I either use the buy-it-now function, or I snipe.

The most surprising thing to me is that when I snipe, I almost always pay a lot less than I was willing to pay, or I don't get the item. Typically I'll enter a snipe amount around $75 and the item will sell for $40 (to me) or $140 (not to me). Either way I'm happy.

If EVERYONE sniped at the last minute (well, 7 seconds before end of auction) nothing would change. The person who entered the highest bid would win the item, and the price would be pretty much the same as otherwise expected.

Sniping is the correct strategy for ebay. Keeps the bidder from getting caught up in the action and over bidding. I come up with the maximum I'm willing to pay for something, then bid with less than 5 seconds left. I can't make a second bid, no auction fever possible. I never regret losing because I am convinced the winner overpaid

Frankly, I don't understand all this bruhaha about online auction tactics, methods and psychology. I have a simple rule that I apply to determine how much I am willing to bid and never stray from it. Namely, I never pay more than it would cost me to find it elsewhere, be it some other online store or Buy it Now (BIN) or Craigslist or whatever. And if it is some rare item that is only to be found infrequently on eBay, then I simply establish in advance an absolute maximum amount that it is worth to ME and let the chips fall where they may. No complicated bidding tactics, sniping software or voodoo. Just like most things in life, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and I don't lose any sleep over it.

+1 wrk101 turned me on to esniper earlier this year and its proven very useful and helped me win some auctions that I was unable to be near the computer for the end of.

I don't snipe, but it is kind of fun when you win that way. I think we all kind of like the feeling of victory, and sniping makes it more so.

If I really want the item, I put my max price in and forget it. If someone wants it more, fine, even by a penny.
If I'm interested in a bargain, I follow it and see where it seems to be going, then make a decision on what I'll spend and stick to it.

I'd say I'm about 50% successful getting either what I want or a good buy.

CL here is getting a lot more parts out there than it used to. It has it's own problems, but I like meeting bike people, and that's a plus.

I don't think sniping really matters. I've sold items recently where they were bid up early up to what they were worth and sold for that. Some of these items had over 20 people watching and I was ready for some heavy sniping, but no snipers came in because the items were already over what they wanted to pay. The only time I get snipers is if the item is below mkt value a few minutes before it closes.

The reason is you'll often end up paying more by bidding early. Early bidding encourages counterbidding, which means that if you win the item, you'll pay more for it than you would have if you had waited until the closing seconds to bid. Your competitors, who only learn of your interest in the item when it's too late to counterbid, have no time left to drive up the final price.

No, they cant see your gih bid amount but what they did was submit higher price than you did. High price wins. Its not that they weren't bidding all along, they were, but were using an automated system.

I tied with someone a fews ago. He submitted his bid 5 days before I did and won based on that.

I didn't say that I necessarily bid early, just that I never bid above a pre-established amount. I don't try to play mind games with other bidders and don't get sucked into bidding wars. Normally, I simply watch the auction until it is nearing being closed, and if the price hasn't already exceeded my limit, I just put in my bid. If there are any last minute bidders out there, it's not going to make any difference. I don't play poker and I don't play the stock market.

Ebay used to make me stress, but not anymore. If it's something I want I may stick around for the end of the auction... If not I just bid whatever I want to pay and let the Ebay gods decide.

I can understand sellers not liking snipers, but for buyers, it's a way to eliminate much of the item inflation from the competitive aspect that Ebay promotes.

I only snipe now, sometimes using an automatic service and sometimes manually, as Tigerprawn does. When I lose, it's because the market value was more than the maximum I wanted to pay - simple as that.

When I'm bidding on eBay, my goal is not just to win the auction, it's to win the auction at minimal cost to me. All I'm saying is, if you enter a bid that allows a competitor enough time to counter your bid -- and we're only talking about a few seconds here -- it will increase the amount you pay in the event you're lucky enough to win the auction.

Shimano made a variation of these, they work nicely. I definitely prefer them to the SunTours.

Totally agree. If you bid early, you just get others to be all emotional and they've just got to outbid you to prove how tough they are. If you wait until the last possible second, they don't have time to place a new, emotional bid. So you pay whatever is the maximum that the item is worth to you. And you don't lose it to someone who will then kick themselves for having overpaid, just because they didn't want to lose.

I use a sniping service but only because often I'm not online or around a computer when the
auction is scheduled to end.
Sometimes I'll throw a direct lowball bid in on an item and see where it goes, I've been surprized that
I've actually won some of these.

ebay is sure less friendly than it was say 5 years ago.

marty

I NEVER enter a bid in advance of the closing time. That just encourages the newbies to bid in $1 increments until they've beat my bid by a whole dollar. Much more satisfying to school them with a well-placed snipe at the end.

Sorry to hear you lost your holy grail, though. I've actually got a used set here, but it's earmarked for my Gitane tourer. I may change my mind about that, and if I was absolutely certain that I would not be using it, I'd sell it to you, but for now, It's for a build, so....

That's what I do. If it's something that I really, really, REALLY must have, then I bid some insane amount and just dare some fool to come in there and take it from me.

Now you guys know why 24mm seatposts now go for a fortune on eBay.

I'm leery of sharing my eBay information with a 3rd party so I use a free, open source program running on one of my computers (a server, so it's always on and always connected to the internet): https://esniper.sourceforge.net

Works for me!

If an item is rare and desirable, then the only way you're going to win it at anything approaching a reasonable price is to snipe it. Too many collectors are experienced Ebayer's and experience, teaches you.