BY CHATTER A SNIPOHOLIC:
A snipe is a last minute bid, generally placed in the last minute or closing seconds of an auction. This can be done manually, with you sitting in front of your computer, bidding at the last second, or it can be done via software, such as AS. The point is to get a high bid in, giving others little time to respond with a counterbid.
If someone bids higher earlier in the auction, that person will win, because he bid the highest. That is how auctions work. The point here is that you have no way of knowing what his high bid (proxy bid) really is; you only know that he bid at least enough to be on top. For example, if bidder A bids $42 and bidder B bids $75, while the auction is still going on, you will see bidder B listed as the high bidder at $43, which is one bid increment over the next-highest bid of $42. You know that B bid more than A, but you do not know how much. If the auction ends like that, B will win for the same $43 price and you will never know what his max really was.
Let us say that bidder C comes along and bids $61. Bidder B will still win, but he will be listed as winning for $62, since much more of his proxy bid was used up to keep him as top bidder, by placing him one increment (in this case, a dollar) above the second-highest bidder, C.
Why snipe? Because many people do not bid their max. Trying to get a good price, they tend to bid just enough to stay the high bidder. They do not bid what they are REALLY willing to pay until someone else comes along and outbids them. Then they tend to bid higher. Sometimes this cycle goes back and forth, with two or more bidders (called "nibblers") continually outbidding each other, in an expensive game of one up-manship. But these same nibblers tend to leave their bids alone if no one else outbids them.
That is where snipers come in. Bidder X may have bid $25 on an item, but will go higher if someone outbids him. He may go up to $100 if he feels he has to, in order to win, but leaves his bid at $25, thinking he is getting a better deal. He overlooks the fact that if he bids the $100, he will not pay that amount, unless other bidders puch the auction price up that high. So along comes bidder Y, a sniper, who bids $50 in the last seconds and wins for $26! There is no time for bidder X to come back and raise his bid. He is upset, because he knows that he would have been willing to go higher. Additionally, he does not know that bidder Y's max was $50--all he sees is that he lost the auction for a dollar.
Does sniping work every time? No. There is no magical was to guarantee a win. But eBay is replete with bidders who nibble and do not observe or analyze their own bidding behaviors, and that is why we snipers tend to win. Many of these are new eBayers, though you would be shocked at how many veterans act the same way. Consequently, we have a very high success rate--mine approaches 95%, with all of my losses going to higher bidders who were willing to pay more than I was.
The key is to decide the ABSOLUTE max you will pay, set your snipe through AS, and leave it at that. They will take care of the rest. Do not obsess about getting the very last bid in--at three seconds, instead of ten--just decide what the "I will pay this and not a penny more" amount is and stay with it. Most of the time you will find that your max does not get reached and you will get your win at a good price. When you do lose, it will not be because you did not bid your max; you will simply know that someone else was willing to pay more.
Most of us tend to use a 5-10 lead time, doubling that amount on Sunday evenings (eBay's busiest time) and on any day when an auction ends exactly on a quarter hour (X:00, X:15, X:30, X:45), as these are also very busy, due to sellers' incentive listings. We also bid unusual amounts, such as $23.43, as occasionally we end up winning auctoins where others bid even dollar amounts. (I won one this way just last night for a nickel!)END.
THANK YOU CHATTER!
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