Auction sniper

[gee_fin]

Ninja bidding is sadly a must on eBay. What they need to do is to introduce a normal bidding extension, ie. a bid in the last 10seconds/minute/hour/whatever extends the auction duraction by 10seconds/minute/hour/whatever.

Otherwise, high reserves (fee costs of this gives eBay more money) and shill bidding are just commonplace

[stu999]

Excuse my ignorance - but why? What do they do?

they place a bid for you in the very last second automatically.

very usefull if an auction finishes at a silly time or if you are not near a pc.

but also makes sure you are the last to bid. (usually)

So, for example, who would win the bid if I had set the maximum price I wanted to pay for the item for sale, but someone who is using the sniping tool?

I had assumed that my bid would win if I remained the current high bidder - in other words, the sniping tool did not bid higher than my max bid, regardless of how close to 'auction end' it was placed?

[alistairolsen]

indeed. the rules are simple, highest bid wins, and if there are two the same, first one placed wins.

people on ebay dont follow the rules, in an ideal world you decide your max bib,place it when you first see the item and then wait to see if you get it.

Most people dont, they either bid a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more (and hence drive the price up) or they snipe at the very last minute and just punt in what they are prepared to pay, lae enough that no one else can see theyre outbid and bid again.

This sniper just allows that to happen if you cant be there when the auction ends.

[peterg]

and it's worth bidding an odd number to help - ie if the maximum you're prepared to pay is £90, then set your maximum to £90.04  

[samcooke]

Just won a £110 item by £1.60