Why do people bid on eBay minutes before an auction ends?

[The Spirit of X21]

KristianJ: Well said. My thoughts exactly.

[dr_st]

Ah, but that's NOT how it works. At least with the service I use, eSnipe. With that service, you enter a maximum bid at some time prior to the end of the auction and specify exactly how many seconds from the end the bid is submitted. There's NO check of the current bid and then ADDING on to it. Merely your bid is submitted at the time of your choosing. If the current price is above your bid, you lose. If the current price is below your bid, eBay accepts it as if you were sitting at your own computer with a NIST-synchronized clock.

This method is sensible and fair. All it does is give you some insurance against people who would normally bid lower but would bid higher than you just to snatch the item (because they don't have time to react). But if this is the system you use, than "premature snipers" don't affect you in any way. Whether they submit 2 days, 2 hours, 2 minutes or 2 seconds before the end, your bid stays the same and the auction outcome stays the same as far as you are concerned.

Basically this method turns the auction from public to private (where everyone submits their bid without checking other bidders), and eliminates the bidding war. I have nothing against this method.

edit: I should clarify that if some service like this exists (check current bid, add some user-predetermined amount, then submit the snipe) DO NOT EVER USE IT! Why? With the idiots that are playing the "hijack an eBay account and bid $10,000 for a parts laptop" game, if you happen to bid upon that auction with that kind of sniping service, you just submitted a "winning" bid for $10,000 plus whatever your increment was. Okay, maybe a bad example as the minimum bid increment at that level is probably a couple of hundred dollars. But I hope you see my point

Oh, I totally see the point. Of course any such service would have to be bounded by some maximum that you define (i.e. if the current minimum required to win is more than the maximum you want to pay, it doesn't submit a bid). I didn't mention that, but it is an absolute requirement of any automatic bidding service.

[Robbyrobot]

I began to snipe (bid during the last 10 sec of an auction) after realizing that this method has become more-or-less standard. My experience has been mixed, as I am frequently overbid even during those last 10 seconds (or the bid arrives too late), but is better than when I bid earlier.

I have tried to use sniping software, but my experience with it has been negative: bids were often made after the end of an auction or not at all. As for sniping services, I simply don't trust any third party enough to disclose my Ebay password. Even if the service itself is trustworthy, it could be hacked and my password made public domain, with all the negative consequences.

So my sniping is strictly manual. That has the advantage that I can see whether a bid is even of any use... when my maximum is around EUR 60 and the bidding goes to EUR 100 before I can even bid, I don't bother.

One thing I do see... the wild swings in prices for comparable systems, without any rhyme or reason. In the last week, I've seen T21 systems go for EUR 65... and for double that and more, with no apparent difference. So as far as I can see, plain luck plays a large part in the Ebay prices, not only the bidding strategy.

[GomJabbar]

To tell the truth, my preference is for "Buy It Now". If I can find what I need for a reasonable "Buy It Now" price, that is what I go for. I don't have the patience to wait, and then quite possibly lose the auction. My last ebay purchase was "Buy It Now", last month, for a display lid for my older T42. I did not even attempt to get a better price by bidding below the "Buy It Now" price.

I generally only go to ebay when I need something. Months go by that I do not even look at ebay. I do not go window shopping there. But that's me.

[Purcy]

To tell the truth, my preference is for "Buy It Now".

I feel the same too, if there is a reasonable BIN item I am looking for, I do it and it is done. I have a low patience level too. I have been selling items for years also, as a way to fund my e-bay shopping. I always sell something if I want to buy something. Anyway, I never inflate my prices, but will set the opening bid and the BIN price on my auctions $15 apart, sometimes $10 apart, hoping to get the auction done quickly. Amazing how many people will buy my items in the initial 12 hours using BIN, but I will also get the occasional person who will put a bid on my item the first or second day, wait the 7 days of the auction and then participate in the little scuffle at the end due to sniping bidders and end up paying a higher price than my original BIN price. One person paid $35 higher price!! It has happened 4 times on my auctions. Now that is a head shaker.

[pianowizard]

Someone who is not using an automatic service or an eBay-synchronized clock cannot snipe at the last seconds

I always do it manually. Also, there is no need to synchronize clocks, because the auction page shows how much time is left, to the second.

Another argument is that some people use slow dialup access. But I still use dialup occasionally -- 10 free hours per month from Juno, probably the world's slowest dialup service -- and it's still easy to bid with less than 20 seconds left.

[spuddog]

I can see both sides of the debate. But really, if you put out a bid for what you are willing to pay what difference does it make when the bid is submitted? Some say the price is driven up by early bidders, but each individual has to determine the price that they will pay. I'm sure that sellers would disagree that raising the price is bad.

Scott

[tfflivemb2]

I can see both sides of the debate. But really, if you put out a bid for what you are willing to pay what difference does it make when the bid is submitted? Some say the price is driven up by early bidders, but each individual has to determine the price that they will pay. I'm sure that sellers would disagree that raising the price is bad.

Scott

I agree with Scott completely. As long as they are bidding their max, it doesn't matter when they bid...it just gives the appearance that it is getting more expensive.

[kensplace]

Sometimes bidding early can be advantagous, if for example there are a pageful of items, all pretty much the same, at the same low price, put a bid on one.
When people come to look for that type of item, they tend to look at the lowest price ones, and add them to the watch list, ignoring the ones that already have bids, after all why get into a bidding war, when there are plenty without bids...

That way, you have less people watching the item, and more chance of getting it at a low price.

Course it does not always work that way..

Another way, is to place more than one bid (ie up your own bid a couple of times) the bid price remains the same (till someone else bids) but it puts some people of bidding, if they think someone really wants the item.

Obviously both strategies could work the opposite way, and make more people bid, its swings and roundabouts really.

Sniping can work, but it can also backfire, especially if there is a network/isp/ebay problem in the last few seconds of the auction, resulting in you missing out on that bargain.

[Robbyrobot]

... and sometimes you can really mess up good!

I wanted to snipe a T21 mainboard with all the trimmings (base, I/O board, HDD bay, Ultrabay etc etc) the other evening, and was ready to bid in the last 5 sec.

Idiot, idiot !!! I had forgotten that you have to bid, and then confirm the bid... I bid, the auction was over, and then I saw that I had forgotten to confirm the bid. The article was sold at a lower price than I was willing to bid, and I was there gnashing my teeth.