Posted By:
boxingcardman"But then if you do that, you decrease the chance of winning at the price you wanted. So would you rather have a higher chance of paying more and/or losing the card in an auction where you bid high and early...or would you rather have a higher chance of the seller ending the auction and selling it to someone else (and oh by the way, that someone else may have paid more than you wanted to pay anyway)"
I have a modest proposal for handling this situation:
1. Make an offer early that is nice and fat so that the seller won't end early for less than you would like to pay; and
2. Make an early bid at a level you are OK with (but less than your offer) and then set a snipe for your real max.
I've done this quite successfully in the past. The offer makes sure that the seller won't panic sell to someone else by alerting him that the item is worth money to me, and the initial bid at less than the offer but still credible makes sure that the seller doesn't shill me to my max.
Of course, if the lot is a "gotta have it" type lot, I find that a high early offer is the best insurance.
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