Don't you just hate those people who bid at the absolute last second. They are no bids from them the whole time, they wait til theres a minute left and bid, bid, bid. I HATE THAT!!! Can you tell I just had a personal experience???

By Amy~moderator on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 12:13 am:

The same thing happened to me a few times. Ugh!

By Rayanne on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 07:07 am:

I know!!!!!! I hate that!!!!

By Amecmom on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 08:29 am:

That's the way to make sure you get what you want at a reasonable price. There's nothing underhanded about it. Why jack up the price for yourself, just bid at the end.
Ame

By Feona on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 08:51 am:

you can get some free auction snipes just look for auction snipes on google.com.

It is the only way to bid on ebay.

By Boxzgrl on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 02:18 pm:

Ame- don't you think its a bit unhonest? To the seller and potential buyers. The seller gets ripped off of what they could have made and a person who bids gets it taken away in less than a minute. Unless you sit at home until that last minute (which most of us have no time to do.) I have never done that and would feel horrible if I did. I want to win fairly.

By Palmbchprincess on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 03:24 pm:

How does the seller get ripped off? I agree it sucks when you lose a bid, but that's why there is proxy bidding. It will only bid up to what you want to pay, but if there are no more bids after you it stays at your low bid. The seller doesn't lose when someone snipes the bid, they still sell it, and make more. If the "sniper" doesn't pay the seller can send a second chance offer to the next lowest bidder. I've only had 2 non-paying bidders, and both times I relisted or sent a second chance. Once I made much more on the sale by relisting. But waiting until the end doesn't make sure you get a more reasonable price. It just makes sure you win.

By Kate on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 03:38 pm:

I agree that waiting until the end lulls other bidders into thinking the item is not wanted by anyone else. However, I see nothing wrong with it. A sniper can still lose the item if previous bidders have bid high enough. The sniper doesn't KNOW your highest bid, so you may have bid $25 on the item, but currently it sits at only $5.50. The sniper doesn't know quite what to bid....it's only at $5.50, so they may think, well....I'll snipe it at $18.00 and probably get it. Wrong! You would still win it with your higher bid of $25. Actually, in that scenario, you'd win it at $18.50, so you STILL wouldn't be paying the highest you were willing to go. And if the sniper bid the same as you, $25, YOU would win because YOU bid FIRST. And the sniper has no time to bid again, so if he loses he loses. I realize YOU have no time to bid again, either, but I guess the solution is if you want the item badly enough, bid what you are truly willing to pay for it. Then no matter if you're sniped or not, if you lose, there would be nothing to be helped. If you weren't willing to pay X amount, then it doesn't matter if you lost to a sniper or not. Does this make sense?

I'm a last minute bidder, too, but it took me some time to learn the ropes and realize it's a better way to win. Personally, I prefer 'buy it now' auctions. Also, when you put in your item into 'search', do you ever check the STORES that come up on the left side of the screen? They may have what you want. On the left, when searching, if you click 'buy it now items only' you'll also bring up the stores. I like that feature a lot.

By Yjja123 on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 04:38 pm:

Being outbid is the nature of the game. It is an auction after-all. I admit I am likely to outbid someone seconds before an auction ends. Why? because then I do not get in a crazy bidding war days before an auction ends and pay way more than I should for something. There is nothing unfair about it. Whoever bids highest wins.
As a seller I do not see anything wrong with it. I always listed an item starting at what I wanted to make and any extra bidding was bonus profits.
As a buyer it is the best way to get a great price as long as you can be in front of a computer the last few minutes it ends.

By Mommyathome on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 05:46 pm:

I wouldn't call it dishonest! It is an auction, after all. That is *how* auctions work. The highest bidder takes all.
Lots of times I will wait for the last 30 minutes or so of the auction before decided to place my bid.
As a frequent seller, I'm always happy to see those last minute bids sneak in! It just ups the money going into my pocket

By Amecmom on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 06:47 pm:

I guess the other ladies answered for me. No, Melissa, I don't think it's dishonest. If you go to an auction you can sit there and not move a muscle until the very end, and then hold up your paddle or give a high sign and place your bid. That's the way auctions work.

There is no guarantee that I will get the item I want, after all, I still have to have a higer max bid than enyone else. I'm certainly not taking anything from anyone. I put in what I'm willing to pay. If the other bidders have put in a higher amount, then someone else will win.

As far as watching the computer, I just track the item in My Ebay. I have an idea of when the auction will end. If it's something I particualrly want, I make it my business to be there at the end. I don't buy much on Ebay, but I do like the antique jewelry and one of a kind items that come up.

I don't see that I'm getting the item any more fairly or unfairly than if I bid a very high amount at the beginning, what I was really willing to pay, and then just sat back and made no more bids.

Ame

By Feona on Sunday, July 11, 2004 - 09:35 am:

If auction sniping was dishonest, ebay wouldn't allow it.

Actually I think bidding early is not a good idea. It seems some people don't want something unless someone else wants it. If you know what I mean.

I never used to win ebay auction. Now I win them if the price doesn't go over my max price. Most times I am the only one bidding that way too.

By Melanie on Sunday, July 11, 2004 - 11:43 am:

I never used to like snipers. I, too, thought there was something sneaky and dishonest about it. Until the time I wanted a Raggedy Anne cake pan. There was only one that I liked that ended at a time when I could get it when I needed it. I got into a bidding war over it. I got so tired of seeing this other person bidding over me that I did a search on google for a sniping service. I found auctionsniper.com. I won that pan, but not before paying way too much for it. Now when I see an item I want, I go to auctionsniper and place my bid through them. If I lose, too bad. It's too late. If I win, I did it while truly sticking to what I initially said I was willing to pay.