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[Pantherjon]

Well, I didn't 'snipe' but placed a bid in with only 5 minutes left of the auction and won a LOC Precision Aura for $20.51 I think I did good! And, it was my ONLY bid..I have also won a few auctions(rocketry and otherwise) with a bid I placed on the VERY FIRST day of 10 day listings.

I don't like sniping either, especially on something I really want..But, oh well...

 

[Lucky 94]

I am going for something on eBay at the moment. Any tips or hints?

 

[RickVB]

Originally posted by harsas
I am not naive. I am very well aware of the reality of eBay. My point ws that you are incorrect to consider it fair. It is not fair to those people who are unable to be at their computer at the minute of auction end. I, personally, do not fret over a lost auction, because as I said, I set my value on an item and stop there. If I lose, no biggie. But you are also wrong to say that snipers keep the price down because you are still dealing with all the bids before yours. Yo MUST go higher, even if its only by .50. So you are generally paying more than an items worth anyway. And I will tell you that many items sell for more than they are worth in the rocketry arena.

BTW, If we have done business, thank you. My experiences on eBay have always been positive (with one exception).

Hmmm... when someone beats you in an altitude contest at a launch because he used composites and you only used phenolic, is it unfair? If someone beats you in a model contest because he used 10 coats of primer out of an airbrush and lots of sanding, and you used a spray can of Krylon, is it unfair? When people line up at 4am in December to get a rare new toy for their kid at Christmas, is it unfair to everybody else? When someone goes to school for six years and busts his butt, then works his way up for 15 years in a company busting his butt, and ends up making 10 times what the people below him are making, is it unfair?

In all areas of life, you are given opportunities, and you are given choices. If you choose to make the best of your opportunities, then you come out ahead. If not, you take what you get. But it's your choice. I fail to see why rewarding those who will go the extra mile and put forth the extra effort is "not fair", and that's what this system does. And yes, there are several ways you can do exactly what I'm doing and win whenever you really want to, if you're willing to put out that effort.

As to snipers keeping the price down, you and the other guys claiming the same thing here have completely missed the point. If you snipe, you've put up a BID, and nothing else. If you bid earlier than the end, you are putting up a TARGET. And once again, if you put up a TARGET on eBay, 95% of the time someone else WILL HIT IT. See the difference?

 

[Lucky 94]

Starting to feel nervous.

 

[harsas]

Rick,

You are missing the point. When evryone else has run 15 miles, and you jump out of the woods for the last 50 feet, that is NOT fair. And that is what sniping is. It is not about winning or loosing the auction. I decide that by the amount I bid. It is not about the amount the item sells for. That is decided by how much everyone else bids. Neither one of use decides that amount. The point is, you are not going the extra mile. Instead you are sitting in your heated car in the middle of winter, waiting for everyone to get close enough to see the finish and then casually stepping out in front and saying "tough luck". It is nasty and unfair, but very legal. It does not prove you are better than everyone else, it only proves that winning is all that is important to you.

Originally posted by RickVB
Hmmm... when someone beats you in an altitude contest at a launch because he used composites and you only used phenolic, is it unfair? If someone beats you in a model contest because he used 10 coats of primer out of an airbrush and lots of sanding, and you used a spray can of Krylon, is it unfair? When people line up at 4am in December to get a rare new toy for their kid at Christmas, is it unfair to everybody else? When someone goes to school for six years and busts his butt, then works his way up for 15 years in a company busting his butt, and ends up making 10 times what the people below him are making, is it unfair?

In all areas of life, you are given opportunities, and you are given choices. If you choose to make the best of your opportunities, then you come out ahead. If not, you take what you get. But it's your choice. I fail to see why rewarding those who will go the extra mile and put forth the extra effort is "not fair", and that's what this system does. And yes, there are several ways you can do exactly what I'm doing and win whenever you really want to, if you're willing to put out that effort.

As to snipers keeping the price down, you and the other guys claiming the same thing here have completely missed the point. If you snipe, you've put up a BID, and nothing else. If you bid earlier than the end, you are putting up a TARGET. And once again, if you put up a TARGET on eBay, 95% of the time someone else WILL HIT IT. See the difference?

 

[Lucky 94]

I never knew I was watching TNT, I thought I was on TRF.

 

[RickVB]

Originally posted by harsas
Rick,

You are missing the point. When evryone else has run 15 miles, and you jump out of the woods for the last 50 feet, that is NOT fair. And that is what sniping is. It is not about winning or loosing the auction. I decide that by the amount I bid. It is not about the amount the item sells for. That is decided by how much everyone else bids. Neither one of use decides that amount. The point is, you are not going the extra mile. Instead you are sitting in your heated car in the middle of winter, waiting for everyone to get close enough to see the finish and then casually stepping out in front and saying "tough luck". It is nasty and unfair, but very legal. It does not prove you are better than everyone else, it only proves that winning is all that is important to you.

I can't believe what I just read. You honestly think an auction is equivalent to a race?? Just what were you doing from day 2 to day 7, running? I'd say you were sitting in your heated car, too, just waiting for the race to be over. The ONLY difference is that you ran your five steps on day one; I put in my SIX steps on day seven... and that doesn't count the miles I probably went during the week researching the market.

This isn't a contest; it's not meant to be "fair" beyond allowing everyone the same opportunity to bid. The idea here is to sell merchandise, not to make you feel good.

 

[harsas]

And that, my dear sir, is exactly my point. eBay, and the way some people operate on it, has absolutely nothing to do with fairness. It is a "win at any cost" mentality. I choose to think differently. And with that, I am finished. Make your final remarks, if you choose, but I do not wish to bore the others any longer. Thanks for the excellent argument.

Originally posted by RickVB
I can't believe what I just read. You honestly think an auction is equivalent to a race?? Just what were you doing from day 2 to day 7, running? I'd say you were sitting in your heated car, too, just waiting for the race to be over. The ONLY difference is that you ran your five steps on day one; I put in my SIX steps on day seven... and that doesn't count the miles I probably went during the week researching the market.

This isn't a contest; it's not meant to be "fair" beyond allowing everyone the same opportunity to bid. The idea here is to sell merchandise, not to make you feel good.

 

[RickVB]

Originally posted by harsas
And that, my dear sir, is exactly my point. eBay, and the way some people operate on it, has absolutely nothing to do with fairness. It is a "win at any cost" mentality. I choose to think differently. And with that, I am finished. Make your final remarks, if you choose, but I do not wish to bore the others any longer. Thanks for the excellent argument.

And that is my point. You keep demanding that the venue be a place of "fairness", when in the context of what is being done there the only measures of fairness that apply are whether the sellers can post their items and get a reasonable price, and whether the buyers can all get access to bid on that merchandise. That's all that's needed for a "fair" marketplace; this is a market, not a soccer game. Ultimately, the one who bids highest always wins.

No one is keeping you from winning with you're strategy - all you have to do is to alter it as I said before. You have to bid enough so that you'll win. As a non-sniper, that means you have to bid at least 10% above the market value, and possibly more depending on the relative rarity and desireability of the item. Do that, and you'll always win (well most of the time). You'll usually have enough buffer to overcome the goofballs (well, sometimes it doesn't matter how much you bid, they are so derranged they just don't care and will bid over almost anything) and by definition all the snipers.

The problem you have is that you insist on bidding when you want, and the amount you want. That's fine, but you won't win, because the market says you need to do differently to win.

Your analogy is completely broken; this is not like a race, it's like a poker game. You show up and insist that everyone play the game with all their cards facing up on the table. The serious players all laugh and take advantage of you, and you claim it's "not fair". Clearly your perception of the context would be completely ridiculous in that case. But I suppose that analogy is not right either, since at eBay, when you lose, you haven't really lost anything, other than the rights to buy something. You still have your money.

 

[Lucky 94]

Not always. I just got a 60 dollar reload case for 44 dollars.

 

[KermieD]

A race is not a good analogy for an auction. Whatever takes place within the ground rules set for an auction is fair. If those ground rules say that at 10 seconds left in an auction, I can place the same proxy bid someone else did and add $0.05, that's perfectly fair. One way or the other, the guy placing that bid at 10 seconds left was willing to pay more than you were for the item. There's just no way around that conclusion.

Bid the maximum amount you're comfortable paying. If you want to be "fair", do it 2 days ahead of time. If you want it as cheap as you can get it, do it 10 seconds ahead of time. But don't bid 10 bucks on Tuesday for a 30 dollar item that ends on Friday and get ticked off that someone else bought it for 12 bucks at the last minute. At that time, who's worse...the guy who tried to steal it from the seller or the guy who stole it from the thief?

Honestly, if you're going to be there for the end of the auction, why on earth would you place your max bid ahead of time? It has nothing to do with fairness, it how auctions run both in the real world and online. The ONLY person who truly gets hosed by the fixed auction ending time is the seller. The buyer has nobody but himself to blame.

 

[Lucky 94]

Placed my proxy bid the day it ended and won.

 

[RickVB]

Originally posted by KermieD
Honestly, if you're going to be there for the end of the auction, why on earth would you place your max bid ahead of time? It has nothing to do with fairness, it how auctions run both in the real world and online. The ONLY person who truly gets hosed by the fixed auction ending time is the seller. The buyer has nobody but himself to blame.

I would argue that fixed auction ending time is almost a wash for sellers. If multiple snipers are doing it right, they are all bidding what is a reasonable market value for the item anyway. If there were open ended auctions, goofballs would decide a lot more of them than they already do, and there'd be more deadbeat bidder situations. As I said, if you check into who is a deadbeat bidder, you'll nearly always find it's someone who's bid more than once.

 

[SwingWing]

Originally posted by RickVB
Yeah, but there's never any 75mm hardware...

Your 75mm hardware is up on ebay. Look at item # 220105384660 & 220105383990

 

[Handeman]

Originally posted by RickVB
And I bought all of my 24, 29, 38, and 54mm sets second hand, some from eBay (though I believe most from ROL). I have been watching for three months, and I don't recall seeing a single 75mm set on eBay during that time. Saw several on ROL, and got taken for a ride by an individule there (see my Norman Egolf thread in the Yard Sale forum), so I'm still looking...

check this ebay search

two 75mm cases

 

[RickVB]

Originally posted by SwingWing
Your 75mm hardware is up on ebay. Look at item # 220105384660 & 220105383990

Originally posted by Handeman
check this ebay search

two 75mm cases

SSHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

[harsas]

Originally posted by RickVB
SSHHHHHHHH!!!!

I think I will bid it up for a couple of days, then place a big proxy bid.....

 

[Lucky 94]

That worked for me.

 

[deandome]

You can get good buys at ebay, but by & large, you can do much better by googling around a lot first...

A used 38/480 Doc Rocket motor I was looking at ended up an hour ago @ $77.50, plus $4.50 shipping. A new/unused 38/720 is at $86.50 with an hour to go.

Then you go to What's Up Hobbies...they sell the Rouse Tech fore closure for $23, the aft for $21 the 480mm tube for $36 and the 720 tube for $46.

This makes a NEW, rouse-tech (w/'better', hard anodized closures!) 480 motor $80 and the 720 is $90.

A vendor we know selling brand-new stuff....vs. some yahoo selling used stuff for the same price..

gee...tough choice

 

[Lucky 94]

Yes but sometimes you can get a real deal if you are lucky.

 

[SwingWing]

Originally posted by harsas
I think I will bid it up for a couple of days, then place a big proxy bid.....

Gee, where are my testosterone supplements................

 

[kiheimer]

Another vendor with good pricing on Dr Rocket harware is
commonwealth displays. I ordered a 75/3840 motor asbl
for $239.96. However it has been 5 weeks and I have not recieved it. I am told Dr Rocket has not been shipping anything.

 

[deandome]

Yeah...I don't care if they technically are still in business (working phone/website)....something is clearly going on @ DocRocket's. Wildman can't get ahold of them about pending orders...now you're saying the same 'bout commonwealth display...

See this thread:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35360

Originally posted by Kiheimer
I am told Dr Rocket has not been shipping anything.

 

[lppa2006]

Originally posted by Pantherjon
Well, I didn't 'snipe' but placed a bid in with only 5 minutes left of the auction and won a LOC Precision Aura for $20.51 I think I did good! And, it was my ONLY bid..I have also won a few auctions(rocketry and otherwise) with a bid I placed on the VERY FIRST day of 10 day listings.

I don't like sniping either, especially on something I really want..But, oh well...

LOL, I remember that auction, I was wanting to bid on that LOC but didn't have the money at the time to do so.. I certainly would have outbid you by sniping cause i was watching the auction to the last second

By the way that was a really good deal to, and im sure the main reason it didn't go higher was because he spelled Precision - PERCISION.. Silly mistakes like that usually cost sellers money.. (lol I love spell check for web forms within Firefox, plus i always double and triple check my titles to be sure)


So sad i didn't have the $$$ at the time, i still have yet to get a MPR/HPR kit.. so far all scratch built for me except my Estes..

Oh well scratch built is just as fun, plus a bit more challenging (and i kinda like the extra work of scratching them)


I agree with Rick though, sniping is the way to go on pretty much everything.. I tend to like buy it now auctions though when the price is right.. That way i dont havta worry about snipers like Rick ,, and i dont have to wait until the auction ends to get it shipped..


I wish id get more snipers on my auctions, ive been so unlucky with most of my auctions lately,, especially my .99 cent ones.. Glad the beer(bar) glasses i sold were won (free stuff, gotta love it) at my bar poker league.... Some people are just sooooo cheap.. LOL.. I am too, but i still like to b#&$ about it.. hehe

Anyway good job on winning that... After you build it, you should PM me some pictures.. Id love to see it