Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Well actully that makes me the bad guy... we'll i buy expensive stuff for a low price to resell... its probably just like restocking...

Auction snipers drive alot of us crazy - they've got the np, the high speed and the fast fingers to get that last second bid in place before the auction ends. I've won 1 small auction in 2 years.

Now if someone's using some type of program (thinking something like an ab'er) that does "proxy" bids (think ebay - enter the whole amount you're willing to bid and it automatically bids up to that limit for you - but Neo doesn't use "proxy" bidding) -- then yes, they're cheating. And yes, they deserve to be frozen for cheating.

However, if someone can manage to have 2 windows open and keep their bids straight, then I say more power to them! I'm trying to understand (and failing) how having more than one window open in auctions could be cheating. I know of many rs'ers who have multiple windows open (this was suggested to me once as a way to try to restock) - different shops and one on the boards so they can "chat" while waiting for the next rs. Are they going to get frozen next?

So just freezing a person for being an auction sniper with no proof of cheating is just beyond unfair. It's feeling more and more like 1984 on the site -- Big Brother IS watching.

Arggggh, it is unfair! I uses lots of windows all the time, restocking, playing games and of course, I used to bid at auction using more than one window. And I dun consider myself cheating. I considered myself "fast and accurate".

I hate those snipers. I lost my Ramtors Spellbook for....oh let's just say a very cheap price.

i HATE auction snipers, they're the reasons why I hardly bid in auctions, because with them around, all we can really do is to find an item with a large enough "next bid" amount if we want a chance of winning an auction... I only remember winning a good auction ONCE when I got a mystery island pb because I was the first person to bid 600k on it and the next bid had to be 900k :/

I know this sounds a bit harsh, but being auction snipers, it's probably easy for them to bid their way to richness again....

Even though quite a few people dislike auction snipers, there isn't anywhere in the T+C that says they're not allowed, so technicly, if TNT go by their own rules then the snipers should be unfrozen.

To prevent that, be willing to take the risk that something's not going to sell right away, and put it up for a higher price.

I dont mind auction snipers at all...cuz I'm sorta a wannabe auction sniper Well, not anymore. I don't think DSL is fast enough for it, anyways.

Ugh, that's weird and totally unfair. People are scamming, and in some cases getting away with it, while people who bid fairly but tactfully get iced? Not good.

i dont get what these 'auction snipers' are doing wrong... yeah, if they're doing the proxy bidding someone mentioned they should be frozen, but it's no different to the fact that most of the bids on ebay are in the last 10 mins of the auction, how is someone bidding at the last second any different to that?

Nono! I was auction iit on purpose for a supposed price of 1 million and 85k to start off, but I made a typo and it became 185k alone!

Isn't that how auctions are supposed to work?

It's exactly how it's supposed to work. If you accidentally place something up for auction for considerably less than it's worth, I can sympathize with you, but it's your own fault. You can't freeze people for buying codestones off the wiz if someone accidentally puts one up for 50 np instead of 5k and that's no different. I suppose I shouldn't have bid(and won) that mutant pppb for 21k the other day because omg!!1 it's ch34t1n!!

Having a slow connection is no fun, I know that all too well, but that's beyond ridiculous if that's the reason they were frozen. I'd be a little suspicious of anyone I didn't know personally. Because, in my trying to sell the pppb for an ona, I got a few people who deliberately offered a white ona hoping I wouldn't notice. Their lookups had a warning that all their trades and auctions are final, but you can't help but wonder if someone is deliberately trying to cheat you, albeit not breaking any rules, that they might be up to something a bit more shady. Halfway intelligent scammers wouldn't be remiss of omitting that something else they were doing was breaking the rules.

The way the auctions are set up encourages sniping. There's really no other way to get the items you want, if someone else is bidding.
Proxy bidding isn't using a computer program, though. Let's say a friend of yours is going to an auction and you can't go but you think they may sell something you want. You give your friend X amount of $ to get it for you if it comes up. He bids for you, up to your set amount. That's proxy bidding - someone (or something) bidding for you up to the amount you specify on the lot you specify.
Bidding at the last second on an auction is sniping. It is usually done in the hopes of keeping a bid from increasing. eg. If I bid 2000nps now, someone will just outbid me, then I'll have to outbid them, etc. If this is done by a program, then it would be "auto-sniping" like "auto-buying."
Freezing someone for manually "sniping" is like freezing someone for quickly grabbing up the rarest item on a restock at a shop! Freezing someone for using a program to snipe would be the equivalent of getting iced for using an auto-buyer.
The way the system is, your nps are "held" until the system catches up with the fact that you've been outbid. Well, if it's an expensive item you've been saving up for and you bid 20000nps 4 minutes before close, then get outbid, you probably won't have that 20000 back in time to add to it and re-bid.
To prevent or at least cut down on sniping, TNT should implement proxy bidding the same way ebay does. When you find a lot you want, you enter the max you want to pay and it automatically bids the lowest possible bid to make you the high bidder, until it reaches the max limit you set. The nps for your max bid could be "held," avoiding the problem mentioned above.
They should also consider controlling the bid increments to match the bid amount. eg. Once the bid reaches, say 1000nps the increment is increased to 50nps; once it reaches 5000nps, increment is 100nps or something like that. It's stomach wrenching to bid on that 20000+ np item 10 seconds before closing - then see that you were out-bid by a mere 2nps 2 seconds after you bid!
Sorry for the rant - please don't yell at me! This has been one on my peeves for a while!

Yeah, that's how auctions work -- whether they be on eBay or Yahoo auctions or on Neopets. Bidding is always at its fastest and most furious at the end of an auction as everyone tries to be the last one to bid. Often sniping is the only way to win an auction (especially on eBay). I could see Neopets freezing people for using an autobuyer-type program to "snipe" for them, but if someone's manually sniping, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Is it annoying? Yes. But it's not illegal or even unethical. It's just business.