This is just a comment on stuff. I have lost auctions to snipers, of course in all cases they have paid more than what I wanted to pay, so not crying over it. But sniping bypasses the going once going twice fun of a real auction, and while basic Ebay practice also does this somewhat, it is not quite like sniping. On things I would like to get, but knowing they will be way above my paygrade, I just watch the bidding. I just watched one with 63 bidders going back and forth for a week, and in this case one of the 63 actually won it over a sniper that appeared out of nowhere, won by just $1 with either his manual or auto bid. But, the vast majority of the time, a group of bidders battles it out for the duration of the auction, only to get it stolen by someone not participating in the fun. Nobody goes to an 'auction' real or cyberspace for something they truly need, just something they want, and the fun is in the competition, but sure gets usurped by a buzzard out of the blue. My observations on BIN only items with no takers, confirms my thought that the auction is the fun, where the poster relists that BIN only as an auction. I have seen a former BIN only item, sell at auction for more than the original BIN. My saddest are the ones I don't bid on, and they have no bidders and the auction or BIN only ends, but on the relist, a swarm of bidders show up and something I could of had for $19.95 on the first auction goes for 2 or 3 times that when now, folks are bidding on it. I've developed a retroactive kick myself in the derriere protocol.
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