Why is eBay sniping "evil"?

[Tech Spec]

Now snipe bots is what I really dislike... by any means neccesary I guess.

[Autovolt 127]

I always forget,at the last minute and last year i missed my chance to get a Cybertron Thunderblast on Ebay but i have one.

[CobraCommander]

I only snipe if I am available at the time, otherwise I place a reasonable bid early and just let luck decide if I win or not. If I snipe I usually come out on top, I would say about 95% of the time.

Honestly I'm surpised so many people actually bid early, it just inflates the price of the items for no really good reason. Needless to say it's usually the newbs that start the bidding wars early or perhaps the sellers 2nd accounts or friends of thiers inflating prices... grrr

[GDkitty]

I had a friend do that on a batch of Magic Cards i was selling on there.. she was upset that it wasnt going well, and she was interested in magic anyways, so she put a bit in to help boost it up, and if she won she would pay and take them anyways.

After that, ended up getting a few more bids and went up a fair bit higher.. so i was like 'thanks alot'... and then in like the last 2 hours of the auction she bid AGAIN telling me that she really just wanted the cards for herself :P

Helped me get more $$ in the end, but i would have sold them to her for less otherwise :P

[Team Jetfire]

There is somthing particulary exciting about snipping an auction in person. Always an uncertanty is you actually got it until after the clock ran out. Incedently sniping with a dial up connect is even more fun...

[darthrage]

There is nothing wrong with eBay or sniping.

Sniping is no different than being at the rice department store at the right time. Sniping at the last 5 seconds is the same as camping outside a TRU or just waiting til the stock guys fill the shelves. Its the same thing.

And as for bidding wars......more power to the guy who has more money to spend. If you're disgruntled about losing a bid, asking yourself, would you be willing to have spent more? And if you are pissed because you lost because the guy outbid you by $1 or 1 cent more, why didn't you just spend a tiny bit more? The most important thing is this, give yourself a budget. If it is $20, then cap it off at $20.00 and NOT $20.01. Its that simple.

[Aernaroth]

How can there be a rice department store? What departments would it have? Long Grain rice? Minute rice? Jerry Rice?

[darthrage]

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Originally Posted by Aernaroth

How can there be a rice department store? What departments would it have? Long Grain rice? Minute rice? Jerry Rice?

LOL!! At first I was wondering what you were talking about so I read the 2 pages to see what you were referencing, then later I realized you were responding to my typo.

I'm gonna leave the typo as is because it looks funnier that way.

[RedOktobre]

When I was new to eBay, I didn't like the controversial technique of "sniping". However, when everyone utilizes the same technique, I believe that the "playing field" balances out in the end.

Moreover, I find that "sniping" mainly occurs with highly bid items. Since I a very disciplined and objective (usually) ebay bidder, sniping does not really affect me too much since I only bid for items that are reasonably priced. I tend to focus on "low demand" items and avoid the highly bid ones to avoid competition.

"Garbage to one person is treasure to another."