The angry thread

[guest311]

I have looked at snipers before, but have stuck to doing it myself. I normally tend to put my own bid, to the maximum I am willing, in the last 5 seconds. This time it went wrong. I can live with it, but it was just the annoyance that having made the mistake of leaving my phone upstairs, both my son and my wife heard it going off, for some time, but didn't think to let me know!

I tend to decide what an item is worth to me, deduct the p&p being charged, and then place that as my bet, then leave it.

two chances, first is that I get the item either for my max bid, or less, second is I don't get it.

seen too many cases where bidders get the frenzy and pay stupid amounts for something.

I remember some years ago a used Farish class 25 going up and up, then finally going for around £70 plus postage ....

trouble was Hattons were flogging them new at £45 plus postage.

[guest311]

I notice Alan @class37025 has not posted in here for over 2 weeks. Does the team think the crusty curmudgeon has chilled out more than a little? 

HONEY, I'M HOME 

[Foxhound]

Parcelfarce.



Beer delivery due yesterday. No notification of when they were coming, even though that was supposed to happen. Got a text to say delivery had failed.
Wife watched them pull up, get out of van, then drive away again without coming to any houses.

Unbelievable.

They are due back today. I am working from home and can see the front door from here....

[guest311]

just as long as @Trainfish doesn't start with the Peters and Lee again  :'(

or I might be Peter, Paul n Mary 

[Foxhound]

just as long as @Trainfish doesn't start with the Peters and Lee again  :'(

or I might be Peter, Paul n Mary 

We're all with you on that one....

[stevewalker]

I have a set limit, but normally only put it in the final seconds - on the basis that my limit may be higher than other bids and I don't want to leave time for someone to reconsider and raise their bid higher than I am willing to pay. This time it went wrong.

[emjaybee]

If your limit is your limit, then it doesn't matter when you place the bid, at the start or the end. If that's the maximum you're prepared to pay then there's no need for automated programs.

[stevewalker]

It does make a difference.

If my limit is 40 and someone else's is 35, then I will win by bidding at the end. If I bid at the start, they may decide, over the period of the auction, that they'd perhaps set their limit too low and increase it to outbid me and I'd have lost.

It is quite common to see that the same person has increased their maximum bid a couple of times (you can't see it directly, but you can infer it from timings) and realise that if their competitor had waited until the last moment, they would have won it - and for a much lower price.

[emjaybee]

It does make a difference.

If my limit is 40 and someone else's is 35, then I will win by bidding at the end. If I bid at the start, they may decide, over the period of the auction, that they'd perhaps set their limit too low and increase it to outbid me and I'd have lost.

It is quite common to see that the same person has increased their maximum bid a couple of times (you can't see it directly, but you can infer it from timings) and realise that if their competitor had waited until the last moment, they would have won it - and for a much lower price.

It doesn't make a difference. If that's your maximum, then that's your maximum. If they're increasing their bid later on, then that wasn't their maximum.

[Trainfish]

just as long as @Trainfish doesn't start with the Peters and Lee again  :'(

or I might be Peter, Paul n Mary 

I have this one somewhere on vinyl.......................

[guest311]

that's just too much


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVEATF7VNTk

[stevewalker]

It does make a difference.

If my limit is 40 and someone else's is 35, then I will win by bidding at the end. If I bid at the start, they may decide, over the period of the auction, that they'd perhaps set their limit too low and increase it to outbid me and I'd have lost.

It is quite common to see that the same person has increased their maximum bid a couple of times (you can't see it directly, but you can infer it from timings) and realise that if their competitor had waited until the last moment, they would have won it - and for a much lower price.

It doesn't make a difference. If that's your maximum, then that's your maximum. If they're increasing their bid later on, then that wasn't their maximum.

Except that by me bidding at the last moment, they don't have the option to re-consider and increase the maximum that they have input. My figure is fixed, but theirs may not be quite as fixed, by denying them the opportunity to see that they've been outbid early enough to change their bid, I prevent them doing so.

[emjaybee]

Then that wasn't their maximum.

If you want to think that using that technique or software gives you an edge then carry on, but the reality is that if they're increasing their bid, then that wasn't their maximum.

The price I bid at is the maximum, thought through, and considering how much I want/need an item. It doesn't matter if someone like yourself has sniping software, that's what I'm prepared to pay.

Out of interest, do you have to pay for the sniping software or does it come with ads, or do they sell your details on for targeted advertising?

[stevewalker]

Then that wasn't their maximum.

If you want to think that using that technique or software gives you an edge then carry on, but the reality is that if they're increasing their bid, then that wasn't their maximum.

That is rather the point. They have entered *a* maximum bid and the auction site will bid for them up to that value. If they are outbid, they may think about it for a bit and decide to increase the figure for another chance. If I have bid my maximum at the last moment and it is higher than the figure that they have entered up to that moment, they then have no time to reconsider and enter a new figure. Many people enter *a* maximum, not their *maximum* and last minute sniping can give you an advantage over them.

As for sniping software, I don't use it. If I did, I wouldn't have missed the bid through my alarm going off elsewhere!

[emjaybee]

Maximum is a definitive. It's not a maximum if they then increase it.

You can't have 'a' maximum and then increase it. That's just an interim bid.

Also, if you bid at the last minute you could potentially lose the lot to someone bidding the same amount who gets their bid in a few moments before you.

I win plenty and lose plenty, all without getting stressed about trying to 'beat' the system as it were.

I also win A LOT by getting in communication with the seller before bids are placed. I picked up a lovely pair of DCC locos for £92 including p&p about an hour after he listed them. So, sometimes, you snooze you lose.