Do any of you "snipe" when using e-bay?

[eve]

I've found if I really want something, I never place a big early in the game. I just watch and watch till its almost over. Then if the price is reasonable, I will snipe. I think if you bid early it does push the price up...the bidding wars begin.

Yep sometimes it's just best to wait

[dorkydiva]

I usually bid at the last minute. I don't see anything wrong with it, because if you go to a live auction it goes to the last person that bids.

[alimfp]

I do it myself usually, I don't like depending on other services for some reason.

[Tracy72]

I put in my highest bid if Ihave to leave..if I am home then I wait till like 5 minutes til end and start bidding..sometimes it takes a while to get totally logged in...lol...

[tishaclayton]

I don't use bots but I have snipe the last couple of days..For instance.. I was bidding for this ham radio that they stop making a couple of yrs ago..Brand new, still in box.. I was..I guess ya call it in a "bidding war" with someone else.. I waited till the last 45 secs to put in my highest bid and "sniped" it from him... :gd_devild

[Rob9874]

I don't use bots, but I do place my bid in the last final seconds. As a 9-year eBay veteran, you learn over time that placing a bid earlier only allows your competing bidder to log in and outbid you. Why would I want to do that? My bid is legit. It's a higher bid than the other bidders. If you feel slighted by snipers, there's an easy fix. Make sure your bid is higher than theirs. No matter how late they bid, yours will win. I never understand why people hate sniping. An auction goes to the highest bidder. Why was your bid not as high as you were willing to go?

[missyjane]

I didn't know that I was "sniping" either. I just wanted those Paul McCartney tickets and I got 'em.

 

It was a fabulous show - well worth it!

[elena_398]

Im queen sniper! I wait till the last 5 seconds or so and put a bid in. I have two computers with different amounts in them. I put enter on one, if it says something about being outbid, I enter on the other computer. It usually works 9 out of 10 times. (Only don't win if someone really goes high on an item)

[elena_398]

Must I say though, I HATE it when someone snipes me :)

[nellyhill]

I bid on the item with a very low bid just to get it in "My Ebay." Then I will search ebay to see if there is something similar with a decent "Buy It Now" price. If not I will watch the item and put in my max bid during the last few min.

[elena_398]

I love buy it nows. No hassle. Price is right then you buy it.

[JanaBanana]

I snipe on my own as well, dont use a service.... Im not liking the shipping costs of things lately though.....

[elena_398]

I never looked at a service, just make sure Im there waiting for it to end

[Wormwood]

I don't use bots, but I do place my bid in the last final seconds. As a 9-year eBay veteran, you learn over time that placing a bid earlier only allows your competing bidder to log in and outbid you. Why would I want to do that? My bid is legit. It's a higher bid than the other bidders. If you feel slighted by snipers, there's an easy fix. Make sure your bid is higher than theirs. No matter how late they bid, yours will win. I never understand why people hate sniping. An auction goes to the highest bidder. Why was your bid not as high as you were willing to go?

This is my view too. Before bots people complained about those bidding at the last minute, now we complain about bots. I've been outbid this way, but (like today) I've been pleasantly surprised with last minute bids for something I thought wasn't going to sell. Before long someone will find a way to outsmart the bots.

[couponmamaoftwins]

I love to snipe on my own.

[Jenniferharrison82]

That's right, that's why I started doing it.

me too

[best4less]

I don't use any services of anything like that, I just won't place a bid until the final seconds of the auction ending.

[BLKFRI]

I only bid in the last 5 seconds of an auction. If you bid sooner on a popular item, you will always get outbid. If I don't get it for what I'm willing to pay. I'll wait until another one is available. This summer I bought a $2800 camera, used for $1610. In the 5 days of the auction only 5 bids were placed. In the last 10 seconds 20 bids were placed. I won and the seller tried to cancel the auction. That camera never went for that cheap before, especially with all the extras he included. He tried to get me to pay him another $200 for it. I did not do that, but I did drive 50 miles to pick it up and gave him the $35 s/h fee. I was determined to buy that camera for under $1650 and I did it. I wanted to pick it up because of the $ involved. I have bought hundreds of Items on eBay and only twice was I ripped off for a total of $45.

[WELUVKDS79]

afraid soo....I want it cheap...

[Spooot]

I haven't bought anything on e-bay in years, but when I did, yep I sniped, I didn't know at the time that's what it was called though. I am amazed that people will start a bidding war on an item early in a 5,7 or 10 day auction. I haven't decided if it is inexperienced e-bayers or the seller or family member of the item pushing the price up.

 

My daughter was recently trying to purchase a Pottery Barn Duvet cover, those things were selling for twice the price in the store, it took her a month to finally win one that was reasonably priced.

[cronos]

i snipe manually. open up several tabs with different amounts on them, and quickly hit the next higher whenever the last bid failed.

 

whatever the item is i never started bidding until it's less than one minute to the end of the auction. by that time usually the price is up already and i'd rather not bid at all.

[WELUVKDS79]

I do so to get the kids things I normally couldn't afford. I have bought roughly 40% of their Christmas presents that way! I even got the new Leapster & 3 games for $80 and she only charged $6 for shipping so I did good! I love BF but, I try to be most of the way done by then or I wilol be in line forevor!!

[ebony0421]

No, I've never done it.

[drmy91]

Oh I hate this. I have wanted some new clothes for school and someone did that to me on every auction. About 5 of them. I WAS BLEEP... I would never do that to someone. I make my max bid and thats it.

[Mommie2one]

I don't use ebay very often, but last week I tried to win a GBA game. I got sniped in the last 8 seconds. I wasn't fast enough to place another bid though.

[kfinto65]

Sniping is when someone comes along in the last few minutes of an auction and outbids you I hate it and someone did it to me again today on a flute.

You just have to set a higher max bid! I try to snipe but it doesn't work if the original bidder has the high bid set higher than I want to pay for the item.

[Guest Frieked]

I never bid on anything on ebay until the last minute. It's like asking for someone to come outbid you... you let the other guys think they are getting a great deal and then Bam!

If you give the other guys lots of time to sit there thinking about how much they want the item, they are more likely to outbid you.

[civicracinggirl7]

nope. i just set my max bid and leave it at that... if i'm around to watch the end of the auction, then i may bid a little higher towards the end. i tend to always put a price on everything and not go higher than that though unless it's something really rare, or that i really need, etc.

[swb120]

I only bid by sniping. Why? Because I'm a self-interested consumer and determined to maximize the purchasing power of my (limited) disposable income.

 

Bidding your max early will likely only result in you paying more than if you bid late, as others will push the price and as a result, your cost up. By bidding late, you avoid this, and, more importantly, avoid the temptation to bid over what you have calculated as your maximum price, in case you're outbid. And, it saves you time, since you don't have to sit around hitting "Refresh" on your computer screen for 5 minutes before the end of the auction. For people as financially saavy as everyone who posts on this site, I'm surprised a) how few people snipe and how offended those who don't are at those who do.

 

Personally, I've used esnipe for several years and have always had good results (and since I've used it since it started, all of my bids under $25 are at no additional cost to me!).

 

But to each his/her own.

[abbeyainscal]

the seller wants? It just happened to me for a $.01 on something I really wanted. - Linda