Feature requestl: Place bid only if I'm not the first bidd

[quantumhole]

Some articles that I'm interested in have a rather high starting bid, which is just at edge of being too high. I usually let these articles pass and hope that they are relisted with a lower starting bid.
However, from time to time it happens for some articles that another bidder just places the high initial bid close to the end of the auction and I miss it.

For me it would be a nice (paid) feature, if I could add a snipe, which only places a bid if I'm NOT the first bidder. From my understanding this could be similar to group snipes, which cancel as soon as an auction has been won.

This would help when I'm bidding on some rare collector stuff, where I would just pay the price IF someone else is interested in the article as well. However, if I'm the only one interested, I would rather let the auction end and hope for a lower starting bid next time.

I totally understand that this kind of snipe would not work if the other bidder is also using a sniping service. Still I would take this risk.

[Cupid]

I understand this request and the thinking behind it.

I would just like to point out that the implication of such a strategy is that you would never win such an item at the starting price, because as soon as a bid is placed Ebay will only accept later bids that are at least one bid increment more than that. Even if successful, Ebay will raise the auction price to at least that one bid increment above the starting price.

Personally I wouldn't ever use such an option as I do always reach a firm decision on what something is worth to me before scheduling a snipe, so I'll either schedule one, in some circumstances at the starting bid amount if it is worthwhile for me to purchase, or I won't if I decide it's not worth that much to me.

My bidding, when sniping, is never dependent on what any other bidder decides to do on that particular auction, that is, for some (perhaps even a majority) a fundamental aspect of bidding in the way that we do.
_________________
Mark