How could I possibly be outbid on eBay?

[IShootR8]

It was the sniping that caused you to lose. The other person had to have placed the bid before you since it was the same amount. This is why when I see something I want, I decide what I am willing to pay, set that as my max bid (with some extra pennies at the end, like 50.07) and leave it until the auction ends.

[cdodkin]

Geeeez, stop bitching about the 'old days of EBAY' - we live in a golden time where 'old' cameras are being sold for peanuts!

Seriously - just get your check book out and get on with it while it lasts :mrgreen:

[super8man]

Always bid the pennies!! Though now I have too many cameras...

[reflex]

I won an auction recently by bidding what I was willing to pay in the last few seconds. I'm sure that several others were grumbling about "unfair" software, but I did it the old fashioned way. And, honestly, sniping software simply automates the process.

[aj]

Hmmm, eBay used to be the most popular topic here for a long time.
Now it is what? Teleciné, youtube?

Bidding late is the only way to keep the end bid low. Either by hand or using a robot (at night or whne you cannot afford to miss).

The important thing is to not have a typo in your bid I.e. 5000 instead of 50.00

A few cents extra can save the day and your humeur if you don't want to see it go at your high bid but not being the bid. The eBay automaton will decide in favour of the earlier bid when two bids are the same amount.

BTW http://www.retrothing.com/ Funny website, still going strong. I had no idea these Seiko 5 watches were that affordable. And so much more class than these big clunks which are now hip. Or these Tissots.
The Floppydisk emulator for old school (TRS-80 etc) home computers is nice too. Should make the machines mucht faster but it seems that is not the goal. These 2GB SD cards at Euro 10 are now 100x bigger than the harddisk that was available then.
These watches tell time but cannot create it

[wahiba]

Only time I noticed sniping was when I won something and realised that there were also last second bids, obviously snipes, that were too low.

Always bid you maximum, the odd decimal is a good idea to reduce duplicate bids, and win some lose some.

All real auctions, at least here in the UK, allow individuals to leave written bid which operates in a similar way to eBay.

Also the mixed lots arrangement can be awkward. However, I have bough mixed lots, kept what I want and sold the rest and made a profit on eBay.

As for eBay. All their rules are up front. Real auctioneers have sellers premiums and buyers premiums which means that eBay costs are no worse than auction house costs.

When selling on eBay I have started including home (UK) postage in the cost of all items, just asking the difference for further afield. Seems to work and justifies the slightly higher insertion fees. How often do you pass up an item with an obviously inflated postal charge?

[BAC]

As for eBay. All their rules are up front. Real auctioneers have sellers premiums and buyers premiums which means that eBay costs are no worse than auction house costs.

When selling on eBay I have started including home (UK) postage in the cost of all items, just asking the difference for further afield. Seems to work and justifies the slightly higher insertion fees. How often do you pass up an item with an obviously inflated postal charge?

According to Ebay rules your shipping costs are supposed to be the actual cost to ship the item. You can include stuff like packaging materials. I saw an item for a low starting bid but it had a shipping cost of $65. That was a lot for domestic shipping for an item that weighed less than one pound. The seller had a zero rating, so it was likely their first sale and they thought they could make a huge profit from the shipping. I reported them to Ebay and the auction was removed. The item was later re-posted with a more reasonable shipping cost. Always look closely at the shipping cost, it's amazing how different they can be for similar items. I always ship USPS Parcel Post, it's cheap and the item usually gets where it's going in a few days.