Big problems with sniping on Ebay

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

This is getting beyond a joke now. There is a guy going round on ebay sniping bids on Russian lenses., eBay won't show me his full username but it's e***s and this sorry excuse for a human being is causing endless trouble.

In the last week I have been outbid with less than 3 seconds to go on a Mir 1b, a Tair 11, an Industar 61L/Z, a Jupiter 8 and a Jupiter 21.

This lowlife must be using some kind of sniping software because I lost the Mir 1b despite my computer telling me I was the high bidder with 1s to go.

I'm going to contact all the sellers and find out if this scumbag is actually buying these lenses as I suspect he isn't.

I think it's a member of this forum who is getting their kicks by messing with people by spoiling their lens buying attempts, looking at this person's bid history, all his bids are in the last few seconds and he seems to be buying multiple copies of lenses.

I suspect the guy is just enjoying messing with people. Sorry for the rant but it's getting me down now, I make a bid of what I am prepared to pay days in advance only for this little creep to outbid me on every bloody lens in the last 3 secs! It makes it 10x worse than I suspect he's only doing it to annoy people.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Himself · Expire: 2013-05-30

No problems here.
Why don't you use that snip thing yourself?

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

I think everyone snipes on ebay, with everything. That's how it works. Wait til the last 5 seconds and stick your bid in. Accusing people on here for outbidding you is a bit daft! Laughing

M. Valdemar · Joined: 14 Nov 2008 Posts: 93

Sniping is a perfectly legitimate strategy for winning on eBay. There is no rule against it.

If you want to win, you should learn to snipe yourself. Every other method is just bidding against yourself. (you also might not be bidding high enough)

vrane.com lets you snipe free once every 24 hours.

There is no point complaining against sniping.

PS: It is probably not the same person sniping. The abbreviations of user names eBay shows you are meaningless.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Asd I have two elderly disabled parents to care for I don't have time to sit and watch auctions, I only got to watch the end of the Mir-1b auction because I'd just put my mother to bed.

I thought sniping on ebay was illegal?

I'm really surprised to see people say 'everyone does it and so should you!'

I thought people still had morals, guess I'm wrong.

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood cos I dropped my Jupiter 11 on my foot and broke a toe. Lens is fine, toe is big and purple.

It's got to the point where I feel like giving up on ebay and saving my pennies for a trip to Eastern Europe to buy some Russian lenses.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

For info, I sell the lenses I don't want to keep on ebay, and a well known lens such as Jupiter 11A will likely attract 40 or so watchers. Typically the serious bidding happens in the last 10 seconds and 5 or 6 people will stick their real bid in at that point.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Graham is right, everbody snipes in the last seconds, and if you lose it only means you did not bid high enough. Which can be sad if somebody is short of money and he bid all that he could afford, but unfortunately that's how auctions go.
I also have to say that I know several persons who would have the money to bid higher but are still tight fisted in bidding, for whatever reason.

The basic truth for me is: if one really wants a lens, then he should bid on it as high as he can go, so to not have regrets later. If one only bids a sum that he think it could be enough to make a good bargain, and not more, and then loses, then he has no reason or right to regret - that lens must not have been really important after all.

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

What's wrong with sniping? If someone's willing to pay more for a lens than your maximum bid (ie. the maximum amount you want to pay for it), what difference does it make whether he/she is using sniping software or not? eBay is an auction site, where highest bidder gets item.

I'm not the sniper you're annoyed by (I have no interest in these lenses) but I constantly snipe auctions, in 95% of the cases I am outbid by someone else but... when I win I get the item for a reasonable price (one that I determine, as opposed to a price determined by auction fever)

edit: whoa, that many replies in this short time Shocked

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I've been using ebay for years and wasn't aware of sniping, didn't even know it existed until the last week or so. It seems to be par for the course with sales of lenses and photographic items which really surprised me as I haven't experience this before buying anything else.

I got my Jupiter-11 for less than a tenner and only one other person bid. I was the only bidder on the Mir-1b till about 3 mins to go then it went up in 1 pound increments, all the same bidder which was why I thought he was messing with me, who would sit there and make a dozen bids, each one only 1ukp higher than the last until he finally, with 1sec to go outbid me by the princely sum of ONE PENNY!

So I figure he must have been using some kind of software to do his bidding for him.

I'm really shocked this goes on in the photogrpahic world, I thought we were all nice, mature gents, seems I was wrong and there are a lot of sneaky sharks who like camera too.

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

What you are describing could just as well be automatic bids placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder... Someone puts in his high bid and every time you raise your bid --> eBay raises the other bidder's bid until max is reached. This is not sniping, it is normal eBay. (As per eBay rules, if two bidders end up on same bid, previous bidder wins.)

Example: I bid USD 100.01 for a lens. 2nd highest bidder bids USD 71.99 for item, minimum raise is 1.00 USD --> I win item for 72.99 USD although I bid (=set my maximum bid to) USD 100.01

Only actual bids (not automatic bids generated up to a bidder's maximum) are shown. Automatic bids may be placed days or hours before a listing ends.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

How come everyone is up so late? Laughing

I just got in from a night out with the boys, so I'm a bit tipsy Laughing

Didn't win any lenses tonight but that's probably a good thing Wink

Had a nice curry though!

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I sat down in front of my PC when there was about 10 mins left onthe Mir and there were two bids and it stood at 2.04.

It went 3.04, 4.04, 5.04, 6.04, 7.04, the bids seemed to come every 30 seconds, evenly spaced.

I had bid 21.01.

With 1 sec to go I was winning with a bid of 20.01

The winning bidder got it for 21.04.

So I was outbid by 3p.

I'd have increased my bid by a few pounds but as I was winning with 1 sec to go according to my PC....

I'm new to buying lenses and it seems I have a lot to learn.

I had no idea there were 'tricks of the trade' it just seems dishonest and sneaky to me to bid this way, but if everyone's doing it...

To be honest, it's not for me, I'm not sneaky, I think I'll leave ebay for those with more time and motivation who don't have a moral problem with such behaviour.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Did you check that it was the same buyer re-bidding? Sometimes sellers are dishonest and create a second account to bid on their own items, upping the price. I think this is called shilling?

Anyway, there is to stop a buyer re-bidding with a little more at a time, especially if they want to pay the lowest price possible...they'll just keep re-bidding by an extra pound until they're in the lead. These bidders don't usually win though, as someone who *really* wants the lens will place a much bigger bid with just a few seconds to go.

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Hooper · Joined: 06 Dec 2007 Posts: 174 Location: N.W UK

Nothing wrong with sniping, it's a legitimate way of bidding...and it can even go against you in the end! I f you put in a snipe bid and someone else has put in a higher max bid, you don't have any time to put in a higher bid yourslef...thats the chance you take

my grief is with reserve prices...was a komine 28mm f2 on today, and started auction with a 99p bid but reserve not met.....how the hell can you ever meet the reserve (which you dont know) if no one else bids on it? STUPID.

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

iangreenhalgh1: Are you reading replies to this topic at all???

FORGET blaming the sniping concept, what you are describing is NOT sniping. You simply were outbid by a buyer who had set a maximum bid higher than your bids ever reached, and every time you bid --> eBay raised that bidder's bid. eBay automatic bids would have continued raising the other buyer's bid until it reached the max bid he/she had set.

You lost the auction, because you did not bid as much as the other buyer - that's not unfair and it certainly is NOT sniping - it's a normal auction on eBay.

Sniping you will experience this way: you enter your maximum bid, seconds before the auction you seem to be winning until you notice when auction has ended that someone outbid you at the last second. You can snipe yourself, by placing your bid at the last second (or use software which does this for you)

Arkku · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 1416 Location: Helsinki, Finland

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I don't get it, I bid 3 days before the end, with about 10 mins to go there was only one other bid. Why did all the bids suddenly happen in the last minute or two?

If this other higher bidder had bid more than me well in advance then ebay wouldn't have incremented the bid by 1ukp over and over in the last minute, his higher bid would have registered at the time he made it.

What I mean is, If I bid 21ukp and he bid 24ukp then he is the high bidder and the system would refelct that.

But that's not what happened, 21ukp was the winning bid according to my screen at 1s left. The winning bit at 3s left was 20ukp.

So the winning bid (which must have been greater than the 20ukp bid placed at 2s) was placed in the last second.

And you're trying to tell me that's not sniping?

This is all very confusing.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27