sniping is key. I have won all of my high demand item bids via sniping.

There is no other way, grasshopper. Snipe or be sniped.

unless of course you bid a very high number (ala christian dior mugs) that you know no sane individual would bid to.

not to say you aren't sane, Randall :D

I agree on sniping. I've been sniped in the past within as close a second to go, but I've also pulled off some classic snipes myself. If I get beat, I just consider it well played and graciously accept my defeat.

I only bid early on if the price is rediculously low and only do so to keep an eye on the item. I watch approx. 30 or more items all the time, but only throw a bid on what I'm serious about. If others bid the item too high, too early, I usually pass. This can be annoying when it's a hard to come by item. I've waited up to 6 months for some items to show back up.

But by far the best way to get the best deal is to throw that bid in with seconds to go.

Thumper just made a point for early bidding. Consider the bid amount with an hour left on an item. Now consider what the final bid might be. Do you think going up by double, maybe even triple as much might not be too out of the ordinary?

Now imagine it went up some of that amount five days before the auction closed. An item that reasonably goes for $40 is sitting at $60. Would you really want to try to snipe on something like that? Occasionally I'll put in a reasonably high bid right early just for that reason. Usually people that bid against other people early are those that aren't that serious about the item, so they won't fight too hard. But they'll fight and get it "just high enough". Given time to think about it, "just high enough" is enough to scare off most serious people I imagine. It's when you have 12 seconds to think about it, and have spent the effort to be at the computer when the auction ends...that's when you get spending silly. I remember watching some football tickets sitting at $350, which was already pricey. I was going to snipe up to $525 and figured I was set (they were pretty good seats to a great game). When the dust settled the tickets had gone for $950. I don't think snipers went in expecting to pay that much. But had it been sitting at $500 for a few days?

Early bids remove emotion from the equation. Late sniping removes incremental bidders from the equation. I guess take your pick..

-David

I don't so much mind the snipers that are trying to get a good deal, but what annoys me are the ones that are just trying to win the item no matter what. I remember one item in particular that I bid retail price about 20 seconds before the close, figuring nobody in their right mind would bid more than retail. Well some jackass sniper managed to put in like 6 bids in 1 minute, the final one being... more than the retail price of the item. Oh well, at least he overpaid, but it's annoying because he basically wasted my time.

I couldn't disagree more. Those $950 bidders were there all along. The early bidders only ensured that it became $950 by jacking up the minimum bid, setting a new plateau for the "Serious" bidders to overpay even further.

If you know that a ticket is going to very popular (given the pricey limit you already anticipated for yourself at $525) then there was absolutely ZERO point in bidding at any time other than the final minutes.
THis notion that you can scare away other bidders in a popular auction is a delusion that only works to benefit the seller. Ebay has more bidders than product at this point which is what is making it harder and harder to find a good deal. There are a dozen guys who think they can scare each other away meanwhile the guy willing to pay the most doesn't appear until the final day and now he's got to pay more because the distance between the minimum bid and the maximum bid is narrowed unecessarily.

Bid once, bid your max and bid as late as possible and good deals will become more common again

I wonder what would happen if ebay didn't show the high bid until the auction is over? I wonder if that would cause people to pay more, or less?

It seems to me you guys are missing the concept of an auction. It's NOT geared for getting the best deal. It's set up for the person that will pay the most.

If you place a bid that will "blow everybody out of the water," you'll win whether you place it at the last second, or the minute the auction becomes live.

Yes, the people that bid in tiny intervals repeatedly don't grasp the concept of auctions, but everybody was a beginner at sometime. (And yeah, there are just stupid people that don't learn and others driving up the price).

We do reverse auctions at work to buy just about everything. This process allows us to list something we want to buy, then let vendors bid the price DOWN.

I said all of this to point out a feature of these auctions. Although they have a deadline, each bid adds 2 minutes to the auction.

Wonder why eBay doesn't do this? It would eliminate snipers.