Question about sniping to save money

[charitycasegreg]

I always snipe within the last 10-15 seconds so I dont go through bidding wars and causing the price to go higher. A couple people I came accross says this doesnt work. They are idiots and need to think about things. Example: An auction goes up and is at .99 and there are 2 people on ebay who want it. Person 1 may bid their max or 3.00. Then person 2 will come along and bid 5.00. Then person one bids 6.00....and so on until one says "I dont want to pay anymore. Then the price ends up at like 15.00. If person 2 would have let the auction go until the last 15 seconds, he could put his max bid of whatever the most he would want to pay. So hed put maybe 12.00. Tehn person 1 wouldnt have time to make another bid and the auction would have ended at like 4.00. Most people dont realalize why bidding at last minute helps not to drive the price up. But it would save a little money not to bid then get outbid then bid again. Who does and who doesnt do this?

[captain nintendo]

I am not a fan of sniping, but sometimes it is a necessary evil to get something I want for cheap. I have placed bids with 3 hours to go in the past and only to come back and check on it after it was done to see somebody outbid me in the last 7 seconds. That drove me nuts, but I figured what the hell I just saved "x" amount of money...Now I do the same however, I will wait until about 7 - 10 seconds are left and bid what I am willing to pay for that item. If thats not enough, then thats too abd. I dont want to get caught up in bidding wars That is of course unless I really need an item badly :P

[SoulBlazer]

If I come into a item that I am SURE that not many other people will want -- a cheap and common item with other auctions going on at the same time -- then yes, I WILL put in a bid right then and there and leave it, and never give it a second thought. If it's a rare item, though, then I WILL snipe, gladly.

[lym]

I always bid on a auction in the last few seconds then it doesn't give any chance for any outbid bidders to bid again. I probably really annoyed someone last week when I outbid the same person 3 times on 3 different auctions in one hour!

[Balloon Fight]

I snipe on everything. Common or rare stuff. I especially snipe on those rare long box PS1 games such as In the Hunt, but apparently Joe snipes as well.

[Raccoon Lad]

I almosyt always snipe, exept for when the auction ends when I'll be asleep. In that case, I leave my max proxy late at night. and almost always, examination of the bid history reveals I'd have saved some money if I had sniped.

[charitycasegreg]

Ill bid if I wont be home when it ends. Ive won a few items that way. who voted for not sniping? 1 person,

[LiquidX01]

I agree. I snipe all the time and I never thought of it as a way of saving money but just as a way of ensuring that I will get what I want without having to go through the drama of going back and forth with someone else over the same item. Dont mean to sound shelfish or anything.

[Daria]

I'll snipe if I know I want to win the auction and not pay a lot for it. If I don't really care however I'll sometimes take a gamble with an opening bid. Not that it ever works. :P
________
CARLO CHITI

[charitycasegreg]

The only time I dont snipe is when I see something that would go for a lot and I bid just under what I think the item would go for. ie., say there was a top loader with 20 games. It would probably end at about 110 bucks so I would bid $85. I dont know why I do this....

[charitycasegreg]

Who voted no? Post here on why you dont do it? Do you either not bid on stuff much, your never home when auction ends, or are just stupid and dont realize that theres a point to it?

[Cmosfm]

I always bid on a auction in the last few seconds then it doesn't give any chance for any outbid bidders to bid again. I probably really annoyed someone last week when I outbid the same person 3 times on 3 different auctions in one hour!

I was bidding on one guys Famicom lots on eBay, about 10-15 at a time, and about 3 different ending time periods. I sniped out one fellow out of EVERYONE of these auctions, I think I let him win one or 2 though. .

Then there was the Super Famicom I sniped for, and the high bidder below me IM'd me and called me a jerk and told me a sob story about how his brothers last dying wish was to own a Super Famicom. I didn't fall for his story.

Anyways, I use www.ezsniper.com , It places the bid in the last 3 seconds for you for a very minimal fee (min .10 fee, anything over 10.00 is .01%). Placed 10.00 in my account a year ago and have used it countless times and still have about 5.00 left.

[charitycasegreg]

I have never lost on my free sniping techniques. Well except for when the high bidders max bid is higher than what Id pay. I guess a sniping program would be good for when your not home to win the auction.

[Cmosfm]

I have never lost on my free sniping techniques. Well except for when the high bidders max bid is higher than what Id pay. I guess a sniping program would be good for when your not home to win the auction.

or when you're on 56k.

[nesuser2]

i used to try to snipe on 56k and it is possible if you time right but you don't know who else bids in under a minute. Which is ok if you don't poke around and just bid what you're willing to pay.

Also, last week I sniped for 2 cameras. One was sniped within 10-15 seconds and I beat the guy by $1 i think....or maybe 2. Anyways, the other one was a bid war but I managed to pay $220 for the camera shipped after I talked with the seller about maybe ending it early. He asked for an offer, so I offered $230 shipped which was a HUGE lowball offer since the camera sells $270 retail and came with a 128mb memory stick and a card reader for it.....and he never replied. I bet he wishes he did......

[anagrama]

I'm on dial-up, and I've found that I can snipe to within the last 6 seconds or so.

[charitycasegreg]

Im on cable so sniping is a sinch. I found another time I cant snipe, when there is a BIN but its too much and the start price is low and you think somebody may use BIN but you want the item and have to make a bid to get rid of the BIN. I had to do it today.

[suppafly]

I use esnipe.com, and it kicks ass. I usually snipe in the last 2 seconds, it works like a charm!

[kevincure]

The economist in me says that second-price auctions (like Ebay uses) mean that "strategic bidding" doesn't really make a difference, but because of people's psychology they tend to overbid at the last second (the "it's only one more dollar" effect, I guess). If ebay kept bids hidden and didn't tell you who was winning until the auction was over (and used "second-price" where the winner of the auction pays what the second-highest bidder bid), then there really would be no reason to snipe.

That said, the way ebay auctions work now are much more fun, if not as pareto optimal =).

[esquire]

I especially snipe on those rare long box PS1 games such as In the Hunt, but apparently Joe snipes as well.

Yeah Joe got me on that auction too! But luckily there was another auction I sniped on and won.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EBWN%3AIT&rd=1

and I got it for $10 less than Joe's!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...088911792&rd=1