Posted By:
Judge Dred (Fred)Paul... ch-ch-ching! Good call!
I've had the rug pulled out from under me so many times that I almost expect it to happen. Every once in a while I'll employ the same tactic if I feel I might have a chance to get the item. Within the last couple of months I was fortunate enough to come up lucky on one item I really wanted. The auction was a 10 day auction, it had a reserve and by the fifth day the bids were minimal. I had a feeling that snipes were set. I contacted the seller and asked about the reserve, then I asked about selling the card $100 over the reserve, he jumped on it because the bidding was dismal and the seller probably didn't understand the snipe bidding dynamic too well. I'm pretty sure there were a few disappointed potenial snipers out there but that's the risk you take when you play try to play the last 3 or 4 seconds as the time to start the bidding war. If the seller is a regular seller of vintage material then there's less chance of getting them to sell early. If the seller doesn't know any better then a decent offer may be enticing enough to pull the auction. I'm not an advocate of ending auctions early but I can't blame people for trying, especially when you've been beaten by the tactic a few times.