[Kerry56]

Dadgum them.

 
Cost me $28 in the last six seconds of the auction.  Oh well, I won and it was still (barely) within what I'd call a decent price.  Not great, but at least acceptable.
 
And 7 day auctions draaagggg on.  Woof.

 

[Merck]

I'm sure the ones you beat are upset with you.

 

[Kerry56]

Ah, but those two are not out any cash! 

 
 
Just venting by the way.  Ebay has been a last second sniping zone for some time now.  There seem to be only two tactics that work.  Set a price limit and use that for your bid, then grit your teeth and watch the bids shoot to the top in the final seconds.  Or you can try to outclick and outguess the others at the finish line.  The second method will sometimes save you money, but often times fails to win.

 

[cifani090]

What is a blasted sniper?

 

[Kerry56]

Quote:

What is a blasted sniper?

Just my term for a last second bidder, who hasn't shown up in the auction up to that point.   They lie in wait, till they think there is no chance someone will have time to overbid them.
 
Of course, it could mean someone who hunts snipes, and that's usually done when you're pretty well blasted (drunk). 

 

[kckc]

Hm..I just happen to be one of those "blasted snipers" but I haven't been on eBay lately so I'm so I'm not the one who outbid you 

It saves money.

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

Just my term for a last second bidder, who hasn't shown up in the auction up to that point.   They lie in wait, till they think there is no chance someone will have time to overbid them.
 
Of course, it could mean someone who hunts snipes, and that's usually done when you're pretty well blasted (drunk). 

Ohh, if you dont mind me asking what were you bidding on?
 

 

[Kerry56]

Was bidding on some AKG K240 Mk II headphones.  From the description, should be in mint condition.  Won't know for certain till they come in on Monday.

 

[sasquatcher]

Fight fire with fire and snipe yourself.  It isn't unfair, just smart.

Actually, snipers or at a slight disadvantage because if 2 bids on an item are the same, or there isn't enough difference between them to meet the minimum bid increment, the 1st bid in wins.

(Automated) sniping is a convenience for people who want to avoid drawing early attention, inexperienced, ignorant, "nibbling", and/or emotional bidders, and bidding wars to an item that early bidding may bring.

http://www.hidbid.com is a good service to use if you don't have the time to do it manually.

A couple more benefits of sniping:

1. Sniping is actually a way of combating shill bidding - when the seller or his buddy bids on the item until they're the high bid, and know your max, then retract their bid, and use yet another account to bid on the item, bidding just below your max. You don't give the shiller time to retract their bid in order to leave you as the high bidder, close to your max. You can't do much about a shill bidder letting their bid ride to the end of the auction, if it just raises but doesn't exceed yours.

Also, look out for 2nd chance offers, as they would be a reason for the shiller to let their shill bid ride, you may want to decline any and look for a different seller with the same item. Unless of course, the price seems ok with you, even though possibly artificially jacked up.

2. You can just cancel a snipe with maybe 5 minutes (I guess it depends on what service or software you use) before the end of an auction, if you change your mind about bidding on an item, and your bid won't be placed. If you place a bid on ebay and then retract it (not a seller's or ebay's favorite thing), you can be blocked from bidding on other auctions after doing this a few times, not sure what that # is.

Anyone bidding on ebay should understand ebay's proxy bidding system, and have an idea about their bid increments:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html

 

[omegaman]

I always just bid the highest I'm willing to pay to pick up a deal.
If a sniper gets it then I wouldn't be to bothered because I wouldn't be paying any more anyway. 
Just put your highest bid in and if you get it for less you are happy. If you don't win you are still happy because the sniper is the one out of pocket.

 

[helios]

 
Quote:

I always just bid the highest I'm willing to pay to pick up a deal.
If a sniper gets it then I wouldn't be to bothered because I wouldn't be paying any more anyway. 
Just put your highest bid in and if you get it for less you are happy. If you don't win you are still happy because the sniper is the one out of pocket.

X2.  I just bid my max, usually in the last 30 seconds if I can.  After that whatever happens is what happens.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I bid a little my maximum whenever I find something. Then I don't worry about it.

Either I get it or force someone else to pay too much. Both results are fine with me.

 

[JamesMcProgger]

there is a chrome/firefox extension to automatically sniper the auction, but I have never used it.