quote:With your experience of 8-second “serial late nibblers”,
8 seconds is the shortest interval I have seen between two successive bids by the same bidder. I don't consider a response to a bid 8 seconds before auction end at all likely. I have not experimented at all, so I don't know how long someone with a fast connection would need to have a 20% chance of:
1. Discovering they have been outbid.
2. Immediately reacting by attempting a higher bid.
3. Typing in the bid. (RTN)
4. Confirming the bid. (RTN)
5. Having their bid accepted before auction end.
I think as much as 15-20 seconds might be needed.
So, to answer my own question -
Given that an earlier bid/snipe up to two bidding increments below my snipe might block it, I think the optimum snipe time may be as much as 10-20 seconds before auction end, but auction sniper usually places my bids 2-3 seconds earlier than I ask for. Hence I should ask for 7-15 seconds, but is 7 or 15 better? I guess the answer is simply to check the timings used by other snipers on items I like and aim to be 2 seconds earlier.
