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eBay: Tiki Bowl |
badmojo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 23, 2003
Posts: 666 |  Posted: 2003-07-14 3:49 pm Permalink
There was a lot of 3 PMP "praying monkey" style mugs that I just Haaaaaaad to have, to complete my PMP Monkey Trifecta(sp?) but I thought I had to be out of town for awhile, so I asked the seller if she would accept $28 plus shipping. She responded saying she never ended early, but wished me the best of luck. Well, now I'm glad she did'nt bite, I ended up getting them for $16.
Anyways, as far a sniping, I have bid high near the end, but since I'm on a dial up connection, it's always been with like 2 minutes left, leaving someone else the chance to sneak in.
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TikiMikey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 24, 2002
Posts: 179
From: Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2003-07-14 5:15 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2003-07-14 15:21, tikifish wrote:
I don't know what you would call it, but it's not defined as sniping.
Snarping? Snoping? Snapping?
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Snipping?
_________________
Dude, you're gettin' a Tiki!
[ This Message was edited by: TikiMikey on 2003-07-14 17:17 ]
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jonboy
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jul 02, 2003
Posts: 80
From: Oceanside, CA
| Posted: 2003-07-25 01:21 am Permalink
An advantage of sniping is that it prevents shill bidding. Shill bidding is the practice of the seller bidding on his own item to drive up the price. Of course the shill bid is placed through another account. The only way to detect it is to look at all the sellers other auctions to see if there is a pattern. However, even if you catch someone shill bidding eBay won't do anything about it.
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Kreaky Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 19, 2003
Posts: 182
From: Goleta the good land
| Posted: 2003-07-26 07:51 am Permalink
I believe sniping is what needs to be done if you truly want something. It is just one of many strategies employed in auctions. I will say that BeachBombJim is a pain in the ass, as I have lost "even in the snipe" to him a few times. I've also seen him pay way to much for something that was mis-labled, but have'nt we all.
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Reever
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Nov 07, 2002
Posts: 97
From: Dallas, Texas
| Posted: 2003-07-26 07:53 am Permalink
Wow, Hipster, I'm with you.
Not wishing to pick a fight, I can't believe what I'm hearing. I've been a web designer forever, and have been on eBay since the first week it opened for business. (Why I'm not a stock-holder is beyond me. My lack of foresight is astounding, especially since I've turned on hundreds of people to the great worldwide garage sale that is (was?) Ebay...)
Who knew "sniping" was a bad thing? First of all, I didn't know it was called sniping. I thought it was being a savvy bidder. I am not a devious person. I would never try to work out a deal with the bidder to take the auction offline, although a few times, when no one has bid on an item and that aution has ended, I've talked terms with the seller.
The way I see it is this: in every financial transaction, there is a winner and a loser. Hopefully, the buyer and seller both come out happy with your transaction, but, honestly, someone's getting the better deal. That's business.
So explain to me why there are 10 bids on an item when there's a week to go in an auction? Folks do nothing but raise the price on themselves by bidding early. This was a fact I learned in the first couple of auctions I participated in. Ebay isn't like shopping at a thrift store, where you better make your offer because you don't know if the item will be there when you come back. You know the EXACT moment an item will be off the auction block in Ebay, and I've always thought if you really wanted something, you needed to be there at the last second to make your best offer. Sure it's risky, scary, intense and uncertain. But that's also the sheer fun of it. You lose some auctions, sure, but the victories are sweeter, and CHEAPER.
If you think sniping is wrong, does that also mean it's playing dirty pool to search for tiki mugs than an unknowing seller has posted under "vases"? Or Witco bars that a seller has posted as "hand-carved teak bar"?
Ebay is a game. To the wise and fast bidder, goes the spoils.
I think Ebay is being ruined by bidders so eager to stake their claim that they are bidding on the same item 10 times in the first day of something being posted. The prices are so rediculous and no one seems to understand why. Hello? Take some risk and you might win a price for your efforts. Hold off on bidding. Be patient. Shop wisely. If you don't win it, it wasn't meant to be. And where that came from, no matter how rare, it will come around again. That's the magic of Ebay.
As far as I'm concerned, as long as your not cheating, you're playing the game fairly. You're supposed to find advantages. I am totally against using software as your advantage, or under-the-table negotiations. But using your patience, your wit, and your WATCH are not illegal, immoral, or innappropriate.
Phew! Off the soapbox. I love you all! 
I could get into lots of other peeves about Ebay, such as bidders who use a hidden "reserve" instead of just making the reserve their opening bid... what is UP with that???... but I'll save that discussion for another time.
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Reever
reever@hotmail.com
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emspace
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: 875
From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2003-07-26 4:14 pm Permalink
Well, I can now definitely see the other side of the argument, thanx all for weighing in. It's the truth: I didn't have the means to buy the Luau bowl in the first place, so thought I'd bitch (only half-heartedly) about the auction.
The fact is, if I HAD the bread, and I REALLY wanted the bowl, I'd have been on it like stink. I agree "sniping" is an unfair term, probably originally applied by people without the cash and/or tenacity to grab the item they wanted - plain old sour grapes.
aloha,
emspace.
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It's never too late to have a happy childhood!
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Reever
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Nov 07, 2002
Posts: 97
From: Dallas, Texas
| Posted: 2003-07-27 12:33 pm Permalink
Em, I hear ya. I really really do.
How about we talk about something we can all agree on, like when the same person beats you out of just about every single auction you go after. It's one thing to lose to a bunch of different folks, but when it's the SAME person every time?
How do people have that kind of time AND cash????
KILLS ME!!!!
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Reever
reever@hotmail.com
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jonboy
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jul 02, 2003
Posts: 80
From: Oceanside, CA
| Posted: 2003-07-27 2:12 pm Permalink
The solution to the sniping "problem" is completely in the control of eBay, they should keep auctions open until 2 minutes (or some other short interval) after the last bid. This makes it a real auction, not a hardware or software or connection contest. I suspect they dont do this because there resources might not be capable of handling it.
Why isnt sniping software fair? granted, it aggravates the sniping (I dont want to call it a problem)
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emspace
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: 875
From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2003-07-27 4:46 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2003-07-27 12:33, Reever wrote:
How do people have that kind of time AND cash????
KILLS ME!!!!
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Gawd, no kidding! Are there actual RICH, as in, independently wealthy, Tiki heads? "Hmm, take another grand out of the Tiki War Chest honey, there's a Luau bowl up on eBay"...must be nice.
But that's just my sour grapes again.
, em.
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It's never too late to have a happy childhood!
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