Round Three (RESULTS of Sniping)
I broke this out into two posts. "Round Two" is for those that want to justify their "intentions" in sniping by providing their personal experiences or motivations. Intentions are difficult to prove or disprove. "Round Three" is for those that want to discuss the "results" of sniping.
I'd prefer to discuss "results". What tends to be the OVERALL results of sniping?
It's been often stated that sniping helps to avoid bidding wars. "Bidding wars exaggerate the price of an item. We snipe to avoid bidding wars. Avoiding bidding wars lowers the ending price." Since this is the second time I've said that, perhaps some further explanation is necessary.
First of all - can we for once avoid the "Chatty Cathy" statement that "Snipers can increase the closing auction price"? All successful bids increase the closing price, be they snipes or proxy bids.
The real issue, and the one that upsets some sellers (and apparently some snipers) is: Had all snipes been placed as proxy bids well in advance of the close, wouldn't that tend to increase bidding wars (REMEMBER: a very popular reason for sniping is to AVOID bidding wars), and since bidding wars tend to increase the closing price, by not placing proxy bids don't we snipers therefore tend to inhibit the closing price?
A big, if not the biggest, reason we snipe is to prevent giving some nibbling proxy bidder the chance to nibble us. Sellers like nibblers. Nibblers are in the open and snipers have been know to increase their snipe based on nibblers (and proxy bidders). Might not nibblers increase their nibbles if the sniper left their maximum snipe as a proxy bid to be nibbled?
I snipe because I have the expectation that the fee I pay AS (or the value of my time if a manual snipe) plus the closing price will be less then the closing price if I were to place a proxy bid. If some snipe with the expectation that they will be paying more, then I hope you aren't teaching economics nor running a business.
MY CONTENTION: SNIPING, VERSUS PROXY BIDDING, TENDS TO LOWER THE CLOSING PRICE OF AN AUCTION, EXCLAMATION POINT!
(As in Round Two, "rebuttal nibblers" should be expected.)