I confess! Sniping baffles me

[JamesM]

The way I see it,
My max bid is the same whether I snipe, or bid.
Plus, a $105 max bid has seniority over a (later) $105 max snipe.
So what gives? Splain it to me

[azlew]

Ok so the big deal is this :

Let's say you put in your max bid a day before the auction ends. There are let's call them idiots (or they may be friends of the seller called "shills") that will keep bidding until they go above your max bid supposively for the thrill of it...

Ebay lets the earlier max bid in your case of 105.00 always win. SO thats why you should bid something like 105.22 etc. In this case I would bid 105.78.

PLEASE Don't bid early in an auction as there are too many newbies,looky at me's (people that like to see their name as having the current high bid), and shills(people that run up the price for their friend selling the pachislo) out there that will just run it up over your max bid no matter what. And what this does is run up the prices. Of course Ebay luvs it !!!

[Tulsa]

If you bid $105 early on, someone is more than likely going to outbid you to get ahead of you. Hence, the price goes up and you'll have to bid higher to get it. If you wait to bid and someone is sitting on a lower number since it wasn't bid up early you might get it at the $105 or less if you wait till the last few seconds to bid since no one has time to up the bid from that point.

Now bidding $105 is plain silly. Everyone likes to hit an even sounding number. If you're going to bid $105 then bid $107 so someone trying to get it under you will try for the $105 and you'll have them beat again.

If $105 is all your ever going to bid on it anyway, why tip your hand early? If someone in the meantime bids higher than $105 you were never going to get it in the first place, again, there's no good reason to bid early for anything.

If you want to use the argument that you can't be there when it closes, either get a sniping program or bid early and watch for the profits of the vendor to soar. They'll love you. Don't be surprised if prices from that point stay high as other people are watching and setting a price value on what is bid and furture sales of this or similar items will go higher because of it. In the end, you'll pay more if it's an item you really want.

[azlew]

........there's no good reason to bid early for anything.

If you want to use the argument that you can't be there when it closes, either get a sniping program or bid early and watch for the profits of the vendor to soar. They'll love you. Don't be surprised if prices from that point stay high as other people are watching and setting a price value on what is bid and furture sales of this or similar items will go higher because of it. In the end, you'll pay more if it's an item you really want.

Well stated TULSA .

[JamesM]

Thank you oh wise men with silver balls.
Which sniping programs are best?

[Tulsa]

Your fingers are best. After that, most people seem to like Auction Sentry.

[JamesM]

Is sniping software useful with a slow computer?

[kaz1961]

auctionsniper.com, just set it and forget it. It doesnt matter how fast your computer is because you set up the snipe well in advance. The service bids in the last few seconds using their connection.

[JamesM]

Whoa auto server bids for only 1% cost.
sounds good to me

[jwegger]

Also there are people out there that have no intention of buying but just want to make everyone else pay more.

[azlew]

Also there are people out there that have no intention of buying but just want to make everyone else pay more.

WELL STATED jwegger

[JamesM]

Are there sniping shills?

[MrGneiss]

Are there sniping shills?

Interesting thought, how would that work or help?

[JamesM]

by maybe boosting up sniping prices?

[Tulsa]

That would be the three stooges of shilling doing that.

[JamesM]

:lmaoachistooges