Power Sellers Unite

teapotdee · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 550

I am seeing so many diffrent versions of sniper softwares advertised that I am beginning to wonder just how fine-tuned the final seconds of an auction are.

What if a large number of snipers hit an auction at the very same final nanosecond?

Will they bid against each other? Or will the auction crash?

I did see something I wanted for $35 go to over $300 in the last half hour, and I confess to being a human sniper (guilt-free when it is raw human judgement & finger-speed, IMHO), but that was a while ago and I was not aware of people using this software at the time. It was probably mostly human.

Anyway, I would like to hear the opinions of some techies on what actually would happen in a sniper-crush.

PKC Direct · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:09 am Post subject:

When I place a snipe I use Cricket jr software or Sniperight. When the bid is placed I usually use ODD cents on my amount. The site will take the first highest bid. Example if your bid is $10.02 and someone else bid $10.01 you would get it.

teapotdee · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 550

TY PKC, but I am not shopping for snipeware so much as wondering, from a scientifically curious point of view, what happens if so many people have snipeware that you start getting identical numbers coming in at the same nanosecond?

Because the numbers are getting to where that might happen. People are beginning to use snipeware because they feel they have to, which means that for certain kinds of highly sought-after items, this could start happening.

Personaoly, I don't use it, and I think it should be blcoked, but from a practical point of view I can see that it is going to be used by a lot of people anyway.

PKC Direct · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject: Re: sniper talk

Hi Teapotdee,

What most people do not understand is that in an auction, it is not who bids first but who bids HIGHEST. On auctions set to end at a specific time the highest last bid wins. All snipe software does is enter your bid at the last possible second. If a person doesn't want to loose an auction they need to enter their highest maximum bid and not just hope that someone doesn't outbid their lowball. I set my auction snipes up to enter my bid at 7 seconds.
Blocking snipeware is like telling a person that if you wait until the last few seconds of an auction you can't bid because JOE BLOW bid first. An auction is an auction, bidders determine the selling price. A garage sale the seller sets the price.

ShadowHawk · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 70

teapotdee wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")What if a large number of snipers hit an auction at the very same final nanosecond?

High bidder would win

If two identical proxy bid amounts were placed, the winner would be the earliest bidder.

teapotdee · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 550

But we are talking here about "nanoseconds". If sniper A sets his software to bid $101 at the very last possible nanosecond and sniper B has exactly the same software bidding $101 on exactly the same listing, would their bids reach the auction exactly simultaneously?

Then what?

teapotdee · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 550

Anyway, I already protect myself from snipers. I have a reserve and I ain't afraid to use it! Mwahahahaha!!!! :twisted:

PKC Direct · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: sniper talk

If you are using a reserve you are loosing sales. I for one will not bid on an auction with a reserve price. You would be better off starting the item at what you need out of it. If I am looking for something I refuse to play a guessing game with the seller. I know what I am willing to pay and if the item is withing those limits I bid, If it is overpriced I just move on. There are a lot of buyers like that. I never use a reserve on my auctions. I tried it a few times when I first started selling and found that I got better results just starting the listing at my minimum acceptable price.

Roundabout926 · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 2832

PKC Direct wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")If you are using a reserve you are loosing sales. I for one will not bid on an auction with a reserve price. You would be better off starting the item at what you need out of it. If I am looking for something I refuse to play a guessing game with the seller. I know what I am willing to pay and if the item is withing those limits I bid, If it is overpriced I just move on. There are a lot of buyers like that. I never use a reserve on my auctions. I tried it a few times when I first started selling and found that I got better results just starting the listing at my minimum acceptable price.

That's fair enough, but many buyers do bid on reserve auctions to see whether it'll stay within their range. So, what I do is put an auction at .99 cents with a reserve knowing people will click on it, and then hopefully they'll get referred to my eBay store in the process, if they wish to use Buy it Now on the item instead.

AtomicVideo · Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 1232 Location: winter pak, fl.

by refusing to bid on an item with a reserve, YOU are losing out, not the seller. many times a reserve is merely to protect the sellers investment.
for example, joe blow goes to a garage sale, buys an antique gumball machine for $50. he has seen the same, or similar item for $250.
well, he may set his reserve at $55. this guarantees he won't lose any money. the machine will bring what is worth... barring unforseen circumstances... the auction site having an outage, during the last hour of the auction, another terrorist strike, or someother act of god type thing....
so... if you would have been willing to pay $185. for this particular gumball machine, that you knew was worth $200., by not placing a bid because it had a reserve, you are completely out of the running. now, you had placed it on your watch list, and check back after the auction closed, and find out it went for $110., which is considerably less than you would have been willing to pay, now you have lost the item, and the profit you would have made on it. you lost twice.
so what if there is a reserve. you're not playing a guessing game.
bid what YOU are willing to pay, and either you win the auction at YOUR price, or, you get outbid.
there is no more guessing involved in an auction with a reserve, than there is in one without. either way, it brings what it is going to bring.
i have also seen where an auction with a reserve will get to REAL money faster, as a bidder who HAS TO HAVE IT will bid, and re-bid, until reserve is met to make sure he is in the running.

PKC Direct · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:55 pm Post subject:

And I will bet that the same person who keeps bidding and re-bidding until the reserve is gone also plays the slot machines just knowing the next pull will hit. I watch items I am interested in. If it meets the reserve and is within a price I feel is a good buy I set one of my snipe engines. People who tend to just keep bidding to get rid of the reserve are also a good candidate for being a NPB. They tend to go higher than they can afford and then don't pay.

AtomicVideo · Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 1232 Location: winter pak, fl.

I disagree. i have had less than 1% npb's.
the incident i described above happened many times with expensive vintage guitars, and slot machines, both of which i deal in.
collectors fight over these things. they are both stong believers in the "he who dies with the most toys" theory.

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

Actually if you are going to use a reserve on your auction, it's also good to tell what the reserve is in your listing.

Ex -- My reserve is a reasonable $53, happy bidding.

That way it's good for both parties. You're protected, but a buyer knows if it's in their ballpark and doesn't have to guess about it or wait to see if someone else will get it up over the reserve.

Hidden reserves don't really make sense to me and turn off a lot of people.

Carol

2BOYSandTOYS · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 10095 Location: Kansas

I might be missing out on some sales, but like PKC, I'm leary of reserve items. I don't often look for the items described (special, unique, one-of-a-kind), so there are others I can bid on and know I've got a chance.

With a reserve auction, I perceive (as the buyer) that the seller may want far more than I'm willing to spend, and why should/would I watch, wait and see!

I do like Carol's idea - and I've seen these, and they've kept my interest - if the reserve price is reasonable and fair.

Roundabout926 · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 2832

What would be the point of having a reserve if you were goign to tell your buyers what it is? Isn't that the same as having a starting price? What's the difference?

Reserve price helps to bring views to your items, plain and simple. People see an item at 99 cents that's worth $200, they willk bid on it to see where it goes. Even if the reserve is a price that NOONE will pay, they don't KNOW that. If they see that the starting price is 220 for an item worth 200, they won't even click on your listing. For us, most of our MARKETING is in our listing template.

As far as guessing games, it varies from buyer to buyer. I bid on rare items and reserve (although irritating) does not prevent me from bidding. If I was in no rush for a particular item, and I was looking for a deal (as most eBay buyers are) then I might bid on a reserve price auction as well, but I'm smart enough not to go above my proxy just to see a reserve met.

It's all personal opinion I suppose, but an important marketing tactic should not be dismissed because it MIGHT be slightly irritating to some customers. Different items bring in different results. The more expensive the item, the more likely a bidder is going to see where it goes, same goes for more rare items.

Our business has found the reserve option very useful. We've sold items 40 bucks higher than the EXACT SAME ITEM at Buy it Now by using a reserve price. If buyers don't put proxy bids lower than the lowest price on eBay, and actually go higher, then that means the reserve has worked. We can't offer our customers the lowest price on all items, but once they VIEW our listing (often by clicking on a 99 cent starting price listing) they will see all the extras we have to offer. Top that off with a more professional looking listing than our competitors (thanks to Chris not me lol), the views we get from reserve price listings often translates into sales.