Need Some Help Sniping

Yes! Your second snipe will take over your first snipe because this is a reserve auction. Your 2 snipes are no different than placing 2 proxy bids. Your 2nd snipe will reach the reserve amount, and regardless of your first snipe, $12,000 will be the minimum price. AS acts the same as you placing your own 2 bids. It just does it in the last few seconds.

I have no advice as to how to handle this, but if you place a bid of $14,500 you will be paying at least $12,000, if not more depending on other bids.

Tough call on your part. Maybe someone else can give you better advice.

I hope this helps.

HELP!

I hope it's not a plasma TV?

robert

It would take nerves of steel to underbid a known reserve amount by $1 on the premise that the seller will let you have the item for that -- if nobody bids higher. My advice? Put in your max bid and pay the 12 grand. What're you gonna save? One measly dollar?

Good luck!

Steve,

I'm a bit confused. In this example, couldn't Golfer get the item for a lot less than $12,000? Doesn't it depend on the current high bidder's proxy amount?

We don't know what the top person's bid is, but it must be between the current price and the reserve. The lower the top person's bid is, and assuming no other bids, couldn't Golfer get the item for something between $10,325 to $11,999?

But, placing the $14,500 will blow that away. I think it's the backup bid that makes this confusing.

Of course, this is breaking one of the cardinal rules of sniping, that you keep trying to teach us: "Decide how much you're willing to pay".

Also, if the seller shared this information with Golfer, I wonder if he's shared it with other bidders?

Rick, if our friend bid $11,999 it might or might not stand as the high bid. Our friend could have (past tense because I believe the auction was over last night) ascertained the current bid level that way, up to $11,999. I do believe that if the seller revealed the reserve amount to him, others would be accorded the same privilege so that aspect would hang on an intangible: did other bidders ask, and were they apprised of the reserve amount? And if so, did one of them bid $11,999 before our friend did?

He might have gotten the item for less than $11,999 but if others bid competitively once he weighed in then the Lord only knows what the final price might have been. It just strikes me that someone willing to spend $12,000 or $14,000 shouldn't quibble over saving a tiny fraction of that amount, perhaps as little as one dollar.

That makes sense.