Ebay Secrets

eBay auction sniping is a regular occurrence and many bidders get beaten to the punch at the last second when another bidder jumps in and places a higher bid when there is not enough time for the other bidders to increase their bids. eBay auction sniping is extremely frustrating for buyers who have been waiting patiently for the auction to end and can see the final seconds ticking by and are about to celebrate winning the item when a sniper gets in there and snatches the goods from them.

In a conventional auction at an authentic auction house there is no problem with sniping like eBay auction sniping because the auction keeps going until everyone has bid as much as they want to and then the auctioneer gives everyone warning that he is about to close the auction just to make sure no one else wants to bid higher, before he closes the auction with the familiar ‘going, going, gone’. However, eBay auction sniping is caused by the fixed duration that eBay’s auctions last, and the fact that they aren’t increased if someone places a new bid in the last few seconds of the auction to allow other bidders to respond with a higher bid if they want to. If a real auction house worked that way and allowed the eBay auction sniping to occur by a bidder announcing that he is adding another dime to the price in the last second and wins the item it would be seen as unfair, and many buyers think it’s unfair on eBay too.

Unfortunately, eBay auction sniping is a problem that is going to be around until eBay decides to fix the problem. However, there is little chance of there being a solution to eBay auction sniping unless it comes from the sellers themselves. The way that a seller can discourage eBay auction sniping is to encourage their buyers to use eBay’s proxy bidding system the way it was intended and discourage eBay auction sniping. The bidders enter the maximum they’re willing to pay for an item and eBay places bids for them automatically up to that and do not even consider eBay auction sniping. Once a bid has been placed with a maximum then the buyer should not keep returning to add an extra dollar to their bid every time that they have been outbid as this leads to eBay auction sniping. If the maximum bids entered by the buyers are high enough, then no eBay auction sniping will occur as the level that the sniper is likely to increase the bid by is not going to be high enough.