Lesson learned; Max bid on eBay

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

I don’t understand how a snipe prevents shilling.

Example: You’re watching an item that has a current high bid of $1650 (it’s a legitimate bid). The seller is concerned that the item will go for less than the $2K he has into it, so he has his friend place a shill bid of $2000. The current high bid is now $1675. You really want the item and set your snipe to $2200. There are no other bidders. As the auction is about to end, your snipe is placed and you end up winning the item for $2025, still $175 less than your snipe amount.

Tell me, how did sniping protect you from shilling? Weren’t you still shilled up by $350, or am I missing something?

And yes, when consignors use hidden (illegal) reserves there's a limit to what a sniping service can do; however, it still provides some protection.