quote:Originally posted by HappySniper:
What some unscrupulous sellers have been known to do is to have a third party reveal your max by deliberately over bidding 'til they're on top and then cancelling their bid afterwards. Then a forth party can deliberately bid just below your now known max thereby taking you for top dollar.
I may have misattributed that quote, but that is an excellent reason for sniping.
To me the BEST reason is that active early bidding is a telltale indicator that there's a LOT of interest in an item. The perception of value is often what determines prices paid. And if there's lots of demand for an item, its perceived value increases. The presence of many bids is like a billboard that says: "Everybody wants this widget!" So the maximum amount people are willing to pay tends to increase, because a) they're more likely to perceive the item as being popular and therefore valuable, and b) they figure that a bigger crowd increases the likelihood of there being someone out there with deep pockets and strong desire. Especially in the thinly traded market where I trade, even one additional bid adds to that perception.
The opposite is true of few bids showing: Nobody want's this thing, so perceived values - and maximum bids - remain low.
By sniping, I avoid bringing public attention to my interest in an item. On the whole, I think less early bidding activity keeps down prices paid. That's why I snipe.
Of course, when everybody snipes, this advantage will be lost, because nobody will bid early.
Tom