Hi guys

I am still looking for a sigma 8mm Nikon mount F 4.0 (not the new 3.5)

Anyone want's to sell one, please contact me:

mb (at) marktold (dot) com

Seen you bidding on one on ebay.

You didn't win it?

Regards, Smooth

@smooth

Nope - one time I was just a split second late for new bid. Looked ok until 5 sekonds befor the end (6 hours no bidding)

I reloaded every second. 5 seconds befor ending someone bid and i had no chance to make a higher bid.

Last bid was ending on Sunday. And I don't follow stuff on sunday.

Regards Markus

Snipers mate!

You need to get yourself a bit of software to do your bidding or one of the sites that do sniping for you.

• www.auctionsentry.com
• www.auctionsniper.com  
• www.bidnapper.com
• www.cricketsniper.com

There are many of them and if you are serious about winning auctions you are up against people who use these.

Regards, Smooth

@smooth

Thanks for the tips. I new it had to be done by software.

But here is my scenario.

Lets say my max bid on a item is 500 AUD

At the moement my last bid stays at 300 AUD

The question is now. If someone bids 301 AUD at 1 second before ending would I win because ebay nows I would pay up to 500 AUD? If  so how would anyone who wants to snipe this auction from me know what to bid.

If ebay would not automatically change my Bid to 302 AUD it would be kind of strange to me.

Hope you know what I mean. How would I know how high to bid for the item that is at 300 USD when I don't know what the other did put in for max (500 AUD in this example)

Regards Markus

It's very simple: The oldest highest bid wins.

If the bidding was at $300 and you were leading because you have "auto bid' to $500 so long as nobody bids higher than $500 you win.

If someone bids either by sniper or regular bidding more than $500 and it becomes the highest newest bid it wins.

People don't know how much you have "auto bid" until they have outbid you. The issue for people/newbies is that they don't understand and think just because their bid is leading with only seconds to go that they will win. (rarely the case) unless there is a lack of interest in the item.

I suggest you either A) Bid to your maximum price by "Auto Bid" relatively late in the auction or B) Use some bidding software. 

One other point: If you have bid $500 (auto bid) and a sniper comes in at $500 at the last nano second you still win because your high bid was first. Sniper bids $501 the Sniper wins.

Still the simple rule applies Oldest, Highest bid wins every time!

Regards, Smooth

@smooth

a) Doesn't matter if I bid late because if I am at 300 USD (Max 500) at 10 seconds bevor ending the sniper would not know this and would have to bid 501 USD in the last second. At the end this would mean the the item was the sniper more worth then I was willing to pay. And he did not snipe it just outbid me.

So simply the highest bidder wins.

B) ???

Regards Markus

You miss the point.

Snipers make assessments on what the total finishing bid may be and if you bid late it looks as though the item has little interest and "maybe" there is a problem with it etc (plant a seed of doubt).

Auctions are mind games!

What you say is true based on "hard" facts but you miss the whole mind game part of the equation.

The sniper might just have well bid $1000.00 USD just so he ends up the winner. Taking a risk that you are "smart" enough not to have bid "early" to a ridiculous or over the odds price for the item. He just ends up paying the next bid increment over your highest offering not the "$1000.00" his snipe bid was!

Yes, it's a risk. But 99 times out of 100 it pays off for the sniper.

Regards, Smooth

@smooth

Let's think the other way around.

Item is at USD 300. Other bider puts in max 600 USD on first day of auction.

To me the item is 500 USD worth. Last minute bid from my software 500 USD - I loose.

I put in max 10 Minutes befor end it will go to 501 and I will know that if am am still interested in the item I have to take a bigger risk.

Since it was not worth to me more then 500 USD I might be tempted to put in + 10 % lets 550.- still lose.

If I bed risky 1000 USD max at the end I end up buying at 601 which is to much for me.

So the only way this would help me is if I can put in a max of 500 USD (what its worth to me) while item is at 300 and in last split second it would add 1 USD to the bid and (if this would be the case) E-bay would not put it to 302 for other bidder because the auction ended by the time ebay want to automatically bid for the other guy.

If the other guy put in a amount less then what the item is worth to me then the sniper software would be of help because he could not put in another bid.

So my conclusion is that the software only helps me if any otherone has a lower max bid then what I am willing to pay and/or ebay system is faulty and does not automatically bid higher because auction has ended.

Regards Markus