Very Upset With Myself

[Exhibitman]

Shilling is the biggest reason to snipe. Since Ebay made it impossible to see who is bidding against you, it is open season for shilling. I usually put in a low bid to indicate that someone is interested in the card so the seller won't panic that the item won't sell, then set my real max as a snipe. I believe it has saved me a lot of money over the years.

Chipping away at a max bid is definitely real; I do it all the time. I often see an item that I would be willing to own at a certain price level but don't want enough to pay what I perceive to be full retail. If it has bids already I will sometimes whack away at the high bid a few times just to see if I can luck out and top it, running up the bid in the process. If that bidder set a snipe instead I would end up with the high bid at a lower tier and would stop bidding at that point.

Another use of sniping is bid coordination. I use auctionstealer, which allows you to create bid groups in which the first item to hit cancels the other bids on items in the group. Really useful when I definitely want at least one item of a group-like for a rare type card--but not necessarily all of them.

Finally, there are some circumstances in which I am not sure whether I want to commit to an item for whatever reason. Sniping lets me set up a bid so I don't forget the item [we all know how life can interfere with card shopping] but without really committing to it until the last minute.

[frankbmd]

I have not used the sniping programs, but do think chipping away at max bids is real. I prefer to place my max bid at 5-7 seconds before the end of the auction, the pre-snipe bid. This prevents manual bidders from topping me by rebidding. If I lose to Leon with his $10,000 max bids, so be it. But if I happen to match the snipe bid (and this has happened), my pre-snipe trumps the snipe.

As I tell my wife, if you lose at the casino, the money is no longer in your pocket, but if you lose to a snipe bid, you break even.

[teetwoohsix]

When I used to use ebay, I'd chip away at bids. Sometimes my "original" bottom line price would go out the window quickly, depending on "how bad" I wanted that card....and I didn't use a snipe program. But I see the point of snipe programs to deal with shill bidding....that makes sense.

Sincerely, Clayton

[CW]

All of the preceeding posts explaining the benefits of sniping, and the disadvantages of placing an early max bid, are right on the mark. Sniping is the only way to go, whether done manually or with a service. Anyone who fails to see the benefits of sniping on eBay are simply living in denial.