Henceforth, I shall use a sniping service

[Cyberus]

Otherwise people with broadband will keep on shafting me in ebay auctions.... :pissed:  :pissed:

Lots an auction by 0.01 Euro just now
I thought the next bid has to be much higher?

[mjg59]

If you weren't willing to spend that much, then what's the problem?

If you were willing to spend that much, then why not bid the amount you were willing to spend?

[x56h34]

It's possible that his modem was too slow, even for that. :-)

[Cyberus]

Because of course I would stump up another 1 Eurocent!!

[Cyberus]

On dialup, entering a new amount and then going to the submit page, and clicking on submit can take between 30 secs and 1 minute, in my experience

I don't mind losing an auction (:-P) but when its because I can't bid as quick as other people I feel peeved!

[TheMagicM]

I love sniping.  I've done it with < 5 seconds left.

[Cyberus]

Its great when you're the sniper!

BTW, got all that stuff from Maxxdoo in the end
Thanks ever so much for your help
Now I've just got to reclaim some tax from HM Customs and Excise, cos he didn't put a value on the parcel, and they charged me the full insured value  :pissed:

[Failure]

I freely admit to using auctionsniper.com on eBay.  It works really well and keeps prices down for me.

There is no love between bidders on eBay ;-)

[TheMagicM]

Cyberus: no problem! Glad you got your stuff.

[agima]

Otherwise people with broadband will keep on shafting me in ebay auctions....

[sarcasm]

I'm a firm believer that the government should step in and take everybodies bandwidth over and then dole it out in equal amounts to everyone.  For some people to have high bandwidth when some unfortunate person only has dial up is unjust.

[/sarcasm]

[TjLaZer]

I also snipe if need be.  I won my 3000T this way !  Woot !  

[JonoPike]

I'm a sniper too.
(Was one in the past)
 :ak47:

  ;-)

[adolescent]

Like it was said, sniping is not needed if you just put how much you are willing to pay.  If I get outbid by 1 cent, then it's because it's 1 cent over what I'm willing to pay.  

Also, sniping is no guarantee that you'll get the item.  If you wait until <5 seconds to place a bid and it's not high enough then you're an instant loser.  

I did however like Yahoo auctions system that if a bid was put in at the last moment the time would be extended.  But, I never bought anything off that service.  

[TjLaZer]

In my experience early bidding can drive up a final price!  I guess the reason is people do not like to lose so they will over bid.  I have seen items that are new and easily bought sell for more that you can get them at the store.  I have over paid for items by doing it the right way and bidding early.  Never again.

[Failure]

@adolescent

Sort of.  The problem is very few people bid in your "correct" fashion.  A lot of people bid the minimum bid only.

An example.  Several(!) years ago I bought a VR headset off eBay; I bid "correctly" because I didn't know any better.  About 15 minutes before auction close, some guy starts bidding.  I refresh and the bid keeps going up and up and up -- same guy.  If he had just "won" his bid and stopped, and I came in during the last 5 seconds and outbid him, I would have gotten a price a good $60 less than I wound up with.

I snipe using my maximum value that I am willing to pay.  You would have to be an idiot to not realize that placing a bid with 5 seconds left, it's going to be your *only* bid.  If everyone snipes there is still only one winner.  The auction still works no matter when you bid.