Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm selling that 'tween atoms space on Ebay right now> Hurry before it's all gone ....

Good point Randy.... its also more than ironic that his widow is hawking cheap jewelry to make a quick buck off of his legacy and beliefs. It's sad.

Absolutely right, Kent...but why should she behave differently from the rest of society?

When in Rome...grab your fiddle and a bag of marshmallows...

HMMM, marshmallows

After reading all the above entries, my opinion is this:
People love to spend money, particularly on things they think other people value. I think ebay is so successful because of the competitive element which is psychological. That's why ebay newbies keep bidding early in the auction to stay hi bidder, even though it doesn't matter a whit WHO is hi bidder until the auction ends. They like to see themselves as a 'winner', even temporarily.
I also think nostalgia plays a big part in the 'collector gene'. Returning to a pleasant time or place is enhanced by a material item. I see nothing wrong with it, but do cringe when I see the Pope's car going for a ridiculous amount when the proceeds should have been donated to the ill,hungry or displaced. My opinion, of course.

I have to disagree on the psychology of the eBay thing, Steve. I think there are enough newbies who are not too clear on strategy, to make an auction tick early on.

It takes (usually) THREE interested bidders to keep an auction zesty in cases like this.

Often, prices don;t even begin to make sense until the last half-hour. These are the folks who are interested, but not "must-havers". The "must-havers" will overbid (what's an extra $100 on a $1200 item if you MUST have that BB 620?) to blow out the others. The bargain hunters in these cases are already long-gone.

For my own "must-haves" (and that is really arbitrary to collectors), I use E-Snipe. Its overriding advantage is the stealth factor. Why tip your hand and contribute to a bidding frenzy?

I actually think programmes such as e-snpe will prove to be negative for e-bay in the longrun, those who are unaware of these programmes will become disillusioned at the fact they seem to lose out at last second and stop using e-bay.

Personally I do't use such software as I am not too keen and giving credit card details, I also think it rather spoils the concept but each to their own Paul

I disagree, and the folks at eBay must see E-Snipe as a positive thing, as they bought E-Snipe a couple of years ago.

As in any pursuit, as use grows, knowledge spreads. E-Snipe is growing very fast, and if anything kills it, it will be its own success. As illustration of this point, I've lost two E-Snipe auctions in the last week alone--by a VERY small increment (in each case, ONE bidding increment). There is only one way this could possibly happen--by another E-Sniper outbidding me.

E-Snipe claims that there are still too few E-Snipers to often compete against each other, but I've experienced the opposite, as other aggressive bidders join the fray. So we'll see, and the eBayers who aren't dedicated enough or who don't care enough to pay E-Snipe's 1% fee, will stop bidding or browsing in the meantime, but E-Snipe is becoming part of the eBay culture and there's no way to eliminate it.

"Spoils the concept" is sticking your head in the sand, Roy. It won't go away. I'm not an eBay apologist, but realistically, if every person who holds the view that E-Snipe "spoils the concept", declines to participate in the auctions of items where snipers are present, it won't make one whit of difference to either eBay or the participants and winners of these auctions.

There is enough eBay business to keep everybody happy, and if the high-dollar or high-tension auctions constantly get sniped, people will need to join up just to stay competitive.

An acquaintance, player and collector, today lost a hard-fought auction battle just today for a guitar which he has been chasing for a year. He lost it by a small increment, sniped either by a lucky eBayer or by an E-Sniper. In either case, an E-Snipe bid placed for him would have given him a better chance of winning.

Credit card details given out over a secure, encrypted internet connection are quite safe, despite horror stories to the contrary. E-Snipe's encryption algorithms are state of the art.

I don't use sniping software, I usually put a lowish bid in to show my interest early on and then put my main bid in around 10 seconds before the end of the auction which is usually a bit more than I wanted to pay (there is nothing worse than losing a great guitar for the sake of $10). The only time that I would use esnipe (if I did use it) would be for the USA auctions that I bid on as these usually end at around 3am UK time. Although I have been known to set the alarm clock and bid live.

Bid very late and very heavy if you really want something.

Coming in around the last 10-20 seconds may allow someone to get a later bid in, but chances are, if you have outbid them, they will not have the chance to reload again...

Respect your view Paul obviously and perhaps you are right but just because e-bay bought the site does not mean it is the way forward, e-bay own paypal I believe though you may know more than I, yet there are websites dedicated to Paypal stinks, personally I don't really understand that as what other effective way is there for, say you and I to trade, you don't want sterling and I don't want dollars.

I agree credit card details are probably safe, as safe as shopping in a retail outlet, I just don't feel the concept is fair to all, it creates an uneven playing field metaphorically, I suppose in the end the "If you can't beat 'em join 'em " philosophy will win out.

Roy and Wints:

You guys are missing my point, but not by much, and you raise some interesting issues, I'll admit!

I agree, Roy, that eBay's purchase of the site doesn't mean anything except that they think it a good investment for whatever strategic reason.

They probably thought the same thing many people do. When you lose your first important (to you) auction to an E-Sniper, it makes sense (to me) to join up rather than fight it. In my case, it was a 325C58 that I lost last year while at my company's Christmas party, getting a good glow on, knowing that when I got home (the auction closed during the party), my $1150.00 bid would secure me a mint example. WRONG. I had been E-Sniped and it went for $1160.00 in the last split second. Now the same guitar is at $1550.00 and I have other Rickenfish to Rickenfry. But soon, E-Snipe will get me one.

I knew I couldn't beat 'em and so I joined 'em, and I think that's what eBay did as well by buying the company. If the company dies, they'll have gotten their money's worth by driving more dedicated customers to their site. It's the old Ford vertical organization theory.

Wints and Peter, you would have lost to me (had I bid higher than you) due to E-Snipe, and that is its strength--it still permits fair bidding--highest bidder still wins, but does away with bidding wars and reloading. You can still kill your bid right up to the end, but it places the bid exactly 6 seconds before auction closes. This is the researched processing lag that eBay bids undergo. So, no matter how fast on the trigger, you can't beat E-Snipe's state-of-the-art software and hardware. It's completely transparent to the user, with the exception of a 1% service charge. (You buy "points" at a penny on the dollar.)

Now, 150 or so auctions later, I've lost exactly 5. Two in the past week. Gotta keep an eye on this!

Oh, I agree Paul, no doubt it is the "last word" in bidding. You will always win against conventional bid technique, providing as you point out, you are the highest bidder.

My point was if you bid heavy in the last 10-15 secs "manually" the e snipe only gets one chance to beat you.

Someone used e snipe against me a couple of auctions back, but still lost out, as my very late high bid was waaay over the top...

Yup, Wints--that's the Golden Rule!

"He who has the gold--makes the rules!"

Or in this case case, he who shoots the moon, wins the auction.

But I don't have to point out that this assumes you will pay heavily for the privilege.

So, rule#2 is "Pick your battles wisely".

Please answer a question- I've heard that E-snipe is only effective up to the last 6 seconds of any auction. Is that true?
If we were comparing ebay to a live auction, what's the difference between an e-snipe and a last second 'live' hi bid? Though esnipe seems a little cutthroat, seems to me it's no different than a last second 'proxy' bid in a live auction.