Posted By:
Al C.risafulliHere's a very simple, easy-to-understand, real-life example of how sniping saves you money.
My snipe program usually triggers with 3 seconds remaining in the auction.
Right after last year's National, there was a 1938 Goudey Hank Greenberg in SGC 6 on eBay. I needed the card for my set, and this particular card doesn't make itself available that often in higher grades. So I set a high snipe - something like $1,200. I was willing to pay $1K for the card, but didn't think I would need to.
My sniping software, instead of executing with 3 seconds left, executed with 30 seconds left. My bid became the high bid at $677, topping the bid that had been the top bid at the time.
Except that since there were 30 seconds to go in the auction, the underbidder had 30 seconds to keep placing bids. He managed to squeeze off three bids before the auction closed, bringing the hammer price from $677 (where it was when my snipe executed) to over $1,000. I still won the card, but the failed snipe cost me nearly $400 in the last 30 seconds of the auction.
There were no other bidders at that point, besides me and the person I had topped at $677. If my snipe had executed when it was supposed to, I would have won the card for $677. Because it executed with 30 seconds left, there was a bidding war that wound up costing me $400.
THAT is the perfect example of why you don't put in your maximum bid and "let it ride" until the auction is over. The longer your max bid is in, the longer the other bidders have to push you up to your max bid. If you drop in your max bid at the last second, you circumvent all the furious bidding at the end, but still don't ever go over your max.
-Al