The EBay thread.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by glatt

... Don't people have better things to do in their lives than sit around watching auctions so they can try to snipe? ...

When I see something on eBay that I'd like for my own use, I know that I may be bidding against others who bid on it:

for their own use
to resell and make a profit
to bid it up for the seller
just to win the bid and default on the payment

Any or all of whom may try to nickel and dime me to death with minimum bid increases ad nauseam.

I decide how much I'm willing to pay, enter that as my maximum bid, and let the eBay system automatically increase my bid by minimum required increments up to my maximum. This addresses the first of the aforementioned categories of competition and can happen early or late in the bidding. It's an automated response that depends on when the others bid.

If I know that I can be online when bidding closes, I prepare my maximum bid a minute before closing and wait until the last 5 seconds to confirm my bid. That addresses the other three categories of competition. I don't give them time to try to nickel and dime me into going higher causing me to lose the item only to see it relisted by the same person; or, someone else who got it to resell it. Either they already have a higher maximum bid entered or they don't and they don't like to go that route.

I've gotten some great buys this way squeaking my bid in just past those of the scavengers who are only buying for resale. It also eliminates bidders working with a seller and internet deadbeats trolling for a win. I was once offered what eBay calls a "Second Chance." It's the seller offering you a chance to buy an item for your last bid after the winning bidder defaults on payment. You don't know if the deadbeat was independent or working with the seller to jack your bid up. I've eliminated that.

If it turns out that someone else had already entered a maximum bid higher than mine, it doesn't matter. I wasn't going to pay any more for the item anyway and it probably went to someone who just wanted it more than me for their own use.