Well, that's the point. If someone is willing to pay $50 for it, then I'm going to win with a bid of $51. Only if someone is willing to out bid me or bid close to me, am I going to spend $80, or lose the bet. When I see something I like, I will put my maximum bid in. Hopefully, I win, but like I said, if I'm not willing to pay more than my maximum, then I should lose it. The problem with a lot of ebayers is that they get caught up in the auction, and want to "win" more than anything. I don't let greed cloud my judgement. I also won't check up on my bid until after the auction.
It's not shady, those who work the hardest for the auction usually win it... there is a reason when you sell something that they give you a "NUMBER OF WATCHERS" feature in your My eBay selling page. People watch the auction until the end and then bid, this is the way of eBay. If you are "okay" with paying 80 bucks for something that you know you can probably get for 50 bucks, why in the hell would you pay the extra 30 bucks? All esnipe and the other sites do is keep you from having to be there to bid at the last minute... it is a convenience service if you'd rather pay 1% then get up at 3am when the auction ends. "Watching" until the end of an auction also gives you the ability to keep your eye out for similar auctions. For instance, if you see an auction you want and it is at 6 days and 20 hours, you watch it instead of bid... and then you are still free to look for nearly a WEEK and find another auction like it, sometimes for cheaper and maybe even with a Buy it Now. Watching and sniping at the end isn't "taboo" and it certainly isn't shady... it is part of the tactic of winning a bid for the lowest possible price, easy as that.
Sniping must be bogus! Example: I enter a max bid of $100. Bidder A enters a max bid of $70 Bidder B enters a max bid of $50 bid increments are $1 No sniping necessary. The auction commences and the bids increase incrementally by $1 automatically. When the bidding reaches $71, I win the auction. How would sniping help?
Sniping isn't shady. It's just stupid. Why y'all think placing a bid in at the last minute helps you get it cheaper is beyond me. Bottom line: Sniping or not, you're going to have to outbid me to win my auction. And you're not going to win it unless you're willing to pay more. When you decide to place that bid is up to you, but it does nothing to me if you place your max bid early or late. I do think a lot of "snipers" really think they're pulling a fast one. They're not.
ALL that sniping does is WAIT to place your bid until the last possible minute. If you haven't placed your bid then you CAN'T be outbid! Bidding during the final hours of an auction gives less chance to be outbid because fewer people see the auction. Sniping also helps eleminate fraudulent sellers who used "proxy bid" schemes to up the final price of their bid. Proxy bidding is having other user accounts up the bid on your item in "small increments" to drive up the price and is very popular.
Sniping is key for people who buy and resell via eBay, it certainly increases your profit margins. Maybe since you haven't sold or bought a lot of things on eBay it is hard for you to conceptualize, I have used it hundreds of times and it has saved me hundreds. If you sell a lot on eBay you learn the tendencies of eBay bidders. Your idea of a "high bid" is completely different then other bidders who may be bidding on the selling item. Like you said you have to outbid you to win the auction, but hundreds of people can bid on one auction thus complicating the issue. Time is in your favor when you snipe at the end, you may be willing to pay 80 bucks, but if I know I have a good chance to get it for 50 bucks I'm going to try... like you I don't care if I lose by $1.00 because there will always be more, but I'd much rather have a chance at saving 30 bucks then paying 31 bucks more.
Sniping does nothing. Let me reuse my earlier example: We both like a Widget. I place my bid in, and it comes up with me being the high bidder at $11. I remain the high bidder all week long at $11. You decide to snipe me at the last minute. You realize that, regardless of when you place your bid, you're going to have to bid $81 to beat me, even though all week it said I would win with $11. Sniping does nothing, unless you're willing to pay more. Timing is not a factor.
I can gaurantee you that the vast majority of eBayers don't think/bid like you... when I sell something that is popular (sold a 360 the week it came out) I had over 300 WATCHERS in one auction! My auction was right around 500 bucks for the first 3 days and in the last 3 hours nearly TRIPLED! You are an exception to the rule, while you may bid 80 bucks and walk away, most people will bid 40 hoping to save money and when they get out bid they come back again and again. Esniping has proved it's worth to me 100 times over.
Sniping rules. It gives a buyer discipline. It keeps the prices down. All in all, it is a good thing for buyers. The reason EBay makes money is because people get emotionally involved with the auction. This attachment drives prices up. The key to making tons of money is to list an item for 7 days, 0 dollars, no reserve. This gets the action started, and gets people hooked. The alternative to sniping as a buyer is sitting on an item forever, only to have other people drive up the price. These people could be interested buyers or they could be proxy bidders, working for the seller. When you snipe, you put in your max offer and you walk away. If you win, you pay a percentage. If you lose you pay nothing. Plus, sniping is emotionally gratifying. When you win, you won at the last second, and it feels like you screwed somebody else over. It's fun.
I've done ebay enough to know that sniping does nothing to me as a buyer. Hell, spelling errors are a much easier way to find good deals than waiting until the last minute. Deals with no pics are also easier to get good deals on. Let the seller be a moron. Once again, I'm only going to pay $80 for an item if someone is willing to pay $79. Otherwise, I'm going to get it for less. Even, possibly, the original $11 high bid.
It helps you have a chance to get it for your max bid BECUASE THERE IS NO TIME LEFT FOR SOMEONE TO OUTBID YOU. FATTY FAT is really probably not bidding on the item I am and not everyone bids like you. Some people actually get second thoughts about their max bid due to the "auction rush" etc. It's really just smart bidding for a timed auction where bid amounts are shown. Now if it was an auction where nobody knows what anyone else bid, and bidding amounts were kept hidden (like a super silent auction) then sniping would make no sense.
Ahhh, herein lies the rub. I'm just stating that a smart buyer doesn't have to pay the 1% if they bid like I do. Find an item you like, place your max bid, and come in when the auction is over. I do understand that their are a lot of foolish, compulsive people on ebay that like to "win" rather than get a good deal. If you beat me, so be it. For people who lack the discipline, sniping may be the only way to go.
This is true, but the compulsive factor isn't all that there is to sniping. AuctionSniper(the only service I've used) has great auction management tools where you can set up groups of items. Each item in the group will have an individual bid, and AS will go through each item and bid for you, but when you win X number of items in the group, you can have AS stop bidding. This gives you lots of options. I saved a ton of money on law school supplements this way, by grouping and seeing where I'd get lucky. Having to not manage that by hand is worth any commission to AS. That, and I know I'm getting the best price possible because my bid comes in 3 seconds before the auction closes, while I'm in bed or doing something else.
Right. That's fine with me if I used my max amount in my snipe bid. But there is a chance I am the high bidder with my max bid amount, and I don't want other people to have time to knock me off with their compulsive bidding.
Here's another thing I don't get: Why are their "reserves" in auctions? That crap makes no sense to me. If I'm trying to sell something, I'll put the least I'm willing to take as my starting bid. Reserves are dumb.
Another reason to snipe, is that if you are a known collector of certain items, people will search for the items that you are bidding on, to save themselves time, and then bid on the stuff they want. If you found an item everyone missed because is was misspelled and bid on it, then people who knew your ebay name could search your bids and find it. I used to do that with other bidders all the time. Most of them switched to esnipe and now it's harder to find the stuff I want.
So, if most everyone who is 'serious' about their ebaying uses sniping, and everyone is sniping each other, what's the advantage? Doesn't it ruin the point?
I think the idea is that if someone else comes along and bids at $50 with 5 minutes left, they'll see that you've outbid them. Then they'll try $60, then $70, then $80, then $90, eventually beating you with $81. If you were to snipe, you'd end up bidding $51 at the last minute and they wouldn't have a chance to counter-bid you. As long as you have your maximum bid set through ebay, people can keep bidding until they find your maximum bid. If you snipe, they have no way of finding your max bid until it's too late. I've never sniped, but this is just what I'm getting from what ya'll have said about sniping. Correct me if I'm wrong.
And therein lies the fallacy. You're forgetting that it is you and I bidding at the same time. If we both waited until the last minute, the end result will be the same. ie. who was willing to pay more.
