I think I just got sniped
 

Ok ya'll, I'm gonna rant for a minute.

I was bidding on a cattleya on ebay being sold by eorchids. I heard they have nice things.

No one had bid on this auction until literally it had 5 minutes left. I bid 9 times, and I still lost. What the h*ll?

I believe that eorchids snipes their bidders to get them to bid up. If you look at the activity history of the "buyer" that actually won the auction, you'll see that all it does it snipe on orchid auctions. Check it out!!

Bidding Details


I am really angry. I will never, ever bid on anything from this seller again. Tell me if I'm being out of line here, but this is ridiculous. I've been buying/selling on eBay for 10+ years and never seen anything so crazy.

Comments? I welcome them.

Sniping bids on eBay is common. It's going to happen, and on a LOT of the auctions you bid on. I sincerely doubt that the seller did the sniping, because that defeats the purpose. A snipe bid usually hits with less than a minute left on the auction, and is usually done by a web site set up to do nothing BUT snipe on eBay. If the seller sniped, they would risk losing a sale by being the highest bidder and still having to pay listing fees.

Your best bet on eBay is to decide the highest you are willing to pay on an auction and simply bidding that as your first and only bid. If you are out-bid, move on to other items. Bid towards the end of the auction, and simply watch it until you place your bid.

I know it's disappointing, but it happens to just about everyone who bids on eBay.

I really hope it wasn't the seller. I really do. I get what you're saying, but I feel like it could be, since so many sellers get discounts on listing fees if they have volume to justify it...anyways, I was just ranting :) Don't worry about me - its not like its going to keep me off ebay!!! LOL

If you look at the bids for the item eBay.com Item Bid History I think the winning bidder just entered a higher maximum bid than you did ? Ebay automatically ups their bid until their max bid has been reached.

Of course sniping is possible - but proly not by the seller. It seems a lot of people use snipe especially on orchid auctions. If the seller were artificially inflating the bids (which I suppose could happen) they run the risk of not selling the item at all.

I have lost many an auction in the last minute :p
I try to console myself by thinking I didn't need to be spending that money any way lol.

That says more about the ethics of the buyer than the seller. I'm not sure how you've made the jump from "some little SOB outbid me" to "eorchids is shill bidding". If you're going to shill bid it wouldn't make sense to do it by sniping, which essentially means you lose a sale (surely artificially increasing you sale rate by successfully winning your own item ultimately costs more than the power seller discount).

Sniping is rife in eBay. I tend to avoid buying from eBay for that reason and, when I do, I don't get drawn into bidding wars. There's little you can do about sniping and eBay does nothing to police the use of sniping software, etc to make the playing ground fair (why would they? Sniping inflates prices putting more money into the eBay coffers). As WhiteRabbit recommends; pick a maximum bid and put you're money towards the next bid when you lose.

FWIW, if it was the Llory Ann "Paradise" in the link you were bidding on, a quick google pulled up the same clone in the same size pot for $12.50 at Carmela Orchids, who I often hear good things about. At a final bid of $20.51, I suspect the bidder who sniped you overpaid.

you may be aware that there are programs that sit by and wait until the last minute to place bids. Also, Ebay itself, has a module that warns you of activity and can be set up on top of whatever else you are doing so you can go to it immediately
I agree...no bidding wars...establish a fair buying price and forget about it. You'll be notified if you won or lost.
Nick

I occasionally snipe on ebay. The reason I do it is because it sometimes keeps people who bid less than they are really willing to pay from having an opportunity to keep bidding up every 2 minutes until they surpass my bid. Usually it's a auction that I just found that I decide to "snipe." If you think the plant is worth a certain amount and you bid that amount as your maximum bid, then if it goes above that you shouldn't mind. If it doesn't reach your maximum bid you should consider it a bargain. You can only lose to a sniper if they are willing to pay more than you are willing to commit to. We should also do some homework by checking out ebay vendor stores for the same item in "buy it now", and check out regular orchid sellers for what we want. I've made some good purchases on ebay and have generally been very happy, especially when they show the actual plant pictures.

Paul

I'm with paulemar, I've been the occasional sniper as well. I do it to avoid the bidding war. Multiple times I've placed a bid well ahead of time, only to come back to find that someone had placed 10 bids, at 50 cents each until they nudged past me. It's annoying, and placing a slightly higher bid will only encourage them to do the same. And now you're no longer getting the price you wanted. I'll even snipe on a auction with no bids... if that's possible! lol :p Because some people seem to want to bid on auctions that already have bids for what ever reason.

So, in the last minute or so, I decide what my absolute max I'm willing to pay, and I bid it. I lose a lot, but sometimes I win. I have certainly been sniped a few times too when I've bid early. :) But, then again, I haven't been on ebay a lot lately because the deals I've been finding on regular vendor websites are way better than what I've been finding on ebay.

You used to be able to get some good bargains on eBay but these days I find it is just as you've described. You can occassionally get good deals on rarer orchids from hobby sellers but there's more of a gamble as to the quality of the plants. I notice a lot of people who like buying from established nurseries who sell on eBay. I'm not sure what things are like in the States but here in Australia, the commercial nurseries list at or just below normal catalogue price. For some reason people still bid on these items ($20.51 for the $12.50 orchid in the OP's auction is a perfect example). Sure you occasionally get off catalogue stock offered by nurseries but for the most part the value is just not there on eBay. I can't really blame the nurseries. In a tight margin market like the nursery industry, if someone wants to pay 3 times the sale price I'd let them too. It does seem a little like preying on the ignorant and those who don't do their homework though.

I find a lot of bids get sniped as well! The solution....start using a sniping program! A person can litterally snipe a bid in the last few seconds! But...if your bid isn't high enough, then the snipe won't work. I don't like using the programs because I am always willing to go just a few more dollars higher! I mean am I going to lose the bid over a dollar or two if I really want it! I understand how frustrating it is....I have it happen all the time...especially when bidding on Neo's!