Sniping has nothing to do with hurting ebay. Sniping is the most logical way for a bidder to win for a little as possible, which is the buyer's goal, in any auction. Bid at the very last second, because your competition may have fallen asleep, left for dinner, gone to pick up the kids from practice, etc.
When I snipe, I snipe with the highest amount that I am willing to pay, knowing full well that I will not get a second chance, that sounds like it's a pretty good thing for the seller, a buyer giving him his highest price. I'm not haggling, I'm not trying to be crafty or tricky, I don't have time for that, it's a snipe. I snipe in every auction I participate in. I sniped in the CCA29 auction last night. It works for me, and based on my winnings, I assume that it worked for John and Judy. If it didn't, well then they should have set they opening bids higher. In at least one case, that would have meant that the item I won wouldn't have attracted a bid.
In the days when ebay was an auction site and not an overpriced window shopper's paradise, if you had an item that you felt was worth X, and you were willing to part with it for no less than Y, you put it on auction with a starting bid of $1 and a reserve of Y.
The final bid was a number that we will call Z and define as "the market value".
If the Z < Y then you either put your item back in your closet, or you contacted the high bidder (or he contacted you) and a deal was made (or wasn't).
If Z > Y then everybody was happy.
All this whining about sellers taking down auctions because there wasn't enough action early is just that, whining.
As a buyer, if a seller took an auction down, bummer, on to the next one.
As a seller, yes, I will admit to a being worried that my non-reserve price items sometimes scared me on that last day, but that is what is called "the cost of doing business" if you don't like it, then don't sell stuff in an auction, instead sell it at a yardsale with retail price tags, so that 99% of the people walking on your lawn will ignore it but maybe, just maybe, some dork will fork over the cash.
Wow - sounds like I just described the majority of the baseball related items on ebay today.
Ok, enough of my ranting, time to get ready for my Dodgers to look like crap again...
Doug
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