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That's usually called sniping, and most people I know don't like the practice. No offense. In any case, I wouldn't call it "ebaying properly".

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Hehe no offence taken by this sniper.

Reading the eBay community boards here in Australia it appears that most sellers love snipers as the sellers see the price of their items driven up in the last few seconds. I don`t see how sniping does help sellers in the long run myself but I just want to get a bargain and if that wasn`t possible I would bid/buy somewhere else.

I just read a whinge post by a buyer that was complaining that people bidding in the last seconds drove his price up. Lol. The only real difference between driving a price up in the last few seconds or driving it up in the last few days is the fact that the buyer would probably pay more if others weren`t limiting themselves to a few seconds to bid, extend the auctions if someone snipes and everyone pays more.

Loth I`m just curious as to why people wouldn`t see sniping as eBaying properly. eBay has decided to have set end times for auctions and for me not to take advantage of that would be something I couldn`t understand.

Agony you are left open to the shill bidding I mentioned above, you might not pay more than your maximum but you might pay more than you should. You are also left open to the human nature part of bidding. If people see others bidding on items they find the item more attractive and bid along with you, new bidders in particular, thus making you pay more.

I must sound like a cheapskate, I`m not but I do like to pay less than I have to and be able to buy more items with the money I`ve saved. If the seller tries to save eBay fees by starting the items price lower than he/she would be happy to accept I can`t see that as my problem.

eBay started out promoting itself as a fair place to buy and sell and has evolved into a huge money making venture. I believe the sellers in the U.S.A are currently up in arms regarding the new eBay store fees and the Australian sellers are closing their shops or having to put their postage and handling fees up.

What I will agree on is the fact that everyone has their own method of bidding on eBay and just because I believe my way is best doesn`t mean that I think everyone should do as I do. As a matter of fact I would prefer that others don`t do as I do because I`ll win the item 7 times out of 10 at a better price. Isn`t that what it`s all about?

I just meant that it seemed the opinion expressed was that NOT "sniping" is NOT ebaying properly, and that's not true. Everyone has a different way of doing things. For my part, I put my max bid in and forget about it, partly because that way I am not tempted at the last minute to bid more than I want to pay, and partly because I often can't sit at the computer just to watch the end of an ebay auction, and I do not gain satisfaction from swiping an auction out from someone else's nose. I'm not making a judgement about it, I just don't like to do it. And I don't really like when it's done to me, but that is the way some people operate, and that's fine. I know that this is the reality of Ebay and I deal with it. Fortunately for me, really the items I want are not things that are typically hot commodities, so I don't actually usually have to deal with other bidders. The things I want that ARE more likely to have competition, I usually wait until there's a BIN or store "auction" so I don't have to hassle with other bidders.

On a totally different aspect, I have my ISP email registered with ebay, but have had Hotmail for much longer as the other didn't work for a while and whatever the ISP people can always find me on Hotmail.
So, given that fact whenever I receive one of those very well made emails in my Hotmail account from ebay I know someone's after clearing out my bank account again, most say they are from ebay (like the banks I never had accounts with) but today I got one from 'another member' asking me where the wheelchair had gone I was selling.
Now even if someone had got the email address right, what sort of moron would someone have to be to reply to such errant rubbish? I can only presume the people who hit the link out of curiosity then get sent the mother and father of all viruses or trojan horses and have to get their disk wiped? And where's the point in attacking other people's computers for fun (OK, I know it happens, it took me months to fix after mine was targeted). What a sad world it can be at times...

Hehe. I really hate pyrrhic victories. After all my posting regarding the care I put into my eBaying human error and death catches up with me.

I drove to pick up my LCD screen, was given a box, got it home and discovered that I had a nice scanner instead. The scanner was won by someone else for less than $13.00. I rang the company and arranged to pick up the monitor the next day. Arrived there and the place was closed, rang them up only to be told that someones` grandfather had died and they wouldn`t be open that for a few hours. An afternoon of phone calls and the company agreed to be open that evening so I could pick up the item. Picked the item up on my third drive over and was given an optical lighted mouse as a sorry we did this to you present. All ended well enough but I could have done without the extra driving time.

Well Roos, I've been sniping and didn't know it. I have always waited untill close to the end of an auction to place my bids then I sit and watch and bid up to my maximum. I had no idea that was frowned upon.

I can't see anything wrong with sniping - it's all part of it, you want to get the item at the cheapest possible price and I reckon it's the best way to do it.

I found Blythe on ebay here but they are not cheap. There is one for £45 starting price, no bids at present - will end in five and a half hours - 29-Jul-06 18:32:11 BST

Alternatively, and fairly cheap are some from Hnng Kong.

There's nothing wrong with sniping. It IS all a part of it. I didn't mean to sound as if I was shaking my finger at people. I don't personally like to do things that way, and it is often frustrating when an item that I have been bidding on is "sniped" at the last moment because I was unable to be at the computer (which is why I don't like to do it to other people either), but it is certainly a get-over-it kind of thing. Like I said, though, when I said I wouldn't call it "ebaying properly" that was in response to a comment that implied that if you do NOT snipe, the you do NOT ebay properly. I just meant that people like me are also ebaying properly. lol

And Sue: I've noticed that they are cheaper from Hong Kong... I think you can even buy them in retail stores in Hong Kong for less than the Ebay prices. Sadly, I don't live in Hong Kong, and also sadly, I can't afford over $50 for a doll. (There is just no way I can justify this to my husband. "No honey, it's not for Kit, it's for me. No, sweetie, I won't be playing with it... as such, no. Yes, more than the new vacuum cleaner cost...") I've bid on a few dolls that started with low prices, but they ARE popular little things. One of the dolls I bid on went for $21, which was $1 more than my max bid and I could have gone up to $30, but I knew that most people bidding against me were likely going to have a much higher max bid, and I didn't want to bid $30 and just wind up raising the final price for the seller and making my opponent pay $10 more, so I stopped bidding. That's the real problem. The dolls that are listed cheap usually go for around $40, but half the people bidding on them can go much higher than that, so I won't bid the item up because it just puts more into the pockets of the sellers. It isn't worth it. One day, when I have enough money saved up, I'll just buy one of the BIN dolls and not worry about it.

You can 'Buy it now' from Hong Kong for just over $11 US, plus postage of about $13.

Green Apple Blythe doll

Thanks for the link, Sue! That's a "Petite Blythe" of about 5 inches tall. The full-sized Blythes (which are actually mostly reissues of a 1970's doll that didn't do very well at the time) are 12" tall, and that's the type I am looking for. They're about the size of a Barbie.

I don`t know why I`m even chatting about feeBay at all. I`ve found a new site that is run by Aussies (I don`t think they are drunk all the time), OZtion can be found here . Not as many items by a long shot as feeBay but they are certainly getting more new members lately.

I`m not getting anything to link to that site btw. I just thought it might be nice to give people an alternative to eBay for a change.

Will someone PLEASE stop me buying? This is getting silly. My postman will think that I have gone crazy.

Have you got an LED optical mouse and LED keyboard yet Sue? I have the mouse but MUST get the keyboard as well, they look fantastic!

The house behind us was sold recently and watching the previous owners loading several sets of everything into trucks was pretty interesting. I chatted with their nextdoor neighbour and he said that the lady of the house just couldn`t stop buying on eBay.

I haven't ever bought any actual jewelry on Ebay, but I have purchased gemstones, as I said above. I've gotten some beautiful deals on faceted garnets and moonstones, ametrine, chrome diopside (what a fantastic green that stone is, if you've never seen it before), blue chalcedony, apatite, a green diamond... much more than that, I'm sure. Ametrine is such a beauty, I hope you love your earrings, Sue! I made a set of ametrine earrings for my aunt a while back, and she loved them! You can get really great deals on some gemstones and jewelry from Hong Kong, and if you're in the market for any corundum (rubies and sapphies of all colors) the auctions from Thailand really promise excellent deals! Um, not that I'm suggesting you buy anything else Sue... lol

The ring that I bought locally was HUGELY expensive, from a top designer and is a 'one off' design. It is quite large and set in white and yellow gold. I have a pendant which is just clawset in yellow gold and the stone is about the same size as the one in the ring, bought off a jewellery channel on television, the earrings are silver - so I guess might pass as white gold! I can always dip them in gold-plate if necessary.

For the confused, ametrine is a stone cut from where citrine joins amethyst, so it is bi-coloured.

You've probably already seen it, Roos, but no sniping on oztion. I know that a seller I use pretty often in moving over there so will probably keep buying from her there but still will use eBay. Been interesting reading in the forums lately, huh? Cna't help but think that the dust will settle and life will go on pretty much as normal though.

I buy and sell a lot on ebay. My latest bargain was a 9 x 3 metre gazebo for £50. I read the sizing wrongly and now it takes up more of my garden than I really wanted lol but it was so cheap. When I look at others on ebay the size I bought they go for over £90 so I'm quite pleased with myself for getting a bargain.

Sue I'd be interested to know if your ring is what you expected. I've always been scared to buy jewellery from ebay.
My friend bought a sparkly set and it looked really cheap compared to what she paid for it.

Also I buy at the last few seconds as Roo does that is part of the fun of Ebay.

When I'm selling something and have from 2 to 20 watchers I know they are waiting until the last minute to bid!

Yes no sniping there Copago but there are fewer buyers at the moment so the chance that you will get the item is better. I had a seller there pm me with congratulations for winning an auction that wasn`t over! Then I was outbid. Hehe.

The forums have been a no-go place for "pinks" (eBay mods) since the fee rises were anounced, I haven`t seen a single comment from a pink there lately and really the forums are running riot. Yes I think it will settle down again but the loss of so many sellers limits the choice of items, and with many sellers closing shops I think prices will go up.

Nice to see another sniper Blueee. I like the countdown and heart racing snipe but the cold-blooded snipe also brings a sense of satisfaction.

Roos, as I have said, I'm not a sniper, but I showed your post to my husband, and I think he's going to use a couple of your strategies - he thought it sounded great. If you're ever outbid by a Canadian with a Harley Davidson nickname, you'll know that he learned well.

I don't think I've ever had a situation where what I bid on didn't get a sensible price till the last hour. It always emails me to say I've been outbid and as long as I keep a maximum price like any other auction I still put it in if not yet reached. I thought that was the usual way it worked and have very rarely had an early bid accepted though it can happen.

Does anyone in the UK have a Realistic Patrolman radio?

I will usually just put in my maximum bid. But, if someone keeps challenging me, I'll let them pull the high bid, and then go in and snipe the item with about 30 seconds to go. I've never lost a snipe.

Interesting name of the place where you live! I live on the island of Jersey, New Jersey was named after this island. Is there any connection?

Oh, and I am still bidding on items!

I have answered my own question by using Google - yes, it is because of our famous Jersey cattle!

http://www.jerseyvillage.info/History/index.html