Do you feel evil swooping in to an ebay auction at the last minute?

[herbgeek]

I know its the nature of the game, but I always feel a little evil swooping in at the last moment, and scooping an item. Particularly if there was a number of early bids, but it had settled out to one price for a few days. But I did it, even though I do feel evil. :|(

What about you?

[Mighty Frugal]

I feel victorious!

[studentofecology]

Eh. I always put in my max bid at the beginning, and let the auto bidder take it from there.

[fidgiegirl]

Nope. It's how it goes.

[peggy]

I think that's the nature of the game, isn't it? I know my husband has sold, and bought some musical stuff on ebay and he described this exact tactic to me. From what he said, it's part of the game, and expected.
I would say, enjoy your victory. You're playing the game as it is supposed to be played. Well done!

[Tussiemussies]

I don't use eBay anymore, but I did feel uncomfortable at times at swooping in at the last minute to get an item...

[ToomuchStuff]

I also don't use Ebay anymore (several different reasons), but don't understand the feeling of discomfort. I have been to live auctions, and seen no one bid and people start to walk away, towards another item. I learned that buying cheaply the non wanted item, could (did) allow me to buy the next item unhindered.
I also know it doesn't matter if you snipe or not, the highest bidder wins, no matter if they bid up 10 days before you, or 1 second.

[redfox]

Nope. I always set my max, like studentofecology, and let the cards fall where they may. Tis a part of the game.

[bunnys]

Toomuchstuff--what were the reasons you stopped?

I don't think the seller would have a problem with you "swooping in."

[IshbelRobertson]

I've never even visited the site!

I prefer to go to auction houses where I can handle the goods.

[Rogar]

I mostly sell on eBay, but get tempted to bid on things occasionally. I have lost out on so many auction items in the last few seconds, that I figure late bidding is about the only way to go. It's just the way it is. I actually have used a free trial of a sniper service that places a bid in the last few seconds without you even having to be on the computer.

[creaker]

I think just setting the max you are willing to pay and walk away is a good strategy. If I didn't know what the max is that I would pay for an item, I haven't done my homework. And trying to figure that out in the last seconds of an auction would not work well for me.

[JaneV2.0]

Sniping has become the rule rather than the exception. Like others, I just enter my maximum bid and walk away. Mostly, I do the "buy it now" thing.

[fidgiegirl]

Once we sold an item that was sitting at about $80 for most of the auction. In the last 5 seconds it jumped up to $200! I guess all those people must have sniped it. Pretty exciting for us as the sellers . . .

[bae]

After losing far too many items to armies of last-second snipers, and being unwilling to sit in front of the screen and snipe myself, I caved to peer pressure, and installed my own autosniping software.

So now I put my max bid for the item into my sniping software, kick back, and eventually it wakes up and bids 2 seconds before the auction ends. My success rate has increased, and I've been paying lower prices.

The difficulty with using EBay for the bidding process is that it exposes useful information to other bidders, allowing them to modify their bidding behaviour while you yourself are ignorant of their side of the market. Using sniping software removes this problem, and basically sets up a sealed-bid situation.

So yes, I'm evil.

[Miss Cellane]

Yes, I feel evil snipping. Deliciously evil. Because it feels so bad, but is perfectly legal.

[happystuff]

This is how I shop ebay. If I'm looking for something I will search the item on ebay and hopefully find 2-3 for sale. I'll add those to my "watch list" and just take note of the the ending date/time of the first auction. I generally don't go back into ebay until that time. If by that time the item already has a bid higher than my max, I simply move on to the next item on my watch list. If it is lower than my max bid then I will wait until close to the auction ending time and bid. If I win, I pay immediately and I'm done with it. If I lose, then again I move on to the next auction in my watch list.

So, I don't consider it sniping or swooping or as a negative action on my part at all. As has happened, any other bidder has every opportunity to outbid me with their max bid. :)

[ToomuchStuff]

Toomuchstuff--what were the reasons you stopped?

I don't think the seller would have a problem with you "swooping in."

Problems with the idea that "Paypal is the only safe service". I used to use US Postal money orders, and only had one issue. (a company fired the guy and he hadn't recorded receiving it, even though he deposited it). The call the postal inspector made, quickly cleared up that issue. Then there are things in the TOS I don't like (current ones like the arbitration mandate, I figure eventually someone who opts out will sue them over Paypal which was banned in two other countries). Some of what I view as improper copyright/trademark notifications (to which they will not reply as to exactly what is the problem and review what was actually posted). Poor ability to catch sellers who shill bid (seen evidence of it, and one reason to snipe). I have never sold on there, and if it wasn't for Paypal and being forced to accept plastic, I would consider selling there. But as my name says, I also have too much stuff and don't really need a bunch more (censored).
And those are just the top of my head.

[Gregg]

Another evil sniper here.