[meteorite-list] The Sniper Mentality

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:06:30 -0400
Message-ID: <e51421551003171706r7aafa78fi598514b0093a7ff0_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Richard,

I think, but I'm not sure, the reason for sniping is because if you
bid early on an item, you are encouraging "action". As a buyer, if
you want the item at the lowest price possible, then you don't want a
lot of bidding action going on. One way to accomplish that is to bid
on the item at the last possible moment.

I use an opposite strategy - I place my one and final bid early on in
the auction. If the bidding exceeds my amount, I walk away from it.
I don't get caught up in the sniper games - if someone wants it bad
enough that they are going to use a special computer program to bid
for them, then let them have it - but they will still have to outbid
my early bid, and if their sniper bid is equal to my bid, then I win
the tie-breaker because I bid first - a disadvantage that no sniper
can get around. I have watched, in real time, snipers furiously try
to outbid me in the final seconds, only to lose because my original
bid was higher than their snipe attempt and they didn't leave
themselves enough time to snipe again.

I don't get it either, but I think it's because they are hoping by
holding their bids until the very end, they will contribute to
stagnant overall bidding and a lower closing price. ???

Or, they are developmentally disabled and have the whole concept wrong. LOL

Best regards,

MikeG


On 3/17/10, Richard Kowalski <damoclid at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This mentality, waiting until the last few seconds before bidding, is
> something I just don't get. Maybe someone can explain it to me.
>
> I bid for lots on ebay just like I do when I bid at a real auction. I set in
> my head what I believe the value of an item and what I have available in my
> budget to bid for that item. I then bid that much and no more. If I get the
> item, great. If not, someone wanted it more and we're willing to pay more
> for the item...
>
> While I will sometimes raise my ebay bid a little before the end of the
> auction, I really don't understand the idea of sitting there and in the last
> second or two, to try to jam in bids high enough to win the item.
>
> Do snipers really want the item or are they just trying to screw others out
> of the item? Are they just trying to get the item at a lower price, thinking
> that their competitors will just rebid again, upping the price?
>
> I see this on meteorite auctions every so often, but much more often on the
> Daguerreotypes I bid on. The reason I was reminded of it was a lot I just
> lost out on. There wasn't just one sniper, but two. The both bid at the
> exact same time, 2 seconds before the auction ended...
>
> As I said, it doesn't mater that I lost the lot. It went for more than I was
> willing to pay, so I wouldn't have rebid even if I could.
>
> Possibly someone can explain what is gained by bidding like this instead of
> just bidding what you think it's worth and letting it go for that...
>
> I'd really like to see ebay eliminate this foolery. It'd be pretty simple.
> Any bids that occur within one minute of the closing time of the auction
> automatically resets the end time by 10 minutes, or 30 minutes. The snipers
> games are eliminated and the dealers (and ebay) gets more profits because
> the auction remains open for the bidding to continue to higher levels. Just
> like in a real live auction.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Richard Kowalski
> Full Moon Photography
> IMCA #1081
>
>
>
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-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites
http://www.galactic-stone.com
http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
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Received on Wed 17 Mar 2010 08:06:30 PM PDT