Articles on Ebay | Topic: ebay
by Loraine Frederick
How to Stop eBay Auction Sniping.
Every day, hapless bidders get beaten to the punch by auction snipers who jump in at the last minute. I know how annoying it can be, as I once had it happen to me three times in a row on the same item! The thing is that the only people who can help the poor bidders are us, the sellers.
The Problem.
Bidders will bid on an item and then wait for days until it finishes, only to have someone else outbid them at the last minute. In a traditional auction at a real auction house, this isn't a problem at all, as the auction keeps going until everyone has bid as much as they want to, and the auctioneer double-checks with the classic phrase "going, going, gone".
The problem on eBay is caused by the fixed length of time that eBay's auctions last, and the fact that they aren't extended significantly if someone places a new bid in the last few seconds of the auction. Imagine if a real auction house worked that way, letting people shout "50 cents more!" at the last second and win an item. It would simply be unfair, and many buyers think it's unfair on eBay too.
The Solutions.
Until eBay decide to fix the problem (and by now it's looking unlikely that they ever will), you're the only one who can do anything for your buyers.
| Historical Quote |
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill
together.
| —William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
|
|
First off, you can encourage your buyers to use eBay's proxy bidding system the way it was intended. The idea of the system is that they enter the maximum they're willing to pay for an item and eBay places bids for them automatically up to that maximum. They're not supposed to come back and bid an extra dollar every time they get outbid.
If your bidders are bidding high enough, then no sniper will even come along and beat them – because they will have set the maximum snipe level in their sniping software to less than the normal bidder's maximum. Changing the way people use eBay is hard, though.
One alternative is to keep an eye on who's bidding on your auction, and cancel bids from known snipers – but this requires you to be around right at the end of the auction to cancel their bids. You might also want to set your auction to end sometime when bidders will be around so that they can outbid snipers themselves. This is good business sense anyway – most of the bidding always takes place in the last few hours of an auction.
An easier way to thwart bid snipers is to offer 'Second Chance' sales to bidders who get outbid by a sniper at the last minute. This is good for you, and for them – they still get to buy the item they wanted, and you've just made two sales: one to the sniper and one to them.
Once you've sold your items, though, you might be upset to find that one of them gets returned for a refund. Our next email will show you how to turn these returns into profits!
|
We strive to provide
only the finest articles on our website. If
there is a specific ebay-related topic that you do not see but would like us to cover, please contact us here.
Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "How to Stop eBay Auction Sniping" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by WebDesignConferencing.com. |
Writing for the Web
By Orlando Clements
Writing for the Web. Coming at the web from the perspective of a writer, it can be easy to despair....
The Bandwidth Barometer – How is Bandwidth Involved when Choosing a Web Host
By Xuxa Sexton
Bandwidth is very important when choosing a web hosting company. Never doubt its importance on the survival of your website, or the influence on your checkbook....
Wireless Internet Service
By Burch
When I first heard about wireless Internet service, I was a little bit skeptical. My son was begging me to get it....
Examining the wonders of video conferencing
By Verran Underwood
Video Conferencing is the ability of parties around the world to communicate visually and verbally using a two-way electronic system to conceptualize, design, deliver quality and administrator reliability for a productive corporate experience. The technology surrounding video conferencing integrates both audio and video data and converting the concentrated signals into a real time interactive technology....
When and How to Withdraw Your eBay Bid (and Why You Might Not Want To)
By Virgil Long
When and How to Withdraw Your eBay Bid (and Why You Might Not Want To). eBay are a little strict about letting you withdraw your bid....
The Web is Not Paper
By Kaiden Molina
The Web is Not Paper. The web is a relatively new medium – in fact, it's often referred to as just that, 'new media' – and practical graphic design on the web is still less than ten years old, by all accounts....
|
