n2buick...sniped me out of a parts book with 9 seconds to spare. If you are a board member, shame on you. I expect more from Buick owners. Does anyone have a 64-70 Buick parts book for sale? Thanks, Dan
... it happens sometimes....I also bid on an item once and a member bid over me ..last few minutes..didnt bother me much.....and sometimes they might be members with different ebay names..o No:
Maybe he didnt know you were a board member. I know n2buick, and I am sure he didnt do it on purpose. But that is part of bidding on ebay. I have had it happen to me before, and it does suck. Pete
good for n2buick n2buick didnt win the auction because he sniped it. he won because he was willing to pay more than you. no shame on him, shame on you. if you were willing to bid higher then you should have done so. i snipe and when i dont sometimes i get sniped. if they are willing to pay more than me, they get it. it is an auction. i thought about sniping that book but didnt. there are many good arguments for sniping, there are many good arguments against bidding early. nobody should ever feel guilty about sniping. snipers rule. next time bid to win. go n2buick ! henry white 70 GS 350 70 GS 455 70 STAGE 1 four speed, numbers matching
First of all, I'm sorry that you didn't get what you needed. That being said, sniping is a part of ebay. To be honest, I gladly take part in it too. I have two ways of bidding. These are dependent on whether or not I'm able to be online for the closing of an auction for something that I need. The first is sniping. I won't bid on an item that I want until the last seconds. Even at that, I'm taking a chance. If an item is at $20.00 and has 5 seconds to go and I bid $23.57 (for example), I'm taking a chance that the $20.00 person actually bid $25. If that's the case, I lose... oh well. But, if they only bid $20.00 and I win it... yahoo! The second is bid my max. If I see something that I want that has a few days until it closes, and I'm going to be unavailable to "snipe" it, then I'll bid the maximum value that it has to me, including the shipping costs. If that turns out to be ~ $25, then I'll make my max bid of around $25.57 (or so). If someone else gets it... oh well - they bid higher than my maximum. No love lost. The key is to never pay more for an item than if it were sitting at a store "down the street". And, of course, that includes shipping fees. As a seller I want something different as a buyer. A friend of mine says, regarding selling, it just takes "someone who wants it bad... and an idiot to bid against him." But as a buyer, the last thing I want to do is get into a bidding war 5 days before an item ends. The chances, as a buyer, of getting a decent deal happen if everyone waits until the last second while the price remains at it's intial bid for the duration. Like I said, I'm sorry you didn't get what you needed, but the key with ebay is to bid no more than you think an item is worth. If you lose to someone else, obviously it's worth more to them than it is to you.
I am sorry you did not get the book you need, Dan. But, sniping is a fact of life on ebay. If you don't ever do it yourself, you'll continue to miss out on parts you need, and it seems were more than willing to pay more for. If you were willing to pay more for the book, you should have placed a proxy bid for the max you were willing to spend. Your bid doesn't go that high unless someone else bids past your max bid. I've learned that if I don't snipe, I will never get anything on ebay, although I do sometimes place a max proxy bid and just wait to see what happens.
Dan, I'm sorry, but I did not know that was anyone from the board. I did not recognize the name other than that same ID has beat me out on others parts on e-bay before. Many board members can confirm that I have e-mailed them before bidding on an item, if I noticed they were already bidding on it. I have also backed out on items when I knew someone here on the board needed it worse than I. Unfortunatlely with over 3000 members here on the board, chances are there are at last 2 of us wanting/needing the same thing. I had been watching the book from just an hour or 2 after it listed. Knowing how e-bay works, I did what I had to do to win. I took a chance punching in my high bid one time. It was actually somewhat higher than what it went for. I was taking the chance that it was higher than what the current bidder had locked in. If it wasn't enough, I would have lost it. Now that I know your ID, I realize you have knocked me out of winning items now and then, but I realize that's the way it works. I hold no hard feelings towards you winning those past items over me, and I hope you can show me the same. Sorry it worked out that way. Jeff
Sniping is despicable, and unfortunately for some, a necessary way to guarantee a win. I personally won't do it. If someone wins because they bid higher than the next guy could afford, and it was a fair fight, then so be it. I know that sniping is a fact of life on ebay, and I have lost a good many auctions in the last seconds. What disappoints me is seeing Buick owners reduced to this behavior. If I see something I need, I'll usually bid my max, and forget about it. The sniper reminds me of the Japanese island fighting tactic of playing dead until the marines had passed them, then shooting them in the back. Buick owners have always had to stand together, and I am pleased to say that I have had very few less than excellent dealings . I consider all of you my friends. I will not sucker punch a friend. As for the auction in question, I received a 2nd chance offer from the seller to buy a parts book. As I understand it, a 2nd chance offer is given if the high bidder renegs, or the seller has another identical item. I sincerely hope that n2buick didn't back out and let me have the book. While I am sore about sniping, he was the high bidder, and I wouldn't want him losing his item because I was sore. If that's the case, please contact me, and I will make arrangements to send you the book for cost. Dan
2 minutes ago, I had a guy snipe an NOS wiper switch on me. How pissed was I? Really pissed. This happened 6 months ago on the same item. And that auction was won by Ivan Gomez (ArcDevilz)....I gave him a bunch of crap about it, but wasn't too mad, since the price went so I high I couldn't afford it. And I know Ivan is a super guy, he offered to give me his current switch, as the only reason he bought that one was because his didn't look pretty enough. Yep, sniping is a way of life on ebay, and you can't get around it.
nuthin wrong dan sniping is not despicable. reread the first two sentences of my first post. it was a fair fight and you lost fair & square. we all get the same amount of time to decide our max. i have won auctions with the first bid placed on the first day when the item started at $5.00 and ended at $295.00 a week later. ( i dont recommend this method ) my friends are most welcome to snipe me at any time. snipers dont get a chance to rethink thier bids either ( no time left ) snipers are polite in that they let everyone else go first. i repeat, nobody should feel guilty about sniping. they should feel like an educated consumer. henry white 70 GS 350 70 GS 455 70 STAGE 1 four speed, number matching, with sniped parts
As an avid ebayer I want to ad that if anyone goes to an auction in their own town what do you see????? The last bidder owns the item up for sale. That is NO different than on ebay. Only the high bidder will survive. If the bid is not high enough than what happens is the last bidder will win. I have had items go from $20 to $300 in the last 4 hours!!!:eek2: But the thing is the HIGH bidder wins no matter what. I have been sniped several times on things I want for my convert. And by members here but that IS part of the ebay way. It has nothing to do with Buick guys behavior................] Ive know Jeff for years and even if we both wanted the part in question I would hope he would just outbid me if he wants it worse than me and that goes for anyone that wants parts Im bidding on.............
Dan, thanks for the offer, but I guess he must have a second book. Looks like it works out for both of us. I want to reiterate that I had no idea who I was bidding against. As an example, in the last couple weeks there was a NOS rear speaker set up on e-bay. I really needed it for our convertible that is currently in the shop undergoing a frame off resto. It has the rear speaker option, and so I was going to go for it. Unfortunately a board memeber had the current high bid, and I wouldn't bid against him. I watched it all week, because if someone else had knocked him out, I would have jumped in, but I wasn't going to be the one to do it. As it ended, he got the part, and I stayed out of it. I'm taking your initial post as just venting, and I hope all is well. See you on e-bay! Jeff
If you bid the max bid amount that you felt the item was worth, then you have nothing more to say. N2buick was willing to spend more than you, period. He won the item within the rules, and your referral to "shooting in the back" is completely uncalled for, IMO. Why do you think that another Board member should refrain from bidding against you? What if it was the LAST NOS 1970 GS grill on the planet? Should all of us other Board members just not bid on it cause YOU want it? Please, come to your senses, locate another item you want on eBay, and bid to win! I'm sorry for being a d*&k, but I did NOT like the backshooting reference at all!
Sometimes it's the only way you have a chance at winning. If sniping is unethical, what would be the cut off time for placing a bid? 30 seconds? 5 minutes? 10? o No:
dan K said: "If I see something I need, I'll usually bid my max, and forget about it. " That's BS, Dan...you ain't forgetting about it!!! Your being a whiny sore loser. Jeff, I'm with you on the lowblow statement about faking dead...COMPLETELY uncalled for. I snipe hard and often...otherwise you're getting beat up by nibblers all week. Some hockey fans think it improper to take a slap shot inside the blue line...it's the scoreboard that counts in the end. Same thing with ebay...sniping is legal, and highly encouraged by me! Steve
I am glad to see the discussion this topic has generated,but I am sorry to see people I know and respect defending sniping. Mike, in a real auction in your town, the bidding closes when the second to last guy bows out, not when the high bidder sneaks in a higher bid. Henry, a sniper should feel some shame....if he was willing to bid his max and let it ride, he would not have to bid in the last seconds. Besides, it is called sniping for a reason, and sniping is not honorable in peacetime. Grant, I don't mind if board members bid against me....they do it all the time, and beat me, too. The difference is, that they have all week to do it. A sniper lurks out of sight and shoots at point blank range when one has no chance to defend his bid. The parts section of this board is eminently fair...first come first served. I have missed some great deals because I got there several minutes too late. That's fine...you snooze you lose. The ebay sniping problem has gotten out of hand, and while I understand that it won't change, and some people need parts badly enough to do it, let's keep it a fair fight in the Buick circle. Bid early and often. From a sellers point of view, that's the best, because they know there's interest early, and if several guys keep bidding, one of them will bow and let the other guy have it. The current system favors only the guy with the synchronized watch. Again, I reiterate that I will not snipe for anything on ebay. My character and sense of fair play won't allow me to. Two minutes....maybe, but not two seconds. Dan
I'm not going to get into any mud slinging here. We're all adults. But I have to put in my 2 cents.... Firstly... Dan, you must not have enetered your max bid, or you wouldn't be so upset about this. What if he would have outbid you with 5 hours to go? Would you have bid again? If the answer is yes, then you didn't "bid your max and forget about it" If the answer is no, then he was willing to bid higher than you, fair and square. Timing is not an issue. Now, about sniping... Sometimes I snipe, sometimes I don't. I've lost to snipers when I haven't sniped and kicked MYSELF in the rear for not bidding high enough in the first place. I've lost auctions because I sniped too low and didn't get a 2nd chance to bid higher. Once again... I kick MYSELF in the rear for not bidding high enough. EVERY TIME I lose an auction.. It's nobody's fault but my own. (Or maybe I can place a little of the blame on my boss because he hasn't made me a millionaire yet?) :gt: I would never hold anything that happens on eBay against anyone else. I too have backed out of auctions when I know the other bidder is a member who needs the part more than me, or just because "they were there first". But as was said before... with 3000+ members, and many of them use different eBay ID's than V8Buick ID's, it's hard to tell when you're bidding against a friend. I personally use ricknmel in both V8Buick and eBay. I got nothing to hide. :laugh: :beer :beer
weeeeeeeeell i just erased the post i was about to submit. i was going to say, cases stated opinions formed, time to move on. but now i will say this. dan you dont get it. you had a week to decide your max. if you were willing to bid more, then you should have done so. note how i won the $295.00 item. they all bid after me, they just didnt bid as high. i bid $300.00 when it was at $5.00 with 6 days 23 hours to go. ( like i say, i dont recommend that method ) you do have a chance to defend your bid, the time to do it is when you place your bid. add some more zeros. how about this ? , from now on ebay will advertise an item all week long, but only take bids for the last 30 seconds of an auction, then, if you lose you will only have yourself to blame. oh wait, thats who to blame now. raise your proxy !!!!!!!!! henry white a sniper who makes no apologies.
Sniping does SUCK But then again, you better snipe with a higher reserve (someone tried to get that nos shroud from me, but fell short)! On the other hand, those nos valve covers were sniped from me. I think ebay needs to make a change, something like NO auction ends until 10 minutes go by without bidding. That would slow the sniping a bit, because the other guy would have a chance. The down side to this, our parts would cost even MORE....ou: ou: ou: Of course the seller would like it.:gt: I don't try to snipe, though I did once by accident (my computer is VERY slow sometimes). I usually wait til the last day, and when I can't, I bid high....and hope.o No:
