Notice of intent to snipe Ebay mold!

[Char-Gar]

I never like to bid against your boys, so I am giving fair warning of an impending snipe on a 311413 HP mold on Ebay, ending tomorrow. I don't recognize any of you as a current bidder. If I am wrong please inform me and the snipe will be called off. I have a pretty good collection of the "Squibb" bullets (Cramer, H&G, Belding and Lyman) and I want to try this HP version. Fair warning!!

[buck1]

Good luck!!

[boogerred]

where in so tx? if i let you have it, will let me borrow it?seriously tho just glad to find like minded people in my rather large so tx neiboorhood. im between san antonio & laredo.

[beagle]

Charles..If the sniping don't work, e-mail me about it./beagle

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I remember various people on the late lamented Shooters board getting quite hot under the collar about sniping systems, and I never could see it that way, myself. Why should anyone feel obliged to disclose his intentions to other potential bidders, especially for reasons that apply unequally to those with slow or unreliable connections, in different time zones (like me) or different work schedules? I favour www.auctionsniper.com, which costs you a little, but is a website, not a programme, and once your bid is entered there, makes you entirely independent of your own connection or even power supply.

It is a very worthwhile courtesy letting people here know of your intention, though. Maybe it is worth making this thread a sticky for the purpose? The ideal, perhaps, if it's possible, would be a single post which anybody can edit to add auction number, title and date.

[Willbird]

I like the system some websites have put into place now, where when a bid comes in it extends the auction time 15 minutes......puts the hurt on the snipers.

I also know there is at least one person who comes here who makes the snipers pay more (not on shooting related stuff) .....I think that sounds like fun as well...when he sees auctions coming towards a lowball closing he takes an educated guess at what the snipers have entered as a buy price, then he fires a bid off 10% or so less, he has had 90-95 percent success making them pay more without ending up with the item :)

Bill

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Anj auction he doesn't actually want to win? It's a mighty young kind of fun. I knew someone who had a system for winning at roulette too, and I'm sure he wouldn't lie, even though I never actually saw him doing it. But at least he stood to win something if he won.

[Willbird]

I have not done this myself. Ebay allows the sniping systems I suspect because they themselves run them and make even more money off the process. Eventually people will adjust and simply bid the maximum they are willing to pay, and the sniping programs will have no real effect on the process except that the people that use them will pay more because they pay to bid.


Bill

[imashooter2]

I don't understand the problem. I bid what I think an item is worth. If someone else thinks it's worth more, let them out bid me. What's the difference if there is a day left or a tenth of a second?

[StanDahl]

I also know there is at least one person who comes here who makes the snipers pay more (not on shooting related stuff) .....I think that sounds like fun as well...when he sees auctions coming towards a lowball closing he takes an educated guess at what the snipers have entered as a buy price, then he fires a bid off 10% or so less, he has had 90-95 percent success making them pay more without ending up with the item :)
Bill

Now what's the point in that? Is he a reverse Robin Hood type that assumes that if an auction is 'lowball' that someone is getting away with something? Isn't that why we go to ebay - to get interesting stuff cheap? Is he in cahoots with the sellers? Are "snipers" inherently evil people, slinking around under the ebay bleachers, looking to rip off the noble law abiding citizens?

I rarely look at ebay and haven't bid in a few years, but I learned early on that if I wanted something there was no point in bidding early, because someone would see it as their mission to outbid me and jack up the price. I would bid as late as possible, and if the price truly was 'lowball' and no one was watching, I got the item for a good price. I always bid on shooting items, never used a sniper program, and was willing to let something go if it went out of my price range. Too many bidders lose their perspective and push the price up in an attempt to 'win'. I don't want any part of that, and I would sure hate it if some ******* with nothing better to do saw it as his duty to make sure I paid my top bid to get something.

Am I missing something here? Pardon me if I am, but it just seems mean-spirited. What's in it for him - entertainment? The thrill of risking getting burned by having to buy something not really needed? For a thrill, he should try casting bullets naked, on a plastic slatted lawn chair, under a bug zapper and without the campaign hat. Stan

[Ballistics in Scotland]

And with the intention of not getting any bullets for his trouble.

Campaign hat? Have I been doing it wrong all these years?

[buck1]

My ebay rules for myself...
1...Bid the most I will pay , and bid only once , and as close to the end of the auction as I can(What if I see a better one after I bid ?).
2...If I loose too much , I must not have wanted it bad enugh or I would have bid more.
3...dont count my chickens before thry have hatched.
4...There will be another one of this "one of a kind" on auction next week.
.....Buck

[StanDahl]

B in S - A pith helmet is perfectly acceptable for those in the former areas of British influence. If you are still in Saudi Arabia though, wear whatever the locals will tolerate. A codpiece is never appropriate. Stan

[Ballistics in Scotland]

As I said, I'm sure we appreciate chargar's starting this thread in a spirit of constructive generosity. If you register for www.gunboards.com , you will find a couple of boards at the bottom of their list which are good for personal comments regardless of subject.

[David R]

On one of the boards I visit daily, the moderator will occasionally post Ebay links related to our hobby. We all check out the link, and if some one wants something, they just post "I call the tires" or something like that. Its understood by the rest of us not to bid against him. It works.

David

[giz189]

What is really funny is when a sniper jacks the price up of something that you really want, and then he bids just a little more than you are willing to pay....and buys some womens underpants that you were buying for your wife size 18.

[wills]

And with the intention of not getting any bullets for his trouble.

Campaign hat? Have I been doing it wrong all these years?


Are you loading for an american or british caliber?
http://www.militaryheritage.com/zuluwar.htm

[Willbird]

Well I can't speak to motive, but I myself find it annoying to bid 125.00 and get outbid in the last 15 seconds by $1.00.

But what would be adult I guess is to realise it is not a "real" auction, and to adjust either my bid, or my expectations. I refuse to pay money to a third party to bid.

Bill

[Shepherd2]

[QUOTE=Willbird]Well I can't speak to motive, but I myself find it annoying to bid 125.00 and get outbid in the last 15 seconds by $1.00.

Most of the bids I make on eBay turn out that way. I bid what I'm willing to pay and forget about it. Some sniper is going to get it anyway. Very annoying.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The thing about auctions is that sometimes you get annoyed, and the way to deal with that in the big world of adult life is to either go to a supeermarket or take it philosophically and practically as Shepher2 says.

Not all snipers pay to have sniping bids entered, of course.You can download free programmes - well, as free as anything else free on the net - which will do it from your own computer. I think that would be undetectable by eBay. But that leaves you dependent on the efficiency of your own connection. I don't know if they will connect for you when you are offline, or could be counted on to disconnect afterwards.

www.auctionsniper.com costs 1%, and those who use or oppose it seem united in thinking it saves bidders a lot more than that. Ebay is free to buyers, but just like the rest of commerce, the buyer ultimately pays for everything. So yes, we're all paying for a proxy bidding system

[Willbird]

I would be fine with it IF as a seller I could simply charge $50.00 extra if the winning bidder uses a sniping program...it is after all FREE market isnt it ??


Bill

[imashooter2]

I would be fine with it IF as a seller I could simply charge $50.00 extra if the winning bidder uses a sniping program...it is after all FREE market isnt it ??


Bill

What exactly is the difference if you are outbid 1 day or 1 second before the auction ends? Why one is OK but the other unfair?

[Willbird]

If the sniping program is not an advantage why use it ?? and pay extra ??

the differance is 1 day before the other buyer's get another chance to re-consider.

Bill

[imashooter2]

If the sniping program is not an advantage why use it ?? and pay extra ??

the differance is 1 day before the other buyer's get another chance to re-consider.

Bill

I concur, sniping programs are not an advantage. High bidder wins whether he bid in the first or last second of the auction, so using them and paying more is foolish. Now that we have that out of the way, why is not giving the other bidders time to reconsider unfair? Why don't the other bidders do their considering up front and bid the most they are willing to pay?

[Willbird]

They should, and they probably will, and buyers and sellers that don't care for the sniping programs should go to auction sites that use the 15 minute rule, where each bid extends the auction another 15 minutes.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

We don't exactly have the question of whether they are an advantage out of the way yet. I think most people here seem to agree that they can be, since they let you out of the competitive feeding frenzy that occasionally takes place.

Apart from being less fallible, it is exactly the same as the person who waits until the last moment before bidding in person. If you use a sniping website, eBay might be able to tell the seller, if they wished. But if you use a programme, they probably couldn't. I think it'll continue to be a free market a while longer.

[imashooter2]

We don't exactly have the question of whether they are an advantage out of the way yet. I think most people here seem to agree that they can be, since they let you out of the competitive feeding frenzy that occasionally takes place.

Apart from being less fallible, it is exactly the same as the person who waits until the last moment before bidding in person. If you use a sniping website, eBay might be able to tell the seller, if they wished. But if you use a programme, they probably couldn't. I think it'll continue to be a free market a while longer.

High bidder wins. It doesn't matter if the high bid is placed in the first second of the auction or the last. Sniping programs can not change that. You want an item, place the high bid. The rest is just sour grapes.

[carpetman]

For no reason related to posting on forums,I do use another name on EBAY. I make no effort for this name to be known,nor do I make effort to remember who from here uses a different name. I figure I'm independent on EBAY and not in cohoots with anyone,so if my best friend is bidding against me that is fine. Sure I try to get things as cheap as possible and do get beat out at the last second. If they are using a program,so be it---the reason they beat me was my effort to buy at the cheapest price.

[buck1]

Theres only one reason to loose on ebay....
someone was willing to pay more, sniper or not.
If I really want it, I will over pay a bit. But I get lucky sometimes,and lose a lot. As do we all , but I keep trying and have done well a few times.
Bid ,like you can bid only once and ignore the current lowly bid when you decide how much you will pay.if its at 10 dont bid 11 if you would pay 20. then after it ends look to see if you won, dont live on the refresh button or you will be mad when you loose.If you need to re concider ,do it before you bid. If someone pays way, way too much I pitty the now poor guy.
..buck

[nighthunter]

I see an awful lot of things on Ebay that go for an outrageous price. I have quite a few molds that have many thousands of bullets from them that I could probably buff up and get more than I paid for them. I would be interested in a mold loan type thing with other trusted members from here. Postage and return postage isn't that much and we could all sample other bullets and save in the long run.

[sundog]

Nighthunter, http://www.castpics.net/boolit_xchange.html

This started out as a boolit swap a few years ago, not moulds, as [I think] most of us would prefer to have our moulds not wonder around the country. I know I have at least more than several (most/all) I would not loan, one being my custom 358009I but would gift a handful of boolits to someone if they really wanted some and they pay the freight. Possibly it could be updated or reconstitued into a useable list.

I've never bought or sold anything on ebay. I take an ocassional gander at the moulds, and I'm astounded as to some of the prices. sundog

[rbwillnj]

You know of course, there is no gurarantee that a sniper will win. A sniper bids the maximum he is willing to pay, an lets the dice roll. If someone else has already bid higher, or if another sniper outbids him, he has no time to rebid, and he loses. I Snip from time to time, and I lose as many as I win. I'm OK with that because I bid the maximum I was willing to pay.

I also sell on ebay from time to time, and I'm always hoping there are some snipers out there. It always raises the price I would have gotten otherwise.

[grumble]

Being inclined towards believing in conspiracies, I think sinister forces are at work on ebay. Just as WalMart set out to destroy Main Street, so is ebay doing its best to destroy the art of bargain hunting. Regardless of the fact that there seem to be many people out there with more money than smarts, it is apparent that ebay provides a conduit for even the less-affluent to spend more for a used item than a new item costs from major retailers.

My tounge is now removed from my cheek.

I do think, however, that there are some real hucksters on ebay. One thing I've suspected in several of the few auctions I've participated in, is that it seems when an item is static for a long time with a fairly low bid, if I join in during the final hours, there will sometimes be another bid against me that raises the price beyond normal retail value. I may be wrong, but I firmly believe that either some sellers have several ebay accounts allowing those sellers to bid on their own items to raise prices, or there's a "consortium" of sellers who provide helpful bids to other members of the cartel and leave positive feedback for one another. No money or goods change hands, but it permits very good feedback records and avoids selling items at unacceptably low prices. Since the "NO RESERVE!!!" hype in an auction's title seems to draw people in, the consortium idea can provide a seller the security of an unofficial reserve and have the additional benefit of increasing the positive feedback scores.

I'd like to see ebay do a sort on bidders and sellers to see how many of the same bidders are involved in the large seller's auctions.

BTW Chargar, did you get your 311413 HP?

[carpetman]

Sundog---weren't you a Sgt Major? Musta been. You stole my thunder. Guys here(or on Shooters)have been sending sample bullets for years. I'd prefer that sending my mold. I did send a set of dies once. All kinds of deals go down here---another post I'm about to make.

[Willbird]

Well I have had extremely good success listing items for $1.99 to start, several items have went well past $100.00 my tin pot theory is that people get hooked on the idea of getting a $30.00 item for 2 bucks and then they don't want to let go of it.

Real live acutions are like that, people will pay more for C clamps than they cost new at the hardware store.

as a rule I very rarely find myself bidding in reserve auctions, it just doest appeal to me to bid and not know what the real minimum bid is, also some people will LIST the reserve price, that seems kind of silly, but I guess it does give them a feel for what others think the item is worth even if the reserve is not met.

Bill

[buck1]

True story!!!

[Cayoot]

Well I have had extremely good success listing items for $1.99 to start, several items have went well past $100.00 my tin pot theory is that people get hooked on the idea of getting a $30.00 item for 2 bucks and then they don't want to let go of it.
Bill

That reminds me of my days in the military over-seas.

In the 1980's, our unit was sent to the Philipine Islands (Mindinow Island) for a couple of reasons. While there, some of the Philipine "advisors" who were with us gave us a lesson in survival.

They cut down a piece of 3 foot bamboo and cut it full of slots, then compressed it a bit and put an oragne in it. The orange held the bamboo slots open just enough for a small hand to fit in.

They then tied the bamboo chunk to a tree and left the area for a day.

The next day we came back to find a small monkey with his hand in the bamboo, holding onto the orange. When the monkey saw our Phillipine friend, he tried to run away, but could only get as far as the length of cord that tied the bamboo to the tree.

The silly monkey wanted that orange so bad that he would not let go of it in order to escape. Unfortunatly for him, while his hand would fit in and out of the bamboo while empty, it was too big to slide out while clutched around the orange.

So the monkey hung on to that stupid orange and tried to pull the bamboo off the cord.

The Philipino just walked up to the monkey with a length of tree branch in his hand and wacked the monkey hard over the head.

He left the orange and bamboo there for another victim and we dined on fresh meat (monkey) that night.

This sort of sounds like what happens on ebay, except the monkey gets to keep his orange after being "wacked"!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I once had a couple of Saudi air force cadets try to persuade me to bring them back silver crosses from Scotland. No matter that they could get into about as much trouble as they would for wearing satanic emblems in 17th century Salem, or tha they actually were perfectly good Muslims, who regularly assured me it was a great pity I was bound for hellfire. Anything forbidden must be good. I think trying to prevent someone from having something, incites them beyond the bounds of reason, and resenting the manner someone did it in costs them no money.

There are a lot of things I don't like about eBay. Would you entirely trust someone that gives a regular home-page spot, surely paid for, to items which say "Lose 95lb. by July, guaranteed?" If "guaranteed?" were anything like "guaranteed", that is selling about as severe health problems as do-it-yourself trephination. They also make sellers say they PREFER their Paypal system, when the seller may tolerate it but much prefer anything else.

I'm also annoyed that they won't do anything about reciprocal and unjustified bad feedback. This happened to me with a seller who forgot to dispatch until it was too late to reach me during a stay in the U.K., and then filed a non-paying bidder report to get his auction charges back from eBay. I was able to send eBay his E-mail which contained mine in the "original message" section, telling him of the dates in plenty of time and giving him my credit card details. They overruled the NPB report (of which two get you banned), and protected THEIR interests, for he has never used eBay again. But my bad feedback has stuck, and they don't allow you to mention any action or decision by eBay!

I don't know that shill bidding (which is against their rules) is exactly common. It is pointless on items that will get a lot of bids anyway, and no way of doing it can eliminate the chance of having to pay eBay charges on an accidental sale that only happens on paper. I'm sure they could set up the programme to automatically detect someone getting a lot of unsuccessful bids from one source, but I don't know if they have done.

Nonetheless, I'm sure E-commerce in general, and auctions in particular, are a boon to humanity that makes it all worthwhile. www.bookfinder.com and the large sites which belong to it have transformed the second-hand book business, which used to be practically a form of suspended animation. Just to take moulds, how many must have lain around till they got thrown out, in the past, just because the owner would never make contact with anyone who had a .41 Long Colt? It's the most efficient form of recycling there is, and a tribute to people who, in the past, did work that deserved to last. There are also thousands of small businesses that could never get off the ground before, because someone could find nothing between serving only his acquaintances, and plunging in with a shopfront and advertising. They mostly serve minorities with minority interests, and that sounds like us.

[Buckshot]

..............E-Bay is a great place to buy stuff you'd like to have, but can be satisfied with NOT getting it if the price gets stupid. The internet is a wondrus place that literally lets you comb the world for stuff and information. For instance with my recent infatuation with machine tools, there ARE places besides E-Bay which carry the stuff. There are used machinery dealers, which predate the advent of E-Bay by a couple hundred years.

Via the internet you may access thier website, or barring that you can do it the old faschioned way and call them up. You can also work the old network of BB's of like minded folks and many have Buy and Sell forums, such as we do here. No bidding to do.

The thing about E-Bay is that a lot of the stuff you're interested in is in a nice handy location. One problem with E-Bay is that it's not a 'Right Now' venue. If you need something to complete a project then you'll have to go through the bidding process and then if you are high bidder you have to wait for it to be shipped.

As far as bidding goes, it's just bidding. Shill bidding is wrong and is fraud, pure and simple. However, any other bidding being done by interested parties is fine. Sniper programs are fine. I could give a rip less how someone's bid arrives. Sniper programs are also a tool for people to use who are on vacation, at work, or have several items they're interested in closing close together.

E-Bay bidding does not work like a first person auction. If an item you just desperately HAVE TO HAVE is at $39.50 and you bid $10,000 in the last few seconds or 5 days before the auction closes, it does not mean you have to pay that for it. It does mean that if someone else had a $52.00 bid in that you'll have to pay maybe $53 for it (if that was the last bid). In any other first person auction if you jumped up and bid ten grand, that's what the price would jump to.

A sniper program is no different then someone sitting there typing in bids. You have to give the sniper software a maximum bid amount. That's as high as it can go.

There was a 10" faceplate for a L-00 spindlenose that I'd liked to have had, on E-Bay. The auction was going to end while Deputy Al and I were off shoosting rodents. I think the bidding was at $36 when I put in a bid for $125. That was the max I could afford so I put it in and forgot about it. My $125 bid moved the current bid to $37.

On Saturday when we went to BruceB's for the BBQ, I got on his computer and logged into 'My E-Bay' and found out it had sold for $136. There were 2 people bidding in the last few minutes but I had it for sometime. Guess he wanted it worse them me or the guy he was bidding against at the end.

Low and behold but another showed up on Da Bey a couple days ago. It was up to $72 showing Sunday evening. I had no idea what the higest bid entry was because you can't see it. Heck, someone might have had a $150 bid in? Again, my high bid was going to be $125. I placed my max bid and when the confirmation came back as high bidder, it showed 2 seconds left. I got it for $103 and change. I don't think I did anything wrong by bidding in the last few seconds. Like I said, if someone else had had a $150 bid in, I'd have lost. If someone's sniper program was maxed at $120, their bid with 2 seconds to go would have lost too.

............Buckshot

[Rrusse11]

Gents,
If I really really want something on Ebay,,,,, I snipe,,,,,, and hopefully outshoot the others. Did it last night on a Marlin 32/20 barrel. With 20 seconds to go I put my killer bid in of what I was willing to pay. With 9 secs to go I was the high bidder,,,,, only a few dollars away from my max. Lo and behold there was someone else out there doin' zackly the same, but the time left didn't give him/her enuff time to get back in, or they too were maxed out. My shot went in 4 secs after theirs.
A good connection, (DSL here), is critical, and I've got a coupla' windows open so that my bid is waiting as the clock ticks down and I've got another open to check on status.
As mentioned, there is an aspect of auction fever/competiveness that occurs. And yes, that 'one of a kind' WILL surface again, you just have to keep on checking for that item on a regular basis. I've bought a lot of bits and pieces on Ebay and Gunbroker, and think the auction sites are one of the better aspects of the net. The size of the market place means that there are few real bargains, yard sales are a better venue for them, {:o).
Cheers,
R*2

[Char-Gar]

Jeeze Guys..I shure did't intend to get folks so spun up about Ebay sniping. BTW..I did not get the mold. I was out sniped and that is OK with me. Somebody wanted it more than I did.

I have always considered myself a moral and ethical man, and have placed high standards on myself by which to live by. I cannot understand why some get upset by last minute bids. That is just smart auction buying in my book.

Those who sell at auctions love for an item to develop "bid fever", where folks compete with each other and this interpersonal competition often leads to a sale price beyond the normal fair market value of the item. We have all seen this happen and consider the final bidder a fool.

Smart auction buyers, try not to contribute to bid fever. Before the gavel falls for the final time and most of the bidders have droped out, is the time to enter a first bid, if the item is still under what you are willing to pay.

Sometimes is starts a new round of bid fever with you as a participate and sometimes not. When I do this at an auction, I just give my maximum bid before the gavel falls and that is that. If I get it, I get it. If I don't get it, I don't get it. I refuse to get caught up in the emotion of competition.

I do the same thing on Ebay, I don't want to contribute to bid fever and won't get into competiton with somebody else. I make one bid as close to the end of the auction as I, can depending on my schedule. That is it..win or lose.

I find no moral or ethical problems with this approach. It is just smart auction biding. If some of you boys are just too lazy or to busy to keep such a close eye on an auction, then too bad for you. Learn to be a smart bidder or take your lumps like a man and quit whining about it. There now, is that straight enough!

[Scrounger]

Gents,
If I really really want something on Ebay,,,,, I snipe,,,,,, and hopefully outshoot the others. Did it last night on a Marlin 32/20 barrel. With 20 seconds to go I put my killer bid in of what I was willing to pay. With 9 secs to go I was the high bidder,,,,, only a few dollars away from my max. Lo and behold there was someone else out there doin' zackly the same, but the time left didn't give him/her enuff time to get back in, or they too were maxed out. My shot went in 4 secs after theirs.
A good connection, (DSL here), is critical, and I've got a coupla' windows open so that my bid is waiting as the clock ticks down and I've got another open to check on status.
As mentioned, there is an aspect of auction fever/competiveness that occurs. And yes, that 'one of a kind' WILL surface again, you just have to keep on checking for that item on a regular basis. I've bought a lot of bits and pieces on Ebay and Gunbroker, and think the auction sites are one of the better aspects of the net. The size of the market place means that there are few real bargains, yard sales are a better venue for them, {:o).
Cheers,
R*2



R2, I don't trust myself or my ISP on such important details, I use an electronic sniper service called 'Esnipe'. Works only on Ebay. I input the auction number, my maximum bid amount, and tell it to put in the bid 4 seconds before close. I am happy with it. It has failed to bid for me maybe twice out of three or four hundred uses. I make a lot of lo-ball bids on stuff. I'm cheap. If I don't win, Esnipe charges nothing. If I do win, I pay them 1%. Right now they have a free trial period for new sign ups. Give them a shot...Here is a link to their website: http://www.esnipe.com/

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It is amazing how often a matter of principle involves a claim that someone else ought to have that principle.

Russell, sniping by a website like Auctionsniper lets you depend on the quality of their connection, which is liable to be better than most people's. They put in your bid at a default setting of twenty seconds before the auction's end, and most users probably leave it that way. But I've altered it to 27 seconds, which with luck will pre-empt anyone who bids the same amount with the same website, and yet is likely to be faster than anyone's manual response to it. While four seconds seems to work very well for Scrounger, it is later than you need, and would most likely lose out to a automatic snipe of the same amount.

The bargains are there if your interests are eccentric enough. One of mine is European cartridge revolvers and rifles which figure on the British government's list of freely ownable antiques. It's defined by a list of obsolete chamberings, so items on it are often highly prized in the UK, but just unfamilar oddities in the US.

[Rrusse11]

if your interests are eccentric enough

B in S,
Do you wear ur pith helmet while browsing?
{;o)
R*2

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Even if that is the most intelligent thing you have said all decade, this is a board where people are mostly interested in the topic.

[Scrounger]

While four seconds seems to work very well for Scrounger, it is later than you need, and would most likely lose out to a automatic snipe of the same amount.

While I understand your point, the probability of two snipers inputing the exact same amount are so high as to be ignored, since most of us deliberately use odd amounts for such tie breakers. I always use numbers associated with some of the more attractive females which fortune placed in my path. Call it luck symbols if you like but I think of it as signs of respectful remembrance.

[carpetman]

Scrounger--You use odd numbers associated with females in your path. Do you perhaps use 69 very often? Or maybe something like 79-67-77?

[Scrounger]

Scrounger--You use odd numbers associated with females in your path. Do you perhaps use 69 very often? Or maybe something like 79-67-77?

What numbers are those-, the last three days total of cats you've killed? Do you know why I've never married? I'm very, very picky where women are concerned. Any woman that was good enough to interest me was by definition too good for me. She was good enough to get any man she wanted. And smart enough to know it wasn't me. I have some good points but looks ain't one of them. I'll try to post my picture:
http://www.hunt101.com/img/286211.bmp (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=286211&c=500&z=1)

[carpetman]

Scrounger---Maybe you could get any woman you please. But you don't happen to please any of them?

[Willbird]

Well I have been examining my feelings on this, and I guess part of it is coming from a sellers point of view, I LIKE bidding fever hehe.

I will just raise my opening price, I have decided that is the best way to counter the sniping programs, or rather don't start auctions for less than I would really like to sell for, It is all a game really, and as the rules change one must adapt.

Bill

[Char-Gar]

Willbird...I also sell on Ebay from time to time. Most often when you see two identical items up for sale, one with a low starting bid and another with a high starting bid, the one with the low starting bid sell for a higher price in the end. Folks seen to bid on the one with the lower start and bid fever takes over. You can reel in a fish until you have him on the hook. You will get more fish on the hook with a low starting bid.

I put a low starting bid and then set a reserve for the lowest amount I will sell the item for and let nature take it's course.