From: Peter H. Coffin (hellsop_at_ninehells.com)
Date: Mon Nov 15 2004 - 09:22:24 PST
On Mon, Nov 15, 2004 at 07:57:53AM -0800, Clinton Crawford wrote:
> Well, since I've farted round on ebay for a month, dealing with idiot
> sellers and bid snipers, I'd like to deal through the list.
Note that most effective way to deal with bid snipers is to bid the
absolute maximum you're willing to pay for the package the first time,
with no plans to increase your bid ever. Even the sniping programs have
maximums set, so as long as you want the item more than the sniper, you
win. All sniper programs do is attempt to limit the appearance of
interest in the item. That in turn limits "bidding frenzy", in which a
hot-blodded buyer might be tempted to bid beyond his means.
I used to get very irritated at bid snipers, even to the point of
writing a few tools to do bid snipering as well. Then I figured out that
if *I* stay cool, calm, and collected, and bid with careful
consideration, I still win at no more than my maximum price. I lose when
someone wants the item for more than I'm willing to pay. And that's just
the same effect as if neither of us were snipering, I just find out in
three days instead of now. The sniper deals with the same issue. Until
his program goes off, he doesn't know if he's going to get the item
either.
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