes hurts.

BTW: The snipe clause may work but the auction may take forever to end with two bidders nickle and diming each other to death. Just put your max bid in at whatever time you feel comfortable with and you won't have a reason to kick yourself in the ass later, because it sold higher than you were willing to pay.

Of course you'd think it would be childish because you're the guy that would have to pay more!  
But it also makes strategic bidding sense to bid up somebody in a few auctions in order to deplete his/her funds for future auctions.  By your own admission, you are paying for your collection paycheck to paycheck.  Auction bidding strategy is not necessarily for one item, but for future items as well.  

As for the snipe "catch" clause, it would not take forever if the minimum bid increase were set high enough.  In addition, if you do not have the staying power to keep up with the "catch" clause then you wouldn't deserve to win the item anyway.  Perseverance is an important characteristic in life.  

In any case, the "catch" clause makes good sense business-wise for eBay and its sellers (who are their most important customers) so I expect they'll implement one sooner or later.

Everyone knows ebay isnt going to change its rules on sniping.

Thus its a snipe or be sniped world.

You decide which one you want to be.