Hey you Ebay experts!!
 

Tell me how in the heck they do that?

I put a maximum bid of 30.50 on an item that was currently priced at 17 bucks.

I sat and watched 1 min out ... no change, 30 seconds out, no change, 5 seconds out no change (now I'm getting excited) 2 seconds out I see the price jump to 20 (woot I still have it !) 1 second to go BOOM 31.00 .. sorry you lost the bid :stare:

Now I could chalk it up to just bad luck or some such but this has happened to me not once not twice but at least on 4 seperate occasions if not more.

In the last second of the bidding I will get beat by a dollar :oops:

bots maybe?

It's hard to find circa 1950 radio equipment on amazon ;)

Dis true SW. People will sit in the last seconds watching and keep on bidding hoping to get the last bid in. This time the bid went over yours in the last few seconds. Bummer.....

No it cant be just that... its happened to me several times now in the last few seconds get beat by 1 dollar. They have to be using some sort of automated thing because the 'base bid' does not change untill the last three seconds and there is no way I can respond in that time frame.

I could see if it was based at 15 bucks and I bid say 20 someone might slip in the other 5 bucks at the last second but to go from 17 bucks to 32 bucks in a matter of 3 seconds :o and espically when they seem to know precisly how much to beat me by a stinking dollar time and time again.

I see what you are saying. Perhaps a email to Ebay asking these questions. Perhaps there is a bot type program that will make $1.00 bid over the max in the last seconds. Seems plausible to me. :hmmm:

Grrrrr... check this out...

http://www.auctionsniper.com/

I guess thats leagal wonder what happens when two of these go up against one another. :shifty:

Did the item have a reserve on it??? I sell and buy on ebay what some people like me do is look at the price which it is at... for the last few mins of the item you bid small amounts checking to see wether the other bidder has got a small max bid if you cant break it you get set up with the highest price your willing to pay and hold your mouse over the confirm botton waiting for it to get to 3 secounds then click then by the time it gets to 1 its confirmed and its kinda hit n miss wether you bet the last person or not... anyways if the item didnt have a reserve this is most likly how it happened... I know this because its an excellent tactic but highly frustrating when it bites you back:arrgh!:

Bingo! That should not be allowed IMO but my vote does not count in this instance.

I kind of thought about that but the problem is that the price doesent start moving untill the last 5 seconds. There is no way humanly possible to move from 15 dollars to 32 dollars in 5 seconds making small bids.

If you check the sniping link that is exactly what they recomend to start the sniping at .. 5 seconds before bid end.

Wonder what ebays policy is on this or if they even care.:stare:

Found an interesting article on the topic. It seems Ebay holds a neutral stance.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...-of-ebay_x.htm

$4.5 billion...of course they have neutral stance. They get theirs sniped or not!

hmm it seems a bit annoying that a computer can bid.. i see the logic and also see how it is really annoying.. but at the same time would this methord of worked if a high enough maxinum bid had been place. because kinda the same thing happens for example: you find an item its £10... now you hold on because 1 person has bid... u wait until last few mins then you place a bid.... bang uv bin outbid.. you place anougher...bang you've bin outbid again and this goes on up to £20 and now the product ends but no mater what you bid you lost... why because the other person set a higher maxinum bid for the ebay computers to add on than what you were biding... this bidding for that person is done by ebays own computers... which i.e means they cant take an enemy stance at this because ater you bid you set your max price and ebay computer bids for you in seconds much the same as that snip website except the snip website waits till the last moment instead of early... its annoying but one of them things that is covered by the rules:down: I think it should be like a real auction tho.. no max bid or anything and starts at a certain time and lasts till bidding stops:arrgh!:

I've no problem with sniping - at the end of the day it's the highest bid that wins, no matter when it was made.

I do it, both manually and automatically (with the aid of a software program). I win more and I save more money, because I'm not getting into bidding wars throughout the seven days with novice bidders who just drive the price up to ridiculous levels (some seem to take bidding as a personal affront).

There was a time when sniping was considered by many as immoral...nowadays it's more and more common; I find most auctions I bid on have some form of price hike in the last 8 seconds.