rpenmanparker 

Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. The savings don't come from using a sniping site, but rather from sniping, whether you do it, the site does it, a friend does it for you, whatever. If you set an alarm to remind you to place the last minute bid, that can work. If you carry a smart phone with the ebay app on it, that can let you do it yourself wherever you are. Well almost. Supposing you are sleeping. Supposing you are on an airplane. And so on. The two techniques, sniping yourself and using a sniping site are complementary.

kv501

1. Sniping sites bid for you within the last couple of seconds (or less), giving others no time to react (assuming your max bid is highest). In other words, if your max bid is $30 and you place it with 15 seconds left, other people can still get in.

2. I can set up multiple items and prioritize them. Say I'm looking at a new derailleur and there arre 4 of them that fit my bill. I can enter all the auction numbers, and the site will bid at the last second on all four of them until it wins one (or loses all). Very efficient.

3. My time is worth money, and if it is something I really want and the auction ends during a work meeting or my son's tee ball game, I let the site do it for me.

The real kicker is the first point. People who bid outside the last few seconds of an auction don't stop to think that all they're doing is pushing the price up higher for everyone. Don't give your money away.

cbresciani

I really hate eBay sometimes, last thing I bidded on of course sold for $1 more than my maximum bid, which was fine. But was then relisted the next day at the starting opening bid from the day before. Then eBay sends me the email "Don't let it get away this time" yeah right, like I'm going to bid on it again! (rant off)

Homebrew01

Probably a shill bid, and they got stuck with it, so relisted to try again. You should have bid again, but lower your maximum bid, so that if you win, the seller will be pissed they didn't let you have it the first time at a higher price.

Cookiemonsta

In the secondhand market, when something looks too good to be true, it is probably not true.

This holds especially for items that are typically used and owned by enthusiasts. The probability of them really underpricing whatever they are offering is really small (because this is what a great deal is, paying significantly less than what you [and probably others] were willing to pay).

kps88

Maybe the crank is used. Is this the crank that comes stock?

Swo0p

On ebay I got a (granted 2 yr older model) $1200 msrp cyclocross bike from a bike shop for $650 delivered. Was a floor room model and was ridden a few times up and down the street. Imho a good deal. I have seen similar priced new bikes go for 50% of the msrp, falling in the too good to be true category but legit

JGSnCA

For those of you who read the post and are interested this bike finally sold on eBay for $1,700 without wheels. I think that's high since you can pick up a new one at closeout for close to $2,200-300. I had sent the seller a question about the mileage of the bike only to be called a dumb a$$. Glad I passed and thanks for all the advice!

Nihilum

LOL...my bike has around 100 miles on it and the white handlebar tape looks like it has skid marks. You cannot tell how many miles are on a bike by the handlebar tape...by any stretch of the imagination.

jon c. 

When I look at the ebay bidding, it shows a price of $1,700, but the bidding history shows no bids and 4 cancelled bids up to $1,400. I've bought a few things off ebay over the course of many years, but remain a relative novice on the fine points. Is this a normal way for a sale to be listed?

DaveWC

"This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available."

rpenmanparker 

Yeah, this smells. Seems like the seller made a deal elsewhere or with an ebay member on the side.