To snipe or not to snipe?

[Jeremy]

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you feel there are situations where it is better not to snipe?

I am bidding on some low value items and some of them are selling for prices less than one bid increment below my maximum so that my bid may not be placed.

One recent example. A buyer with almost 9,000 feedbacks (so in theory should have some idea what they are doing) recently won an auction I had ready to snipe for $11.50. My max was set at $11.53. This user placed their bid 5 hours before the auction end time. Suppose I had placed my bid six hours before auction end time and suppose further that $11.50 was their maximum bid? In that scenario said user would have seen that the auction was at $11.50 and would not have placed their bid (or been able to place any bid below $12) and I would have won the item instead of they.

My question is really: Have any of you ever tried placing your bids on low value items manually well before the auction ends and compared your wins or win % to that which you achieve when you snipe?

The items I am bidding on are very common and I am bidding far less than the average sale price. Most of these low value items I do win are won for pretty close to my maximum bid amount.

Here are what I think may be a couple of potential advantages of placing bids on these low value items manually:

1. In the case of the really low value items - say $7 or $8 - the bid increment of $0.50 (didn't it used to be like $0.05?) is a bigger deal relative to the price than say a $2.50 increment on a couple hundred dollar item and

2. There is the example above where among two people who want to pay the same price (much more likely on low value items imho) the one who bids first gets it.

A possible third advantage I'm thinking of is perhaps it is better to get the high bid closer to your max in the closing hours/minutes of the auction?

What I am bidding on is (mostly used) video games and I am seeing that oftentimes these items are being bid on in the closing minutes not just the closing seconds. Sure some of these people could happen to have been searching for that specific title just minutes before the auction ended but I can't help but wonder how many are just browsing the category (say: video games > games > Xbox 360) and seeing a price so low (far below what GameStop sells them for) that they feel enticed to bid even if they weren't looking for that specific game?

Now don't get me wrong I am well aware of the advantages of sniping. I've seen plenty of previous bidders up their max after I bid and I've had "nibblers" (people who showed a pattern of upping their bids by small increments until they are just in the lead and then waiting for others to outbid them before increasing their max) either snatch items from me or drive the price up significantly (but the times I have noticed such have been on higher value items or "lots").

I cannot help but to doubt however that these types put so much effort into auctions of low value video games which are ending every three hours anyway and I tend to doubt they are.

So have any of you elected not to snipe very low value items and if so: Where do you draw the line?

Thanks!

[Cupid]

I agree with your thesis, but would not just relate it to low value items but to all items where the value is well established by there being plenty of them, this is not necessarily restricted to low value items though it is more likely to be since more supply also tends to reduce the prices obtained.

As you say sniping is not always the most effective way to proceed in these circumstances.

My strategy has developed somewhat, over the years, in order to handle this affect, now I decide my maximum price and set it as a snipe here only if it is many bid increments above the current auction price. If it is only just above the current price I may well place my bid some days before the auction closes, if I later notice that the price is getting close to my maximum I quite often place the bid manually and cancel the snipe, that is most often in the last day of the auction.
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Mark

[Guest]

how about getting the software to make a bid right away instead of waiting till the end of the auction

[Cupid]

I don't find it a pain to place my own manual bids, is there some reason that getting Gixen to do it would make things easier for you?

I also think it departs from the purpose of a sniping tool to place bids early and some users would probably misunderstand the purpose of such an option here.
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Mark

[Gixen]

[mario]

In general, the kind of items that are least beneficial to snipe are items with a very predictable price and of known value. An example would be a desired item with plenty of supply and demand, e.g. a new OEM charger for iphone. I doubt that you can achieve much by sniping - in such case it may be a better strategy to place your bid right away and have a bid increment advantage working for you.

On the other hand - any used item is probably a good candidate for sniping. Used items have at least one more factor to weigh in - condition of the item. Customer perception of value of used items (and judgement on what the demand for it is) can be very different, hence wildly different valuations. It's no surprise that one of the most popular categories for sniping is antiques.