eBay is a complete failure

[Rapier]

MASSIVE EDIT: I had clearly not grasped the idea of "Max bid" and found myself in a highly frustrating situation. Rest of post left unchanged for posterity, but take my initial complaint as a lack of "understanding" of the eBay "system" for someone well acquainted with live auctions, peppered with a crap-load of initial frustration. Seeing as this thread won't go away now, I am adding a "reply" from several days later as a prologue.
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Only 2 or 3 days after this post, and I can truly say I've learned to play ;-) With success. I can do little but agree and now that I understand the "max bid" system which I did not in the LEAST, I can only agree with pretty much every response I received that was well thought out and informative.

Without the "max bid" system, and when trying to use eBay as a replacement for a live auction ... one can go a little MAD. I now treat it as a silent auction; bid and walk away.
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eBay !!! Wow, hadn't been there in years, my account is unused for >5 years. Figure I'd go see what the straight razor scene is like. Wow ... what a fiasco. I started by "watching" a bunch of different pieces on a few different country sites, the ones I can read.

In an auction (M-W: a sale of property to the highest bidder), the sale goes to the highest bidder ... not the biggest tech weenie that sets up their sniper program "the bestest." With eBay, the way it presently is, everyone loses; the seller doesn't win because someone out there was likely ready to bid higher had they seen the increased bid more than 3 seconds before closing. The majority of the actual collectors and average buyers don't win because it is in no way a battle to the highest bid, and the bounty does not go to he/she who most wants the item, and likely would most have cherished it. I tried ... I would have paid at least 15-25% more for several of the items I bid on, instead, a 1$/1Euro/1GBP increase at the last second takes it on pieces bidding up in the 100-400$/euros. Yes, I could have increased the "max bid" and this is what I will do, however, this won't fix the problem of sniping.

eBay could to introduce two concepts: Time without bid and percentage incremental increases.
-Time without bid: Auction does not close until there has been 1 to 24 hours without further bids.
-Incremental increases: No bids that are less than 5 to 20% in increase are registered.
Then maybe, the actual highest bidders would get pieces ... not the sniper weenies who add 1$ at 6 seconds.

The experience was incredibly frustrating in the end I am responsible for my decision to use eBay, if I wish to continue using eBay. Yes ... I'm upset, such beautiful items seeing their owners decided by such an ungracious and ungentlemanly method of last second meaningless increases.

 

[Holzie]

Regardles of Snipers out there, you put in the maximum you are willing to pay for an item. The bid amount increases by the minimum increment amount to be the highest bid.. So lets say my max bid is $15.00, but the incremental bid is $1.00 and the current bid is $7.00. My max bid only increases the bid amount to $8.00 even though I am willing to pay more. The only way a sniper can beat me even at the last 6 seconds is to bid $16.00, which I previously decided i was not willing to pay. If his max bid was $14.00, the current bid is $8.00, I would still own the auction at $15.00.

 

[Rapier]

Regardles of Snipers out there, you put in the maximum you are willing to pay for an item. The bid amount increases by the minimum increment amount to be the highest bid.. So lets say my max bid is $15.00, but the incremental bid is $1.00 and the current bid is $7.00. My max bid only increases the bid amount to $8.00 even though I am willing to pay more. The only way a sniper can beat me even at the last 6 seconds is to bid $16.00, which I previously decided i was not willing to pay. If his max bid was $14.00, the current bid is $8.00, I would still own the auction at $15.00.

Completely agree, in fact added this to my post on edit. I tried to do this as a traditional auction ... my fail. But the sniping ?

 

[Campag Velocet]

Sniping is fine and is no different to manually bidding at the last second, it's just a handy tool for those of us too busy to watch an auction count down.

The most simple ebay rule that if everybody followed would result in no sour grapes: "Bid once, bid late and bid your max"

I don't know why people get upset at losing out on an item, somebody else was prepared to pay more for something than you, if you were prepared to pay more but didn't bid you max then IMHO you have no grounds for complaint.

Harsh? maybe, but fair.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Oh wow someone else complaining they were not able to steal a razor cheap because of the snipers......

 

[73mountaineer]

Completely agree, in fact added this to my post on edit. I tried to do this as a traditional auction ... my fail. But the sniping ?

Sniped or not sniped, you only lose if someone is willing to pay more than you. It doesn't matter if they bid 1 hr or 1 second before it ends, if your max bid is higher you still win it. If their max bid is higher, then what is the difference? You already decided you didn't want to pay that much.

I understand that people get frustrated with sniping, but I don't understand how it makes the process unfair. When someone sets a snipe bid, they have no idea how much you are willing to pay so it isn't like they are bidding $16.01 because they know you will only pay $16.00. Either they are willing to pay more or you are, but neither of you has an unfair chance of winning the auction.

As to waiting an hour or more with no bids to end an auction, that would suck for both buyers and sellers, IMO. Hang around a penny auction site for a bit and see how frustrating it is when an auction gets extended every time someone places a bid. An auction scheduled to end at a certain time can drag on for hours and hours past that time.

 

[drews50]

I have no problem with eBay. I win some items. I lose some items.

I win because I outbid everyone else. I lose because I didn't bid high enough.

eBay is what it is. We have the ability to use it or not. Our choice. That's why I don't understand all the eBay complaints on B & B. Don't like it, don't use it.

 

[boyyoyo]

The seller has the option to enable sniper protection which will add extra time to the auction if a bid is cast at like the last thirty seconds or so. If the seller does not wish to enable sniper protection it is their loss as the person who was outbid at the last second might have wished to add a few dollars more. But like the others said just take a little time to consider what the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend on the item and then simply enter that amount up front. If someone else is willing to spend more, good on them.

 

[RGraphics]

ebay in itself is a business and is there to make money. By having an auction end at a set time and have sniping in the auction which most of the time is more than what the item is worth makes ebay tons of money. ebay will never make it fair or easy for anyone wanting to win the item because it simply will not make them money.

Gunbroker auctions work in a way that does not end til after I think is 20 minutes from the last auction bid was done. They sometimes have razors.

I recently made a mistake on over 20 items in which all my items were a BIN for 99c when my intention was to do 7 day auctions starting at 99c. Not even 10 minutes later 14 of those items were sold and paid for. This showed that theres people on ebay all the time looking for deals and making money on reselling all the time. The amount of money i would of lost with that mistake would of been in the range of $200, I notified all the buyers of the mistake and refunded their money. A few buyers went on on saying that they go on ebay just about all day long 7 days a week looking for deals, mistakes, and sniping just for that item that will make them a few bucks. One of those items was a Double Ring, I almost had a heart attack thinking i would have to give it up for 99c

most of the time the best deals are found here on B&B. Ive always bought my razors here at the Buy/Sell listings.

 

[mmack66]

1. The last time I checked eBay, the highest bidder at the end of the auction time won the auction.

2. People really need to stop thinking of eBay as a live auction and begin thinking of eBay as a silent auction.

3. Manipulating the end time of eBay auctions in order to account for all bidders is a ridiculous proposal.

 

[tootootni]

eBay needs to introduce two concepts: Time without bid and percentage incremental increases.
-Time without bid: Auction does not close until there has been 1 to 24 hours without further bids.
-Incremental increases: No bids that are less than 5 to 20% in increase are registered.
Then maybe, the actual highest bidders would get pieces ... not the sniper weenies who add 1$ at 6 seconds.

Use a filter to look only at 'Buy It Now'. You can further refine this to look at 'or Best Offer' items. I believe this will help.

Good luck to you.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Max bid is max bid and that's all you're willing to pay---if somebody else outbids you--oh well, there will be another one coming down the pike sooner or later. If you REALLY wanted it-- set your bid higher.

I just don't see the problem here.

 

[franz]

Bid the max you are willing to pay for an item at the outset. No fuss, no muss. If someone snipes your bid and you are unhappy with the outcome, that probably means your bid didn't reflect what you were actually willing to pay.

EDIT: Didn't see the above post, sorry to repeat it.

 

[missingskin]

I have no problem with eBay. I win some items. I lose some items.

I win because I outbid everyone else. I lose because I didn't bid high enough.

eBay is what it is. We have the ability to use it or not. Our choice. That's why I don't understand all the eBay complaints on B & B. Don't like it, don't use it.

+1 on this.
I use a snipe website because I bid on stuff in the USA and you guys are on a difference time zone than me. So rather than stay up until 3.00am I leave a bid on my snipe site, sometimes when I get up it is a celebration cup of coffee sometimes it is commiseration coffee. But either way it's coffee time, thats the fun of Ebay win some lose some........

 

[Habie Rose]

I noticed something really strange going on. I noticed that sometimes when I would make a bid, as soon as I hit the bid button it would say I was outbid. This may sound strange, but I think there must be some kind of automatic program they have that will automatically up a bid if the amount has not reached what they will settle for in a sale. It only happens on some items, so...what I did was when I saw this happening on any item I bid on, I would give it up and stop bidding on that item. I could see that those automatic bids were just a way to get people to keep bidding higher. Anyway, I did that and when the bidding time expired, I got an email from ebay stating the seller was offering the item to me for my bid price. I didn't even respond to them. Evidently, they were expecting me to bid higher, against their automatic bidder...and I didn't, which left them with their product. I'm learning how to play their game.

 

[shavervinnie]

1. The last time I checked eBay, the highest bidder at the end of the auction time won the auction.

2. People really need to stop thinking of eBay as a live auction and begin thinking of eBay as a silent auction.

3. Manipulating the end time of eBay auctions in order to account for all bidders is a ridiculous proposal.

I don't want anything bad enough to snipe. I like to win it manually either by bidding high early or making a game of it at the end. Hey, you win some, you lose some. The OP needs to just accept the reality of things. I quoted mack here because these are some good points, especially #2.

 

[Greglam]

Dude, you lost.

That box that says "max bid" means for you to put in the maximum amount you are willing to pay for an item. Someone else put a larger number in their box. It doesn't mean, "Maximum amount you are willing to pay unless someone outbids you by a dollar in which case you would be willing to add $2 to your bid".

Sorry about your luck and welcome to a very large club.

 

[GDCarrington]

I noticed something really strange going on. I noticed that sometimes when I would make a bid, as soon as I hit the bid button it would say I was outbid. This may sound strange, but I think there must be some kind of automatic program they have that will automatically up a bid if the amount has not reached what they will settle for in a sale. It only happens on some items, so...what I did was when I saw this happening on any item I bid on, I would give it up and stop bidding on that item. I could see that those automatic bids were just a way to get people to keep bidding higher. Anyway, I did that and when the bidding time expired, I got an email from ebay stating the seller was offering the item to me for my bid price. I didn't even respond to them. Evidently, they were expecting me to bid higher, against their automatic bidder...and I didn't, which left them with their product. I'm learning how to play their game.

Habie, I have had this happen as well where I could not bid because the price shot up drastically even before I could bid. After the sale, the buyer sent me a message in the same manner wanting me to buy at the last price I bid just an hour later. This is a shill bidding scheme and is against the rules of eBay but they tolerate it. You are correct in not buying from that seller because of the dishonesty factor.

I don't mind losing on a bid because that is the way of auction. When there is "gaming of the system" occurring then that bothers me.

 

[Rapier]

1. Even if I put my max in early, someone adds 50cents at the last second thanks to a snipy proggie. All they've done is ride my bid to its value.

2. Live auctions have a progression in bidding, the highest bidder occurs when that progression ends. I am not sure how this is a ridiculous sugestion and it seems to work very well on more serious auction sites with items of consistently higher value: bidding ends after 1 hour with no further bids.

3. I was not trying to snag a blade for cheap, most of the bids were priced quite fairly as was my max entered.

4. Learning the "ebay game" is a common complaint that I am now aware of and has taken many serious markets off of ebay, seems others have issues with it too.

And last but no least, yeah, I was pissed. I am used to "real" auctions and the game of incremental bidding to get your items and secure the sale. Outbidding people for 12 hours until noone bids for the last hour, then 6 seconds before close a meaningless increase in$ ... irritating ...

Mea culpa for walking into an arena I am clearly not suited for.

 

[ovrmnjake]

I noticed something really strange going on. I noticed that sometimes when I would make a bid, as soon as I hit the bid button it would say I was outbid. This may sound strange, but I think there must be some kind of automatic program they have that will automatically up a bid if the amount has not reached what they will settle for in a sale. It only happens on some items, so...what I did was when I saw this happening on any item I bid on, I would give it up and stop bidding on that item. I could see that those automatic bids were just a way to get people to keep bidding higher. Anyway, I did that and when the bidding time expired, I got an email from ebay stating the seller was offering the item to me for my bid price. I didn't even respond to them. Evidently, they were expecting me to bid higher, against their automatic bidder...and I didn't, which left them with their product. I'm learning how to play their game.

While this is sometimes the case of shilling, more likely than not, this is a case where the previous bidder has a higher max bid than you. The auction goes to the next increment, which is higher than your max bid, but at or lower the the highest bidder's max bid.