How important is auction sniping to you?

[docpatlv]

JimB,

Mostly you are correct, but not everyone snipes. If there is an item at auction and I am willing to go $1000. I enter my max bid 4 days before and wait for auction to end. Another bidder is willing to go $600. He puts his max bid in and is immediately outbid. He then thinks maybe I'll try $700 and puts another bid in only to get outbid again. So he tries one more time and puts in $800. Nobody else bids higher than $600 and auction ends. Putting my bid in early cost me an extra $200 in this instance. This is my reasoning for sniping.

It can backfire on you if there is an item you "have to have" and place an aggressive snipe and someone else does the same. But as has said before, just bid the highest amount you are comfortable bidding.

JimVB also brought up a good point if you can't be at the computer at the time the auction ends, a sniping service is great.

Mike

[ibuysportsephemera]

IMO, sniping is great as a buyer and seller (based on 12 years of eBay experience).

As a buyer, I make sure my highest bid is placed at the very last minute. I do not run the risk of dishonest sellers shill bidding their own auctions and I eliminate the exuberant bidder who keeps bidding just to run up my max bid.
Not to mention that I do not have to worry about auction ending times.

As a seller, sniping has easily accounted for those wonderful sales that make eBay worth doing in the first place and boosting most of those low ball sales that are disappointing.

Jeff

[uffda51]

Since I'm off ebay I no longer need a sniping service.

I don't care if I am outbid with 6 seconds to go or 6 days IF the bidding increments are published and reasonable. To lose a lot by $1 or even one cent, i.e., well under 1%, as has happened to me with ebay is b.s.

I tried to bring this up with ebay 10 years ago but I never got farther than various low-level one-named reps.

[E93]

Mike,
That makes sense. Thanks.
JimB

[Tedw9]

I like sniping for a couple of reasons, one of which is already mentioned, I don't have to be at the computer before the auction ends.

The big reason I like sniping is because it keeps ME under control, so I don't get "auction fever" and get caught up in last minute bidding. There have been a few times I was that bidder who kept bidding more and more until I was the high bidder. I was caught up in the rush of bidding and the competition with another bidder. After the auction I realized I had just overpaid for an item.

With a sniper, I can set my snipe and what I am willing to pay days before the auction ends. That gives me time to think about it, to make sure I really want to pay that much, or even if I want to raise my max bid. I try not to impulse bid, I like to think things over before I make a purchase (which makes my wife happy, she knows I don't impulse buy without thinking it through). With a sniper, if I decide a day or two later I really don't want to bid that much, don't really want the item, think the item is worth more to me or have found another item that I want more, I can cancel, lower or raise my bid.

Without the sniper program, I have to remember the auction end time, be at a computer or place my bid early. And if I place my bid early and decide later I don't want to bid that much, or see something else I want instead, I am SOL because I have already entered into a binding contract.

"Hi, my name is Steve and I am a collecting addict."

[Exhibitman]

I've been using sniping software for years. I am convinced it has saved me lots of money. Plus, it lets me get away from the computer: when something I want comes up I can put in my max bid a week in advance. I would not like a system that resets after a snipe.