What Is Auction Sniping?

There is only one optimal way to bid in an online auction with a set end time. And that’s to simply decide on the maximum amount you’re willing to pay, and then place your bid at the last possible moment before the auction ends. This practice is commonly known as “sniping”.

Sniping is necessary to keep your final price down because people are encouraged to bid higher when they see others are bidding higher as well. It’s just the basic competitive nature of human beings. Sometimes, this effect alone will irrationally drive the price of an auction item on eBay higher than what it is in a store!

Therefore, it’s to your best advantage to place a bid so close to the auction’s end that no one will have time to decide to increase their original bid and act on this decision. Ideally you’d place your bid a fraction of a second before the auction’s end time, but in practice we need to give a request some time to travel across the Internet and get registered with eBay’s servers. 30-45 seconds before the end is a good practical time frame to place a sniping bid.

Is Auction Sniping an Ethical Practice?

Some argue that it is not. But in my opinion it is 100% legit. There is nothing that prevents anyone from bidding the maximum they are willing to pay at any time before the auction’s end. (Remember, the amount you enter as a bid on eBay is not the amount you are going to necessarily pay. It’s just the maximum you’re willing to pay. The actual cost of the item, should you win is going to be just some small minimum amount over what the next guy is willing to pay.) A sniping bid is not going to win the auction if someone else’s maximum bid is higher. So if a bidder did not bid with the highest number they were willing to pay, then too bad for them. There was nothing that prevented them from doing so.

Since it’s in the best interest of any bidder to snipe, a more natural approach to online auctions would be a system in which everyone bids once, presumably as high as they’re willing to pay, and all the bids are invisible. But instead, eBay keeps the bids visible, and it’s no secret that a bidding process, where a bid is placed, and then people come and try to beat it by bidding higher, jacks up prices on eBay. That’s why eBay keeps this process. It is therefore your duty to protect yourself from the yahoos who will bid higher just because they see you bid higher.

How Much Should You Bid?

As high as you’re willing to pay. But how much is that? It’s not a question with an easy answer. This question raises a little paradox and it goes something like this:

This paradox also illustrates how you can use the practice of sniping to protect yourself from overpaying. Psychologically it is much easier to pay a lot if the price increases just a little bit more each time, which is exactly what happens in online auctions. In case you were wondering why car dealership have all those extra fees after they settle on a “final” price, and why everything on TV costs $19.95 + S&H, instead of the whole price up front, then that’s the reason.

A good way to come up with your maximum bid is to look at how much the item has sold in the past. You can research this on eBay by searching on completed auctions. You can then asses how much an item is worth. But keep in mind that just because an item sold for a low price once, doesn’t mean you can get it for the same low price again. Another thing you should check, if applicable, is how much the item costs in stores outside of eBay. If the item is one of a kind, then you’re on your own on this one. Just bid as much as you think you can afford and the item is worth to you. With sniping at least you can rest assured you won’t over bid by getting dragged into a bidding war.

Another eBay Bidding Tip

I’ve already established that it’s difficult to assess what your maximum bid should be, or even how much you think you can afford because you can always add a penny more. This bidding tactic ties right into that concept. Many people place their bids at round numbers, e.g. $100. If you bid just a little bit more then you win. And most likely, you won’t mind scraping some more loose change to win the auction. Therefore, it’s best to bid on strange amounts that are just a little over a round number. For example $100.18 or even $102.54. This will also protect you somewhat from someone guessing at your maximum bid and bidding a little more themselves to win the auction. Of course, if you know for sure that an item costs $100 at a store (don’t forget to factor in tax and shipping) it doesn’t make sense to bid a penny more.

How to Bid Like a Sniper Pro

There are basically two ways to snipe an auction: The first is manually, and the second using automated sniping software.

And voila! You’ve just sniped an auction. If your bid is the highest, then you’re the winner. Remember, sniping an auction doesn’t guarantee a win, but it does improve your chances. Should someone have a higher maximum bid, then you could still lose. The maximum bids are hidden, but we do know that the higher your bid is over what is showing as the current bid, the better chance you have to win.

Manual sniping works well, but it has two problems. The first is that you have to be at a computer to execute the snipe when the auction ends. If you’re busy with something else at the time, then you can’t manually snipe. And the second problems is that if anything happens to your setup right before the auction, such as a power failure, OS crash, loss of Internet connection, etc., then you’ll lose with no time to recover. And that is why automated sniping software was invented.

There are many software sniping solutions out there. Just type “sniping software” into Google if you want to do your own research for eBay auction sniping tools. I’m just going to tell you about one service that I personally had good experience with. It’s a Web based serviced called Gixen and it’s free! You just enter your eBay login, password, auction number, and bid amount, and Gixen does the rest for you. Your password is removed from the Gixen server after the auction’s end. For a few dollars a year (currently $6) you can upgrade the Gixen service to gain added fault tolerance where multiple servers are used to connect to eBay. And that’s all there is to it.

Good luck with your eBay auctions and I hope you put these eBay buying tips to good practice.