Originally Posted by
ascend
Sniping is just laying down your max bid in the last minute or so of the auction, as opposed to doing the same earlier. You don't need a program or a service or anything to do it, just enough dedication to be at your computer at the right time.
As a buyer, it's in your best interest to put down your max bid as late as possible in the game. Basically because, when you lay down a bid it lets other interested parties know that there's competition for the item, and the earlier you do so, the more time they have to scrounge around behind the couch/etc for a bit of extra cash so they can set their max bid higher than they would have otherwise (and potentially outbid you).
(Conversely, as a seller, it's in your best interest to get some low bids going early, so the interested people scrounge around and bid higher.)
This would be true
IF the other buyer knows what my maximum bid is... to assume that there will be no competition means entering a low sniper bid... which could lose anyway. I occasionally get my winning bid bumped up at the last minute by unsuccessful snipe attempts, and sometimes get beat... Either way, I bid as much as I was willing to pay. I either get it, or it was too expensive.
Also, because I bid as soon as I am sure I want an item, I know that many people who bid early, only bid a token amount, hoping that nobody else bids and they get a real steal. I often bid my max (say $50) with another bid already in for the starting bid (say $0.99) and then I become the high bidder at $1.24 (or whatever the first increment is).
I really think that recent Ebay marketing (the thrill of the hunt) has captured the spirit of sniping... It isn't that sniping gets you a better deal, but it sure makes you think that you earned it.
I almost always do as suggested above, and bid an uneven amount, just to keep it interesting. Someone else did the same on a bike I recently bought, because my final price was $98.76 which was not my maximum bid. This would drive Monk crazy, but I am fine with it.
And technically it is not to your advantage to bid late... since if there are 2 bids of the same amount, the first one wins.
Also, I have received an email to "stop bidding, I really want it" and all that was happening was the person kept bidding small increases, and my proxy kept outbidding them.
I have nothing against snipers, as I think everyone should bid however they enjoy bidding, I just think they are fooling themselves if they think it gets better deals.