Has eBay disabled sniping??

[charliebrown]

Got an email the other day claiming eBay has made an unannounced change and has somehow disabled all last second "bidding robots" - I figured this email to be spam, but when I tried to place a bid with a sniping program, I got "error submitting bid" message.

Is this true? Has eBay somehow managed to disabled all the last second automatic bid programs from placing bids?

Anyone know anything about this?

 

[geno]

I hope not, sniping is fair game :|

 

[bmacd]

it's my birthday, and i'll nef if i want to, nef if i want to. You would nef to if it happened to you (duh dun dun duh!)

-=bmacd=-

 

[iamme]

how does ebay know if the bid is from a person or bidding software?

 

[Rallispec]

i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

 

[bmacd]

What's the difference between proxy bidding and sniping? Proxy is setting a high bid, IIRC, and sniping is bidding at the last minute or so hoping to A) jack up the proxy bidders price or B) win it hoping they weren't proxy bidding.

-=bmacd=-

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: bmacd
What's the difference between proxy bidding and sniping? Proxy is setting a high bid, IIRC, and sniping is bidding at the last minute or so hoping to A) jack up the proxy bidders price or B) win it hoping they weren't proxy bidding.

-=bmacd=-

proxy bidding is fine imo.. its when somebody goes out and gets the 3rd party software to do the sniping that i have a problem with. I'd rather sit at my computer and keep refreshing the screen everyminute for an auction to get it at the last second.

 

[Torghn]

I wouldn't put it past them, especaly if they thing it'll up their profits.

 

[TwilightZone77]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

Ditto. I hope Ebay did disable sniping software.

 

[yakko]

That would suck if they disabled it. While I have never used a sniping program I think it is fair game.

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: yakko
That would suck if they disabled it. While I have never used a sniping program I think it is fair game.

in other words, you're against it?

 

[madthumbs]

Why is the last minute so important? I generally only bid on things that are ending the day I'm checking, so I don't go for days wondering if I'm getting something or not. I may bid on something at the last minute, but why wait til the last minute? Does sniping increase the load on their servers, or is it just about dashing the dreams of someone thinking they're gonna get a steal up to the last minute?

 

[wolfsblood]

Wow I've never tried sniping software before, but I guess that would be good to disable it. Getting bids in and having 5 seconds left in the auction after you click that submit button takes skill (and a fast connection)

 

[LordMaul]

I hope so.

 

[Rob9874]

Originally posted by: madthumbs
Why is the last minute so important? I generally only bid on things that are ending the day I'm checking, so I don't go for days wondering if I'm getting something or not. I may bid on something at the last minute, but why wait til the last minute?

Because in the small chance that you and only one other person want this item, they are the only one who will raise your bid after you place it. So the idea is to let them put their amount on it, then outbid them before they have a chance to become high bidder again. Very ruthless, I know, but why pay more out of pocket just to give another eBayer a fair chance? If you place a bid with even 30 minutes to go, they will more than likely try and outbid you. Or at least raise your high bid. My whole purpose for eBay is to buy things as cheaply as possible. If the other person doesn't want to be sniped, they should have placed a higher proxy bid.

 

[Cyberian]

Where is JZero now that we really need him?

 

[Deeko]

I'm all about sniping, I've actually become quite good at sniping with my dialup connection. But sniping is an art, an art that is mocked by these programs, so I'm glad they disabled them

 

[FSUpaintball]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

 

[Smolek]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

 

[Smolek]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

 

[eplebnista]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think sniping by using the sniping software should be disabled, however manual sniping should be okay if you do it yourself

 

[madthumbs]

Ah.. so sniping is taking advantage of dumbass's that can't make up their mind on how much they want to bid.

 

[McPhreak]

I think Ebay should do what Yahoo! does and that is continually extending the auction by 5 minutes whenever someone bids at the last minute.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

yahoo does that too? I thought that was just ubid.