Last second bids on eBay!

[Mr Allen]

I remember 15-20 years ago a coworker talking about an ebay snipe program he used on his computer, called snipe hunter or something. It's nothing new.

I typically do the strategy of waiting until the last minute to place a bid. In my mind, an item with zero bids is not so desirable and gets left alone. When bids starting getting placed, people wonder what's desirable about it and start to drive the price up. Maybe it's because of that, or because I buy off the wall things that nobody else sees value in and I'm willing to pay a fair price for, but I've never been sniped and rarely even had other bids for that matter. Have gotten some amazing deals like a newly rebuilt engine for $50 with free pickup, no other bids there either.

I did have to bid early on a van once, and with a couple other bids I still won it for a good price. I personally had gone and checked it out first and knew it was worthwhile.

One time I really wanted this catalog of measurements of decades worth of brake parts measurements. Couldn't get it anywhere else at the time. Listed for $4. I bid $20, then $25, and was still outbid. Guess what, after the seller sold that one at $25, he listed another identical catalog which I won for $4 with no competition.

That's the worst thing you can do.

Just because you get outbid every few minutes don't just keep increasing your own bids, that way you could end up paying more than the item's worth or what you can realistically afford.

I do remember though several years ago I sold a Sega Dream Cast and a load of accessories on there, but I missed a 0 off the start price and put it as a tenner, the final selling price only came to £90 with £100 as the reserve, but I still sold the stuff to the winning bidder even though it didn't make the reserve price, 90 quid was better than the price I'd probably have got at CEX or GAME.

 

[tlc]

The catalog was the only time I ever increased my own bid. I decided I'd pay an extra $5 for it, but no more after that. Other than that time, I always put in the most it's worth to me, as late as I can do it.