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Just when I thought I'd won......

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
with 20secs to go I was the winning bid on ebay for a pair of Volkl T50 5 star supersports. The spec was exactly what I was considering buying new, these had only seen 3-4 weeks action. Bargin I thought so watched it for a couple of days and made my move last night, for over 4 hours there was no one else in the frame, surely they were mine. I was less than 20 seconds away from ownership, then bang auction over and someone else had bought, no stolen them away Sad Sad Sad Sad Sad Sad

Gutted
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
where did the bid get to ?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
£ 240.00 was the winning bid.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Had much the same thing happen to me last night on a pair of Oakley goggles. Managed to break exact pair whilst moving house over the summer, so thought I'd try and get a cheap replacement. Thought I was onto a winner, with 10 secs left. Some cheeky b*gger got there before me. Was fuming. Evil or Very Mad
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Pardon me if I'm teaching egg-sucking here but, the eBay system works well and to your real financial advantage. When you bid you should bid the maximum you really want to pay for that item. The eBay software then treats this as an upper limit but only bids on your behalf what is necessary to secure top bid. When someone else bids higher your bid is automatically increased to beat it until you are outbid against your maximum. If this happens just 10 seconds before the close then so what? You weren't prepared to pay more.

Example: there is an item you are prepared to pay £30 for, and the current bid is £10. You bid £30 but the system stores this as a maximum bid and actually displays that you are winning with an £11 bid. Someone else then bids £25. The system automatically outbids this with yours and displays you currently winning with a £26 bid. Auction might then end and you pay £26 even though you bid £30, or else someone might bid more than £30, they win because you are not prepared to pay more. The time-scale doesn't matter too much.

If you were prepared to pay say £260 for the skis, then you should have bid this in the first place. You might then have got them for as little as £245.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
It's called 'snipering'.

The question is : given the chance would you really have paid more?

If you'd trusted ebay's 'auto bidding cheme' and entered the maximum you were prepared to pay - you'd have gotten them - or they'd have been sold for more than you wanted to pay.

If no-one else had appeared at the last second you'd have gotten them at the bargain price.

Happens a lot I believe. I'm not a frequent ebay user though Smile

You can actually buy software that monitors the auction and bids with seconds to go - helps if you have broadband though Wink
I'm not sure it achieves much. It just means that the sniper was willing to pay more than you and you didn't get caught up in bidding frenzy.
I kinda like saying 'max is £x' and seeing if I win next morning - if not then I know I didn't pay over the odds.

David
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I only ever bid on ebay with less than a minute to go it drives the price up otherwise as people try to out bid you. Put in your max price with minute to go and usually you get it. Only been beaten once with about 30 items bought.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
NPete Horn, lbt, not quite. Ebay's automatic bid increase can apparently take some time to register, so it's possible that someone can snipe the auction by getting in a bid in the dying seconds, and the auction will close before the system had a chance to figure out that your max bid was higher than the current price
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
In which case you should complain to eBay. Have you any evidence this happens?
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
In terms of evidence, no, just anecdotal tales. From a programming point of view, it makes sense. Things can't happen instantaneously, and the more auctions there are the more chance you have that things will begin to slow down. However, the fact that there are so may "auction sniping" services should tell you what you need to know about whether it works that way

There's been talk for ages that bids within the last X minutes of an auction's scheduled cling time should casue the closing time to be put back - whic would stop auction sniping. Ebay don't sem to be interested, depsite the fact that it would benefit them as the price might well keep rising.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Quote:
In terms of evidence, no, just anecdotal tales.
There's an awful lot of anecdote on the internet.

I'd like to hear of a genuine case of where someone has put in a maximum bid well before time then lost the auction to a lower bid sniped in at the last moment.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Bang on Russell, my strategy too. I've also learned (the hard way) not to be impatient. Don't pay too much, other opportunities nearly always come along.
Hopefully some even better skis for Ken Madeye-Smiley
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Pete, my anecdotes come from colleagues rather than the internet. I'll ask if anyone has actually had this experience though just to make doubly sure
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
don't bid till the last moment, and put in what the max is you'll want to pay.

Also bid in odd amounts e.g. don't bid £25 as that may be someone elses max, bid £25.77p, that way you'll always beat someone elses max.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Russell, & Dan, Sound advice. Of course broadband helps as well. Basically most maximum bids are'nt the absolute maximum a bidder is prepared to pay so it is possible to feel it's being nicked from you in the dying seconds of a sale.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thanks for all your advice, was a bit of an ebay early learner, will know better next time. Although must admit my lap top on the dial up at home didn't help my frustration.
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