Henceforth, I shall use a sniping service

[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.

[adolescent]

@Failure

But that's just it.  Just because you could have gotten it cheaper, doesn't mean you would have.  You put your maximum you would pay.  The other guy simply didn't know how proxy bidding worked.  There's no saying someone wouldn't put the same bid in as a proxy with 15 seconds to go.  Unless you have access to a time machine you'll never know. :-D

[Failure]

@adolescent

I do not know why I am making an effort to defend sniping...frankly, the more people that bid incorrectly the better for me :-D

Very true, sniping doesn't always result in a cheaper price if you are dealing with a bidder who has bid what they really truly want to pay for an item.  But like TjLaZer said, bidders seem to get this "I've gotta win!" attitude when they are outbid.  Suddenly the item is worth more to them, and the price goes up.  Sniping gets around that, too.

So yes it doesn't work all the time, but on balance I would say it is mostly beneficial for me personally :-)

[amigamad]

I know how you feel i hate waiting nine 9 days only to lose an auction .the best way is to have broadband a decent browser  ie mozzila get some plugins like refresh every , i use password remember feature of this browser so it fills usename and password in automaticly when i type first letter of username always go to my ebay and sighn in and tick keep logged in. even more trouble typing them in in time i try to have browser on refresh every 10 secs in the  last 2 minutes i stop that at about 1 minute 10 and then bid a much higher price if i want to win. In the last minute wait about 5 seconds before submitting bid then refresh the item every 10 seconds and laugh at the people that waited ages only to not be able to get another higher bid in before the auction ends.

For dialup put your bid in 2 minutes from the end / :-D

I would never trust another site with my ebay password and username .
part of the fun is bidding . If i want something badly i either win or ask how much to end the auction . :-)

[melott]

I guess I'm a sniper too.
But you don't need BroadBand to do with.
I'm on dial-up with a 33k modem.
I also have an Atomic Clock setting on my desk,
accurate to the second.
I watch an item I'm interested in and if the bidding
stays under what I'm willing to pay then I submit my
bid in the last few seconds (about 30 seconds). By the
time my bid goes thru there is maybe 5 seconds left.
I have lost a few times but the other bidder was willing
to spend more than me.
So 'Sniping' can be done even on a dial-up w/33k modem.

[Cyberus]

melott wrote:
I guess I'm a sniper too.
But you don't need BroadBand to do with.
I'm on dial-up with a 33k modem.
I also have an Atomic Clock setting on my desk,
accurate to the second.
I watch an item I'm interested in and if the bidding
stays under what I'm willing to pay then I submit my
bid in the last few seconds (about 30 seconds). By the
time my bid goes thru there is maybe 5 seconds left.
I have lost a few times but the other bidder was willing
to spend more than me.
So 'Sniping' can be done even on a dial-up w/33k modem.

Oh true, but I submitted the bid on this auction just over a minute before end. By the time all the cogs had finished turning, I'd been outbid by less than a British penny, and didn't have time for all the cogs to turn again...