Originally Posted by j_mavros
+1. I wonder who these last-minute bidders think they're fooling..."Oh, maybe this current high bidder wasn't smart enough to figure out what the part was worth to them when they bid...if I sit by my computer all night, I can sneak in at the last minute and steal it before they bid again!"
I use a sniping service for pretty much any Ebay buying I do. So, I decide what an item is worth to me, and enter that on the sniping service web page. Why should I tip off those crazy incremental early bidders with my intentions? The other benefit of the sniping service is that I can change my mind and cancel the bid whenever I want with no penalty. And the site I use is actually FREE if you don't use it that frequently and you're OK with getting your bid in at the last 20 seconds.
If we all used sniping services, it would be like a "sealed bid" auction. Which would be OK with me as a seller- take the last-minute competitive hysteria out of it.