EBAY TERMS: SNIPING

SNIPING

= Placing ONE AND ONLY ONE PROXY bid in the last minutes or seconds of an auction, preferably in the last minute of an auction. (True Snipers consider A SNIPE IS ONLY A SNIPE only if it is placed less than 5 seconds before the end of an auction.)

Placing a bid as late as possible prevents and/or reduces the occurrence of:

drawing interest in the auction you're interested in, thereby reducing your bidder competition
nibblers from nibbling up your maximum proxy bid such that you have very little or none as the auction clock ends
getting into a bidding war with lowballers who can't decide what their max is until they see everybody else's bid and need to see their name in lights everytime they log onto ebay
bid stalkers from researching items you're interested in and then bidding on them because:
- of their interest in same items or
- malice towards you as a bidder (or individual) or
- their almost parasitic dependence on your expertise of specific categories for authentic and/or bargain items
shillers

Doesn't Sniping hurt the seller and the other bidders?

No.

The seller has the best chance of getting the highest prices for his items by getting bidders who are willing to place their MAXIMUM BIDS against each other, not their MINIMUM BIDS against each other like regular GGG(Going going gone) auctions. And believe me, if the seller has a rare, very desirable item, the high snipers will be there to outbid each other in the last seconds of the auction. If the seller doesn't have many bidders for his item(s), he should consider establishing his MINIMUM BID as the lowest amount of $$ he will accept.

Bidders such as Nibblers and lowballers fail to use the best method to win in an ebay auction that is NOT a going-going-gone type of live auction most people see in life. Snipers and High Proxy Bidders understand the proxy system and use the best methods open to them and so will win far more auctions.

HOW TO LOOK AT THE EBAY AUCTION BIDDING PROCESS:

Look at the bidding process as a "Sealed Bid Auction" instead of a GGG(Going Going Gone) type of auction. In a sealed bid auction, everyone writes down what they would pay for the item and these numbers are only shown at the end of the auction. This is ALMOST EXACTLY what the ebay bidding system is like. You do not place bids. You declare your MAXIMUM bid and ebay bids incrementally against other bidders UP TO THAT MAXIMUM PROXY BID. In essence, this is how snipers regard the bidding process on ebay. So just because ebay lets you place more than 1 bid continually from day 1 to day 7 which mimics the GGG format and is usually listed by what auctions end first, GGG IS NOT THE TRUE FORMAT OF EBAY. THE MORE YOU THINK OF THE BIDDING PROCESS AS A SEALED BID AUCTION, THE BETTER YOUR BIDDING EXPERIENCE(S) WILL BE.

NOTE REGARDING THE BARGAIN SNIPERS

Many snipers snipe to get a bargain and this is true ONLY if:

seller lists the item BELOW the minimum amount of $$'s he would want for it

AND any one or more of the reasons below:
the VALUE of the item is NOT TRULY HIGH and/or RARE such as many low-priced retail items
it is an AUCTION WITHOUT HIGH PROFILE because of seller naivety in how to best present their auction ad or due to misspellings of critical words
there are 0 OR VERY FEW BIDDERS for this sort of item in general OR during the PERIOD of that specific auction (relisting at another time may be better)
there are 0 OR 1 or 2 or few bidders[who is/are (a) nibbler(s)/lowballer(s)] who do not bid it up close to the ebay market value or category-specific market value
there are 0 early high proxy bidders
they are the only sniper

Notice that I didn't put down that there can be some early high proxy bidders OR there can be more than one sniper to NOT GET A SNIPE BARGAIN, but i'm ASSUMING YOU UNDERSTAND that most early High Proxy Bidders and Snipers ALREADY KNOW what the value of the item is AND ALREADY UNDERSTAND THE EBAY PROXY SYSTEM OF BIDDING ONE'S MAX. Any other type of "sniper" or "early high proxy bidder" is not really a sniper or early high proxy bidder. They're more than likely to be a lowballer or a lowballer who bids late in the auction.

SNIPER BARGAINS ARE NOT GENERALLY SEEN FOR THOSE SELLERS WHO HAVE ITEMS THAT ARE VERY VALUABLE AND/OR RARE and so THERE WILL BE MANY BIDDERS (whether they are Snipers/Nibblers/Lowballers/Early Proxy High Bidders) WHO ARE DEFINITELY PLACING THEIR BIDS OR WAITING IN THE WINGS TO PLACE THEIR BIDS LATE IN THE AUCTION (LAST 3 MINUTES) WHEN THE REAL ACTION OF STUPENDOUSLY SKY-HIGH BID PRICES ARE RACED IN.

But isn't sniping unfair? Because many people only have dial-up and others have fast broadband?

EVERYONE KNOWS WHEN THE AUCTION WILL END. I can snipe manually on a dial-up modem just as i can snipe on a broadband. I just have to give myself more "buffer time." I used to snipe on dial-up modem with 20-45 seconds left and believe me, no one can possibly place another bid based on what YOU bid if it's within that amount of time. True, you won't be able to snipe within 6 seconds, but Sniping means you have the ability to place your bid as late as possible within the auction and within the last minute or 2 is just as good as the last 6 seconds. And i've heard there are lots of ebayers who can manually snipe within 6 seconds on dial-up modem.

Which is better? Sniping or High Proxy Bidding?

I prefer sniping. My reasons:

all of the reasons above
NEEDLESSLY TIEING UP MY $$'s: i don't tie up my $$'s in auctions that i find I'm not interested in later because of a better auction or just because i've changed my mind
LESS PAINFUL THAN BID RETRACTION: it's less painful to stop an undesired (possibly automated) snipe than it is to retract my bid as an early proxy bidder since it will show up on your ebay i.d. user profile record
HIDING YOUR EBAY PROFILE: just as bidstalkers can see what you're bidding on now and in the past, other bidders can see the AMOUNT of $$'s you bid on items so they'll be able to estimate your maximum bid based on your past purchases
i'm CHEAP. Most high proxy bidders pay more than they need to for ebay items especially since most ebay items are NOT unique and will show up the next week or month.

Isn't automated sniping unfair?

No. it's not. Since my preference is automated sniping like www.esnipe.com or www.vrane.com or any number of free or paying sniping program sites OR computer sniper programs out there on the internet since I usually am somewhere else while the auction ends, i look at sniping as the ABILITY TO SNIPE WITHOUT BEING TIED TO A COMPUTER AND WITHOUT BEING TIED TO AN AUCTION CLOCK. Just like sniping is available to everybody, so is automated sniping. Go to any search engine and look up "snipe programs," "sniping programs," "automated sniping", etc. and you'll see lots of programs to make your ebay bidding life easier. Automated sniping is nothing more than having a bot place your bid just as a sniper does. They're both just bids placed as late in the auction as possible as one of the best strategies in an ebay auction. OH AND BY THE WAY FOR YOU YAHOO'S WHO WANT TO BE "TRUE SNIPERS," BE CAREFUL OR YOU MAY BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW. I NOW INCLUDE A BUFFER OF 10 SECONDS ON MY AUTOMATED SNIPE. CUT IT TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE AND YOU'LL GET YOUR FUR BURNED RATHER BADLY :-( Depending totally on automation will leave you in the dust, i've learned. One of the main difficulties will be the network traffic, especially if the end of your auction is during traffic hours like right after work when everyone's using the Internet. Oh, and by the way, have your maximum bid at an ODD amount so if everybody thinks the max will be $100, set yours at something ODD like $107.89 and more times than not, you'll win if someone else doesn't want it for more $$$'s.

What are the main differences between Snipers and High Proxy Bidders?

There is still disagreement between Snipers and High Proxy Bidders as to optimal strategy since high proxy bidders are assumed to lose more money than they should since they bid too early, but the disagreement is more of strategy and both these strategies is MUCH better than nibbling(bidding up a little by little) or lowballing(placing proxy bids that may be high but never realizing the MAXIMUM bid must be placed in order to defeat the sniper).

Of course, the MAIN advantages of high proxy bidding are:

NO WORRIES: if anything happens near the end of the auction such as ebay's unreliable servers going down, a proxy bidder already has his bid in and the sniper is STUCK not being able to get his bid in
SELLER ENCOURAGEMENT: also, an early bid gives the seller encouragement to complete his auction since interest from other bidders will be drawn to the auction!
FIXED PRICING ADVANTAGE: Remember what i said about valuable items? Well there will be 2 types of valuable items: One is fixed-price and 2nd is unknown price. The valuable items which have an unknown market price can not be estimated and so sniping is valuable. An example would be an item produced in the 1900's that was produced in only VERY limited quantities. HOWEVER, those items which are FIXED PRICE (meaning that there is a general fixed value price marketwise for that item), then bidding early is an ADVANTAGE. Let's say you're bidding on a MINT Barbie and you and everyone knows it sells outside for $100 maximum, then if you place your bid early at say $80, then you and only you will be able to win that Barbie at $80 or below. You've effectively locked out anyone else from winning it for less than $80. Anyone who bids higher later on will be forced to pay more than your $80.

What do you think about Auction Extensions (AE Auctions)?

Be aware that snipers are SAVVY shoppers/bidders/buyers. AE Auctions give the PERCEPTION of seller advantage (even though this may or may not be true.) Hence, the sniper's MAX bid will be SIGNIFICANTLY lower than usual and so the seller will pocket LESS buyer $$$ than usual. The whole strategy of the sniper will change from the past optimal strategy of max bidding to the now changed optimal strategy of MINIMUM bidding,basically the SNIPER just TURNS INTO a FELLOW NIBLER, just bid enough to OUTLAST or if necessary, give up early, an entire waste of time with bidders bidding pennies against each other instead of the tens/hundreds/thousands of dollars that are ASSURED under ebay's present proxy system.

Let me give you an example of the present WITHOUT AUCTION EXTENSION proxy system's profit potential/realization---->>I was astounded that this rare video in NEW condition from a great seller was being held. The minimum bid needed to be placed for this item held at $60 for a whole week and in the last 2 minutes of the auction rose to over $100 to over $200 to my max over $300!! I didn't even know that almost half a dozen snipers besides me were waiting in the wings JUST LIKE ME to place their HIGH snipes late in the auction. So, yes, the ebay auction system as it exists now gives the seller the best profit potential.

Just for the sake of argument, what would happen WITH AUCTION EXTENSION with the same $60 video? Snipers like me don't like getting into EMOTIONALLY REACTIVE BIDDING WARS because we know this means more $$'s in the seller's pocket based on ARTIFICIAL BID INCREASES, so I would place my first bid close to $60 and as i saw more bids being placed in the next 10 minutes, I would NEVER place my max bid of $300. That's suicidal since i NOW KNOW that there are other bidders out there and so my PERCEPTION has changed and my $$'s will stay in my pocket. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN RESPONSE TO REAL-TIME CHANGES WHEN REALIZATION HITS THE HUMAN MIND CAN BE ENORMOUS. In the Non-AE auction, I PERCEIVED that there were very few bidders that would appear late in the auction and so "felt" safe with my $300 max bid. BUT NOW, THINGS ARE DIFFERENT. My next bid may be the NEXT SMALL INCREMENT ABOVE THE NEXT BIDDER'S BID BUT THEN, I'LL REALIZE I'M GETTING INTO A BIDDING WAR AND WILL PROBABLY STOP OR CONTINUE UNTIL MY FELLOW NIBBLER STOPS, HOPING HE STOPS WAY BELOW THE $300 MARK. ALSO REALIZE THAT WHEN ALL THE OTHER SNIPERS REALIZE THERE'S MORE INTEREST THAN USUAL, THEIR MAX BIDS WILL ALSO BE MUCH LOWER, DEFLATED (compared to the the Non-AE auction).. I MAY STOP ONCE THE $100 MARK IS HIT!! I've realized how valuable my $$'s in my pocket are and GET COLD FEET (am too afraid) to bid against the other competitors who FOR CERTAIN will place me in a position of having to lay out MORE $$'s than i want to spend which may mean I may not win anyway which would basically mean me BEING STUCK THERE bidding it up PENNIES. Again, my probable reaction if if the bid price went over the $100 mark AND/or i saw more bidders, I'd likely drop out of the race and wait until next time for the same item to show up even if i had to wait over a month or year for it again. So you see, the seller loses my non-AE-possible over $300 bid.!! The max may be $100 or higher or lower but will NEVER go above my non-AE-possible max bid of $300. In addition, the next times, I go to bid on AE auctions, i'll probably just decide NOT to bid on AE auctions again.

As for bidders, the best course is for nibblers/lowballers to be educated by sellers in how to bid to the optimal strategies of MAXIMUM PROXY bidding either early or late in the auction. Though i have no great hope that this will be a favored course of bidding for most ebayers, considering that the rival bidders i snipe against continue their lowball ways, (hehehe :-) ), the fact is that when the item is SIGNIFICANTLY RARE, DESIROUS, AND MANY TIMES EXPENSIVE, even the lowballers are out there continuously Snibbling(nibblers attempting to snipe many times) in the last 2 minutes.

What's the main difference between Snipers and Nibblers & how can you say that snipers don't take advantage of the rest of the bidders?

Below is, i believe, the best explanation of the difference between Snipers and most other bidders who are Nibblers/Lowballers and why sniping is FAIR.

A nibbler or lowballer is HOPING for the win and GOING for a bargain.
A sniper is GOING for the win and HOPING for a bargain.

A sniper technically never "loses" an auction. They will usually put their maximum that they think the wigit is worth to them. If they get it for less than what they submitted (in most cases), then they got it for less than what they where willing to pay (didn't lose the wigit). If they didn't get it, at least they know they didn't "overspend" for it (didn't lose more money than they wanted too to begin with). Many who do get caught up in bidding wars pay a whole lot more than what they really wanted to in the first place.

Again, a sniper doesn't always win the auction. The "winner" always goes to the bidder who bids the highest, not the fastest. The sniper's "calling card" is the ability to VALUE the item and from there, make the best decision in arriving at his maximum bid without looking back even if he loses.

The sniper serves a valuable place within the ebay community by placing a VALUE on the item such that all the other bidders are forced to make their maximum proxy bid as "honestly maximum" as possible which means a more correct valuation of an ebay seller's items with a corresponding boost to profits.

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