Is Sniping Ok? Your Views..

[phreak97]

Hi all,
i've been thinking about it for a while, and i dont have the same kind of motivation to stay up till 3am mashing F5 for the last 2 minutes of my auctions, yet i had always considered sniping applications as cheating, and my conscience gets the better of me every time i think about using one.. lately i have been either giving up on auctions or spending extra money by bidding high early in the last 12-24hrs, perhaps i should rethink? i just remember having a whole bunch of money the night after my 18th birthday, watching a minty cib famicom disk system with games on ebay for ages, refreshing every 5 seconds for the last 5 minutes, "you are the current highest bidder, 3 seconds remaining" i had won it! F5, "bidding has ended for this item, you have been outbid"
extreme disappointment.

what do other people think about sniping applications?

[Damaramu]

It's part of the game. I snipe on items that I want the most. For most other items, I decide the maximum amount I'm willing to spend on it and let the proxy bidding go to work. If I get outbid, no biggie.

But yeah, I'm one of those last 5 second snipers. I've won many an auction that way.

*edit*

As far as sniping applications go, I don't use them. I can easily do it myself.

[PapaStu]

We've done this quite a few times before

How do people feel about sniping services? (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98059)

These always turn into a talk about if its 'right' or 'wrong'
What's the best auction sniper? (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74488)
Ebay sniping (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70145)
eBay snipe killer (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56218)

Personally I don't mind it at all. When its necessary I drop teh esnipe bomb. I've gotten stuff, not gotten stuff, been attempted to be outsniped (just pushed up my cost), and watched my snipe be outsniped. All part of the online auction game.

[carlcarlson]

If you always enter your maximum bid in the last minute then you will never lose an auction because of a sniper. I've personally never used a sniping program, if I really want something I can do the work myself. If I don't feel like staying up for the end then that means I don't want the thing enough anyway.

[Bibliophile]

I rarely snipe an auction, but when I do, I only do it for something I really want, andI do it manually. (I don't have any sniping software).

As for being sniped, for me, it is very annoying. I hate when I am the winning bidder until the last second, and then I am outbid. BUT it comes with the territory. So you just have to accept it. Either that, or stop using ebay.

As much as find being sniped annoying, I can't call it immoral or unethical behavior. There is nothing really wrong with it.

[Steven]

Hell yeah sniping is OK. In fact, the savvy eBay users KNOW sniping is the way to go regarding increasing your chances of:

A. Winning
B. Winning cheap

But you know what stomps sniping? SMART sniping.

My guide explains it all:

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/7485/20601.html

Easy, anyone can do it, no need to hit refresh, F5 whatever. It's a system that I've found success in nearly SIX years now. You'll never bid the same way before again.

[Mayhem]

Actually I do all that myself Steven... though my PC clock is perfectly synched into eBay's clock so I use that instead. And I bid random amounts. Though I do occasionally bid early in an auction just to check that I can actually bid (if the bidder hasn't blocked foreign buyers). With the new hiding of buyers' identities, means people won't necessarily know I'm interested in something.