Thoughts on bidding against other forum members

i recently won an lp(a very common one) on ebay using a sniping service. turns out one of the other bidders was an individual who is a member of audio asylum's vinyl asylum, where i am as well. i had no idea he was bidding on the item, as i never look who im bidding against since i snipe. i can't stand to see auction prices get bid up days before the end of the auction, which is why i use this service. well, i ended up getting several hateful emails from this person through ebay telling me what a despicable person i was to outbid a fellow member of the forum, and to use a sniping service to do it. i mean, these were really bad emails. i have never spoken to this person before. i don't feel i did anything wrong, but would like to get the feeback of others here to see what your opinions are.

thanks.

 

Sore loser imo.Dont feel badly. Ive sniped and been sniped. Its the nature of the beast.

 

You didnt do anything wrong. Blame eBay if you wish to allow such sniper software to be used.

 

Thanks guys.

 

He's just pissed for the moment. I've gotten really ticked, or used to years ago. But got over it WITHOUT sending hateful emails. That's something that should not be done, IMHO. I think Ebay can suspend him for that can't they?

Being sniped is no fun though.

 

Happens to me all the time!

I HATE most of the people on this forum

You have to maintain a sense of humour. It is after all only a hobby!

 

You're right about being sniped, and I too have been outbid plenty of times(obviously). It's the nature of the beast. But to imply that I stabbed him in the back...man, all I could think of was this poor fellow either needs to stay away from Ebay, get a life, or both. He even went so far as to warn me that I should pay better attention to whom I'm bidding against in the future because bidding against another member of a "fraternity" might result in me hearing about it publicly!

As for Ebay, I did report him. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

The only times I have let auctions go because I know the highest bidder is a forum member, is if I don't need the disc (getting an extra copy for myself to sell on), otherwise I don't have a problem bidding against them. We all get a touch grumpy losing something we really want - but hey another will show up soon enough.

 

There is a list on site if you'd prefer not to bid against members but the list is only of those who submitted their ebay name/tag.
Abusive emails or private messages are not acceptable and I sure would report any to ebay.

 

Honestly, it would just never occur to me that bidding against another forum member would be wrong. Again, it never occured to me to even see who is bidding. I have never done that, and this is the first time that somebody has called me out on it. The whole thing just seems so silly.

Again, appreciate all your comments.

 

I hate snipers. Except when I am one.

 

One time, there was an auction of a CD that I really wanted and as I got ready to bid, I noticed a fellow forum member bid before me. I didn't want to get into a bidding war with this forum member as he had given me some great bargains here on the Classifieds forum. So I let him have it.

Of course, seconds before the auction ended, another bidder swooped in and got the item for well less than I would have been willing to go!!

Lesson learned - if you want the item, bid on it. It's the "world wide web", not the "small group web".

The loser of this auction was mainly upset because you got the item he was trying to get cheaply. If he truly wanted the item, he would have bid more! It's that simple.

 

I would not say "it's wrong" to bid against a forum member.
I won't comment on sniping but as the secret to that is getting in in the last second - obviously not having time to blink - you sure won't see who else is bidding.
I am sorry this episode has left you upset.

Regards,

 

Christian is correct-He's outbid me before and I him..so what? Who ever is prepared to pay the most wins. I prefer not to know who I am bidding against (but usually I check out their feedback and see just what they have been bidding on)..sometimes it's someone who has never ever bought a CD in their life

 

Personally I just bid and don't worry who I am bidding against. It would never bother me that another forum member was bidding against me. He wants the disc I want the disc may the highest price win.

 

Tell him to stop whining and wait for the next copy to come up. We've all been bid against in the last few seconds and lost.

You don't owe him an explanation and certainly no apology.

 

Once I got PM from Musicalbeds(Dave in Canada) saying-You're bidding on an item, I would bid more, but I'll let you have it....we both lost it because I wasn't even on line at the time...I felt really bad about this generous gesture and had to make it up to him by sending him a copy of what he would have let me win (I found another). We have a good relationship because of this forum-I bought some of his CDs early on, but I really felt bad that he was so courteous and the silly thing is that my bid was just a "punt"-placed a bid and forgot about it, just a try your luck and see what happens.

Sorry Dave I still feel bad to this day

 

thanks. i gave him neither. it took me 2 emails from him to actually realize he was serious.

the most amazing thing about this was his threat to out me to other "fraternity" members who think like he does. seems like i joined a club without even knowing it. but to paraphrase one of the greatest minds of our time, i would never want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member

 

As a matter of courtesy, if I recognize another bidder as a member here, I may drop out or not attempt to snipe but there are no rules against it obviously. Likewise, I would be disinclined to jump on a great deal offered in the classifieds here if my only purpose were to then dump the item on ebay for a profit, if I thought doing so would prevent a member from getting a CD he or she wanted for their collection. Which isn't to say some members here don't engage in that practice. Ultimately, you have to do what you're comfortable with within the context of your own personal ethics.

 

BTW,whats a sniping service?

 

I've been outbid by members here and I'm sure I've outbid members. That's just the way it goes. As someone said earlier, backing off to "help" another member can end up in both off you losing.

 

You did nothing wrong and shouldn't feel guilty. I would report the guy to ebay. He shouldn't even be mailing you.

The highest bidder won. He obviously didn't bid enough. Tell him next time to bid more if he wants it that bad to send you hateful email's.

 

If I am bidding against someone I know is a member here it might make me rethink my max bid.

I generally snipe (by hand) unless I am travelling so at the end of the day it is really 'what am I willing to pay' - same as any other eBay auction.

Am I willing to pay more if I am going against a SHF Member? Depends on the item, probably not. I may bid less as the SHF Member probably knows exactly what it is they are bidding on. Another one will come around at some point.

Ref the OP and the person emailing him hate mail - good that you reported them to eBay. There is enough BS going on there without external hassles like that.

 

to follow up, i did report the person to ebay. when i replied to his email with a warning that if i received anymore emails from him i would do this, he said he knew the original founders of ebay, lives close to them, and that they would laugh about my complaint. yup, this is the kind of person i'm dealing with here.

anyway, will report back when/if i hear anything from ebay.

 

That's about it. As Norm from CHEERS says, "It's a dog-eat-dog world and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear."