Be a sniper! Sniping seems to be frowned upon by the eBay public. But ... I use that tactic all of the time to win items at the lowest price.

Sniping is the bidding tactic of waiting until the last few seconds of an active auction before making your bid.

If you are looking through the items on eBay and you find something you want ... and there is still a week to go ... you have two choices: Place a Bid or Watch This Item. If you place your bid, the bidding war is started for that item. The next person browsing those same items will see that the item you liked has a bid ... and he may take a closer look. If he likes it, too, he will place a bid and out-bid you. You will be notified ... and you may go back and out-bid HIM. The bidding war will increase the item's price until the auction closes and a "winner" is declared. THAT is the way eBay is supposed to work.

I do use the "traditional" eBay method if I know that I will not be available to preside over the close of a particular auction.  Sniping requires that you be there, large and in-charge, during the last few seconds of an auction. In the traditional method, I will make one bid ... the most that I want pay for the item ... and let eBay take its course. Sometimes I win ... sometimes, not.

BUT ... if you choose to Watch This Item ... you can track that item for the week without doing anything that might increase its price. You would go to eBay about five minutes before the auction closes and check the posted price to decide if you are still interested in that item. If you want to place a bid ... decide on a bid amount. I go with the maximum amount that I am willing to pay for that item ... tempered by the idea that there may be other Snipers out there, too. If it's a rare, collectible item, I enter a bid that is higher than I think the item is worth ... sort of More than I am willing to pay ... hoping to out-bid the other snipers. If it is an item that I can live without, my bid will be a number that I feel will "win" the item  ... and if it turns out to be not enough ... "Oh, well." ... I will try again another time.

As the end of the auction draws near, I synchronize my watch or set a timer so that I have a handle on the exact moment that the item will close. I begin the process of placing my bid at about 90-seconds until the close. 90-seconds leaves plenty of time in case I need to log-in again, or something. I enter the dollar amount on the item screen and place my bid. The next page loads where it asks you to confirm your bid. I leave that screen up until about 15 seconds before the item closes ... and then I Confirm and place the bid. There is so little time remaing that you cannot see if you have won or not ... you do not have time to place a second bid if you have lost ... and THAT IS THE IDEA! You want to place your bid at the last possible moment so that anyone else who is bidding for that item will not have time to realize that they have been outbid and will not have time to place another bid.

I have been bidding / sniping on an item that has had as many as three other snipers! Whoever, amongst us, placed the highest bid during those last few seconds will be the winner! I have been outbid in the process ... it just makes me lust after the next auction a little more! Most of the time there is no other sniper ... maybe, even, no other bidder ... and I smile at myself for having taken such steps to win the item at only the original asking price.

It is Fun. It is Risky. It ticks people off! Risky because you only have that one chance to be the top bidder. Fun because you wait all week for that last moment when you can claim your item by jumping in at that last second with your whopper bid ... and take all the marbles! Buyers who have been in the bidding war prior to the close of the item get ticked off when they suddenly don't win ... and they sometimes complain to eBay about it. I say they should have bid more up front instead of trying to buy a bargain by bidding just enough to be in first place. (They didn't know where First Place was really going to be!)

There has been some discussion that sniping is unfair. Plans to get around snipers have been discussed ... plans that include the idea that an auction will be automatically extended by 30 seconds or a minute after the latest bid ... so that all watchers will have a chance to make counter bids. You know ... I say: "What ever!" I enjoy the hunt on eBay ... and sniping is a fun and successful strategy.

Please take a moment to click, below ... Helpful or Not Helpful to you. Thank you!