OT: What's Ebay pulling now? Time cached bid pages??

[jim_galli4]

Tonight I was trying to bid on that uncoated 30CM Heliar and I had my

bid page filled out while I was waiting for the final minutes of the

auction and when I went to push the submit button the page had expired

from an EBAY sent time-out cache. This has huge ramifications if you

are a seller as well as a buyer as folks who like to snipe are being

dicouraged from getting their bids placed. In this case the sellers

$310 item remained unsold even though he had a willing bidder. Sorry

folks this is the <u><b>ONLY</b></u> discussion group I care to

participate in so that's why I'm posting my concern here even though

there may be better places to do it. E-snipe.com is not a viable

solution for me. I'd rather do it myself Virginia.

[john_kasaian1]

Jim, I think thats happened to me, too... and all this time I thought I was just an e-klutz!

[mark_blackman1]

This is not peculiar to Ebay. When any web site creates a personalised page containing form elements, there will be a finite length of time that it will be able to repsond to the reply. The lengh of this time will depend on the activty on the server, the amount of free resources etc. There will be times when you may be affected by this, I doubt very much if this is any conspiracy by Ebay to prevent you bidding.

 

Why not follow the standard advice: place a bid with the amount you are prepared to pay? you'll either win, or your own self-imposed limit will have been exceeded - either way, you are in control.

[peter_collins]

I'm chiming in to say that I agree with the preceding post by Mark, both as to cause of the problem and how you can manage your bid.

 

I have 'done myself in' by waiting with my bid, too. I have also won auctions by deciding in advance what my high bid was, placing it, and then have found out later (once after being gone for a few days) that I was the winner.

[jason_greenberg_motamedi]

Yes, I had the same problem last night.

 

Also OT from this, but as warning for others, I had an auction closed by eBay

administration because they broke eBay rules: I used the word "Technika Style" to

describe a lensboard (can't make comparative statements), and the word "flange" (I

am not really sure why this is bad). I lost 55¢, perhaps this is a new way for

eBay

to collect money, nickel and dime us to oblivion?

 

ps: Jim, I see you have had it with the Nagaoka...

[tedharris]

If the auction in question ended at around 9:00 EDT then I suspect eBay may have had a systemwide problem. I do use a snipe service (www.auctionstealer.com) and in this instance it didn't even get my bid placed. I just stent them an email to see what happened.

[gene m]

Always bid the highest amount you are willing to pay. Do it early and don't worry about it.

[mike_lopez]

I had the following problem with ebay a couple years back. I was bidding on a lens. The seller had his reserve set, but the current bid wasn't very close to it. I set my maximum bid (the proxy bid thing) equal to the seller's reserve. But the automatic bid increment thing set my bid one increment higher than the previous bid. Nobody else bid on the lens, and the auction expired with the seller's reserve not being met, even though I had typed it in as my maximum. The seller contacted me the next day and we made the transaction without ebay's help. It's an annoying quirk they have that keeps people from making transactions at times.

[jim_galli4]

Hello all. Perhaps I jumped the gun with my rant. I'll be watching very close. All the other changes they've made are driving me crazy. All these E-Brain type people with jobs dependent on constantly changing things (hmmm seems like ebay always ends up keeping more of my money too) are driving me crazy. It was in fact around 8:22 last evening. Jason, yes, the <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2940545635&category=15247&rd=1">Nagaoka's</a> inherent trade-offs finally got me. I bought an early Wisner Zone VI that has much nicer movements, bag bellows, and longer extension at the cost of several additional pounds. It will take a 420mm lens I think but.......more pounds!!

Thanks everyone. Jim

[johnelstad]

As Mark correctly pointed out earlier, almost all forms are only active for ten minutes or less. eBay's may be shorter. You don't mention how long you were on the bid page before you submitted, but it sounds as if this was indeed the problem.

 

Here's what I suggest for aggravation-free sniping. Several minutes before an auction ends (let's say three) I go to the auction page and create a duplicate window in my browser (Ctrl+N on IE). In the second window I proceed as if I'm going to bid on the item, but stop short of clicking the Submit button. In the first window I can now continue to refresh the auction page to check the status of the price and time remaining on the auction. When I'm finally ready to bid I go back to the second window and click Submit. I should note that in over 50 auctions I've never had an expired session.

 

Regarding other comments that one should just bid their maximum and forget about it, there are many cases in which this will either result in your not winning the item or paying more than necessary (although still less than your maximum). There is plenty written about this elsewhere so I won't delve into it here.

 

Hope this helps.

[bob.]

Snap!

 

That is exactly what I do John....

 

I also agree with your comment re' sniping - sellers do not like it as it oftens results in a lower sale value (but by the same token folks, it's no use feeling sorry for yourself if you get out-sniped or a server or connection hiccup prevents you getting the snipe in on time). I did try out the AuctionSentry sniping software 10-day trial which worked well, but to buy it outside the US you need to do so via Paypal which is one thing I will never do.

 

Cheers,

[jeff_buckels]

Yes, bidding early at one's maximum is not a solution. The only way to play is bid-once-bid-last. Otherwise you run up the price. -jb

[John Crowe]

From one successful sniper to another: I have been filling out the bid page within the last minute of the auction and placing it within 10 seconds of the auction end, without a problem, so far.

 

I only skimmed the above responses, but as for the sniping process, I find it successful because I can predetermine what I am willing to bid, and not give others the chance to think about possibly bidding more, and driving the final price up even higher. Good luck and happy sniping!

[jim_galli4]

To those who have stated the obvious, "bid once, bid last" I heartily agree and would add that doing otherwise not only lets the entire world know what you're willing to pay (and there's always someone with more money!!) but also affords a dis-honest seller (god forbid, but you can't help but wonder when an old Speed Graphic and a Wollensak lens have a "bidding war" that tops out over $500) to have his shills drive the price up even more. I lose lots of auctions but it's always because some other sniper wanted it worse than I did. And that's just fine.

[golliegwillie]

Jim, I wouldn't sweat this too much. Being a sniper means never having to say you're sorry- win or lose. It also means accepting the risk that technical difficulties on our part, ebay's, or some third party- Esnipe, Vrane, Auction stealer- can foil the best layed plans. I often use services like Esnipe, or more recently Auction Stealer- but I've lost also auctions there because they were having technical difficulties or ebay was. The closer one gets to end of an auction, the more likely this is to happen, because the volume of electronic traffic- whether through people actually bidding or just people refreshing their bidding page- goes up.

 

I like manual sniping as well as the next guy (there's no bigger thrill than a one second snipe), but tactically the only reason for me use manual sniping is for the sport of cutting it as close a possible, or uncertainty on my part: ie uncertainty about whether I really want to bid or not; uncertainty about how much I REALLY want to bid, or whether or not the field's really going to come close to matching my max bid. Statistics show that a person in this frame of mind has no business bidding at all or getting behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle.

 

The other reason to manual snipe is because I am just too cheap to use a sniping service. Esnipe's got one one the fairest pricing structure around- $5.00 buys 500 dollars worth of sniping pleasure to use whenever (a day from now, or a year from now- whenever); and yet the whole reason I signed with Auction Stealer was for free, any priced bidding up to 10 times per month (it used to be five times per week). Alas, auction stealer now has been compromised several times (ie someone hack into their computers and stole passwords); they don't allow new snipe bids to be place between the hours of 7 and 11:00 without paying for premium service; and their pricing structure is much less flexible than Esnipes (ie you have to use your snipe points purchased every month or lose them). You get what you pay for.

 

Just remember, tactically there is no reason to snipe below 7 seconds-it's virtually impossible for anyone to make reactive bid in 7 seconds- which is why Esnipe's default is set for 7 seconds. Anyone sniping after 7 seconds is simply implementing a sniping plan that was well under way before you bidded. So why one second snipe? For the thrill of it of course. But you live by the sword, you die by it as well- and I wouldn't have it any way.

[joe_photo]

I've been happy with the free snipe service at vrane.com. You can have only one active snipe job at a time but as soon as one is finished you can place another one. It's been 96% reliable for me and gets bids in very close to the close. Manual sniping has worked for me but I haven't done it lately. I would have the listing page to refresh and watch the time and one set up for the bid. As I recall I had to place the bid, hit the button and then wait with the next page that showed to actually place the bid. I have had times manually sniping where it tells me I'm the high bidder but later snipes have wiped that out by the time I look at the listing again. Sniping is the best way to go for me.

[joe_photo]

Oh, and as to auctions being ended for brand name violations I think that eBay only pulls auctions when someone complains. They don't go looking for them and I thought they usually refunded your listing fees. I would think if a part fit a particular camera then that could be mentioned. I've tried to find an Olympus lens or accessory only to find listing titles saying "to fit Olympus". I think maybe someone you've done business with made the complaint.

[sandro_fouche]

For sniping, I like to do it in house (as opposed to e-snipe), and have had good luck

with a program called Praeco. It's cross-platform (windows and Mac), and was

reasonably priced. Most importantly, they've been good about getting updates to

match e-bay changes; although I have been without its services for a day or two over

the last few months. I'm sure you can google for it if interested. (I'm not

compensated, just a happy customer).

[mark_blackman1]

Jim wrote "To those who have stated the obvious, "bid once, bid last" I heartily agree and would add that doing otherwise not only lets the entire world know what you're willing to pay". This is simply not true on Ebay. The proxy service will up the current winning bid by the current increment, it does NOT immediately place your full bid amount. The only way someone can beat you is to bid more than your limit.

[james_driscoll2]

if you bid early-your only bidding against yourself.

 

a good example:

 

my soon to be wife, saw a 1950's kitchen table on e of bay that

was actually only a mile from our home (that never happens!!!)

she loved the thing and it was "only" $66.30. She was willing to

pay $250.00 for the table. This was 4 days before the auction

ended.

 

During the last 2 minutes I placed a bid for $250.00. I than kept

clicking reload. It first went up to $77.00. I than watched the

previous high bidder, keep typing in bids. It than went up slowly

to $167.00. The previos high bidder wanted it bad, but wouldn't

type in something like $350.00 and kept increasing her bids in

small increments, hoping she would outbid us. She of course

ran out of time, and we won the table for $167.00.

 

If we had bid four days earlier, she would have had plenty of time

to go higher than my bid of $250.00, or I would have paid

$235.00 instead of $167.00. I was willing to pay $250 but getting

it for less is always better. I realized she was willing to pay alot,

by looking at her past auctions (always know the enemy!!!) and

had paid up to $1200 for similar items.

 

ebay- the new sport for the arm chair athlete.

[charles_boyer1]

The reality of it is that you can set a high-water mark early, or snipe. If you bid a bargain amount, likely as not, you'll get sniped. So, beat them or join them. And it's difficult to defeat automated software.

 

I've chosen sniping because, yes, I do get items cheaper on the average -- or I do not get them at all. Something critical, I would likely pay retail from someone like B&H anyway. Sellers may not like the lower prices, but that's the way of the world.

[walt_donovan]

mark, peter, gene;

I think there's something you all are grossly overrating, the "novice". The person who bids $2.00 over the current price, bids 10 or 30 times until you're outbid. If you look at a lot of bid histories, you'll see this guy in action. He'll systematically up his bid til he gets the item for $2.00 more than you bid. How can you bid "maximum price" when you're competing against "the novice"? If Ebay would accept one bid per bidder, this "perfect world" system would work fine.