Top : eBay : Sniping : Conclusion
Overall, I view sniping as a legitimate eBay activity, and one that keeps prices low, to the benefit of the buyers. Sellers can adjust their opening bids if they feel that they are not getting enough. If you can't snipe for scheduling or other reasons, just enter your maximum bid as late as you can and know that you will either win the item, or lose to someone who was truly willing to pay more than you. I can also state with some conviction that
there is no guaranteed foolproof way to win an item. Any way you bid, you open yourself up to lowballers, nibblers, snipers, shillers and a high proxy bid.
The only (and I mean the only) reason that I snipe is because given eBay's current proxy system, which I believe
is the fairest for everybody, sniping is the best way to win items at the lowest price. If they change their
bidding rules, I'll change my strategy. My goal will always be to win items at the lowest cost.
A very good barometer of sniping versus anti-sniping is to take a look at how snipers and anti-snipers behave when
they lose and how they behave toward each other.
When an Anti-Sniper loses an auction, he whines. He complains. He blames the system, the sellers, the buyers,
everybody he can think of besides himself. He claims the rules are unfair and impossible to understand. He claims
that snipers have some sort of magical ability to bid for items in ways that he can't duplicate, and that snipers
somehow make his bid not count. The average Anti-Sniper hates the average sniper. We've been called scum, morons,
bigots, you name it. We've been compared to Hitler and Satan. All kinds of outrageous lies have been made up about
us, simply because Anti-Snipers cannot learn to use a relatively easy system.
Then the anti-snipers start making demands. They demand that the rules be changed to accomodate their poor bidding
habits. They demand that we restrict ourselves. In essence, they want the entire system to cater specifically to
them and let them win at the expense of everybody else. They want eBay to emulate auction systems that simply
would not function on the internet.
Now let's talk about snipers. We're pretty fun-loving and easy going. We get frsutrated at the Anti-Snipers
and their comments, but only because we see the same ones over and over again, no matter how often we demonstrate
that their position is simply wrong and makes not sense. However, we are full of good adivce, like this website, and
we are always eager to help out people and encourage them to improve their bidding skills so that they can
compete on an equal footing with us. When was the last time you saw, or even heard of, an anti-sniper doing
the same thing? What advice do they offer? What help do they give? What, if anything, do they do above and beyond
complaining and making premptory demands?
Finally, for those who have claim that you absolutely cannot define a True Max Bid and so must be an Anti-Sniper,
all I can say is that you're in for a heap of trouble. :-)