Was just lurking..........

Found some tires in my model and with my color and at an incredible price.........pushed the button. Mine.

Lurking some more.........

Ran across my dream bike set up exactly as I'd like and in the color I always wanted. But I have 3 college tuitions and no money. I've emailed the seller and even the stem and bars are the perfect size........ Did history on the seller and it's terrific..........Rightnow the price is pretty sweet......Auction ends tonight..........

Hopefully I'll get tied up this evening and not able to lurk before the auction ends.

Be sure to snipe bid instead of bidding early. Early bidders just disclose their interest and drive the price up.

Good luck!

Just walk away... just walk away. I do it with cookies all the time.

We'll expect you here then instead. Okay?

Good luck.

I was planning to snipe bid on a very interesting lugged frame that was sitting at $100. I forgot until 5 minutes after the auction closed. It went to the lucky first bidder. Maybe you'll get a similar break.

I rarely do snipe bids. I figure what I'm willing to pay for a bargan and bid it. If someone else wants it........oh well, there's next week. If they don't then I get it for 1 bid over anyone else who didn't want it much.

The only time I ever submitted an ebay bid with more than 10 seconds left was when I did it with my cell phone. I was paranoid about the phone's slow browser and bid with 20 seconds left.

In our business we routinely bid online on properties of six to seven figure value. IMHO sniping is both a skill and an art.

To put in your full price beforehand only drives up the price and lets the other guys know what they have to beat.

There have been 4 times when I wasn't going to be around at the end of a bid & put my bid in 3-4 days in advance, and was the winner. Twice no one else even bid on the item and I got it at the minimum bid.

Of course I've lost some using the same system. I've seen some bids go from $200 to $900 in the last 10-15 seconds.

I thought all the PC people were using sniping software now....

For a long time there wasn't an equivalent for the mac, but I suppose there is now.

Anyway, I just figured I didn't have a chance against robots any more....

I just lost a bid for a hoist to store your bikes in the rafters of your garage.

I bid $2.50, with a max of $2.75. Someone else got it for $3.00

Whew, I was afraid I was going to win and then I would have to install the darn thing.

Lucked out again!

Your priorities are a bit askew. A few years in the day- to-day work force ("Do you want fries with that?") might actually help your young scholars better appreciate the value of higher education. In other words, bid high/bid often!

Sniping is a fee-based third-party service. All you need is a browser, a user name, password and PayPal...A Mac will work fine.

I use BidNapper but here are many others. Their servers are continually pinging eBay and measuring the latency. There is no way a human can beat them for last (nano)second timing. Plus, you don't need to sit there with your finger on the mouse.

Bidding the normal way just telegraphs interest and invites attention and competition. Decide what you are willing to pay, activate the Bidnapper (or whatever) and wait for the email to tell you whether you won or not.

And what happens if you have two sniping 3rd party services sniping at each other - ot three - or four of them?

Do they tie?

I don't understand why sniping will beat you. Bid what you are willing to pay. Snipers have to top your bid to win. If they do then OK, you didn't want to pay that much. If they don't then you win.

Don't be afraid to walk away from a bid when it gets too high.

The only problem with that approach is you increase the likelihood of the price going higher than your top price. Last second bidding is an art and can be fun. Sniping programs take the fun out of it.

A thought for people who are happy about winning an auction:

Congratulations...you just paid more for something than anyone else thought it was worth!

Sniping on eBay aside, those Nashbar and Performance sales are nearly as evil as eBay.

I have a Nashbar flip/flop fixed rear hub ($29.95!! How could I resist!?!), a frame pump bag, and other goodies I really didn't need on the way.

Looking at some nice MTB rims (no bids yet!) on eBay too...to lace up with the Deore hubs I got on eBay a couple weeks ago.

And I'm not even 100% sure I'll even like mountain biking.

While the first statement is unprovable and/or false, the highlighted statement is the key point.

All the previous arguments about exposing what you are willing to pay just don't exist unless you have hacked Ebay.

What maximum bid has been placed is not exposed until someone outbids it... just the same as if I bid my maximum at the exact instant that someone else bids. How does this raise the final price? With all of the sniping, I agree that the price goes up at the last minute due to all of the snipes hitting... but either way, the highest bidder wins.

Y'all are the reason that Ebay's latest ads are pushing the thrill of the win. Me, I look to get items I want at a good price. The few times I remember sniping, I ended up paying more than I wanted because of the thrill of the hunt.

The only real down side of the proxy bid (from the perspective of getting a good deal) is that it could tie up the funds you are willing to spend on an item you are waiting for the auction to end, and you are unable to jump on another item (i.e. buy it now or a new listing with a shorter duration).

I had never thought of it quite that way, but you are absolutely right!

Well put. As a beginner on scambay I got caught up in the "I am going to win this item at all costs" and it did cost me. Put in a bid at the price you are willing to pay. Delete the item from your watch list. If you win it, you pay what you think it is worth. That is the definition of a market.

There are lots of ebay buyers that overpay for stuff all the time. You do a search and bidding has exceeded the price of the exact item which is offered as a buy it now? Definition of stupid. Often paying more than retail when the shipping cost is included. If the item is uber rare maybe that is a different issue but more common items will come up again.

I appreciate the entusiasm of your response, but you missed my point entirely.

Last minute bidding without the cheater programs is good sport and doesn't have to lead to higher bidding on your part. When it works it leads to getting things as cheaply as possible. When it doesn't work, you don't get the item.
Where it comes into play is when you find an item you want that has few or no bids on it. You watch it until the end of the auction. If it makes it to the last minute without the bids going up, you wait as long as you dare and then throw in your bid. If it works, nobody else bids higher and you get it cheap. If others do bid at the end, you only get it if the bid you made is higher than theirs. If you bid too early, other buyers notice the bid and may test your bid by bidding progressively higher until they eventually go higher or decide to bow out. This raises the price. As a seller, I like it when this happens. As a buyer it means the opportunity to get a real bargain is gone. This situation is increasingly rare, but when it works, it works.

By definition, you have defined the WINNER'S CURSE.

But it is a far cry from the definition of GAMBLER'S RUIN.

Your point is? The others may have thought that it was worth much more than that. But they didn't have the bucks just then. Money talks, BS walks.

Demand curve met supply curve. It's high school economics.

Not too long ago Ebay changed their bidding policies for last minute bidding and now the auctions can run longer than the set closing time if there is activity, unless that changed again. Helps the seller get a few more dollars, helps Ebay get a few more dollars, and whacks the sniperbot users by driving the price up a bit higher until everyone's max is reached except the last one. You pay, then you pay some more.

I've bid early, won some, lost some. I've snipped in the closing minutes of an auction, won some, lost some. Thinking about it I don't think I've bid on or sold anything in well over a year or two on Ebay. Craigslist is what I've been using lately.