Cels Forum

Another reason to bid last second is if you know you *are*
ready to overpay for something. ^_^  If you bid at the last
second, there is less time for other people to "walk up"
your bid in an attempt to outbid you.

As for not bidding the maximum, well, it's more a case of
some people not getting the idea. Some people will only bid
the smallest amount they need to outdo the high bidder, not
understanding Ebay's proxy bidding system. These are the
same people you see bidding on some items three, four, five
times (bidding again each time they are outbid and only
bidding the minimum amount to out bid the high bidder). I
like to bid after people like this. Usually they have the
money, but are just a bit clueless.

As for "snipers", most of the time, "bid snipers" don't
have a set limit in mind, they bid to outbid the high
bidder. That's their goal. If you get the chance to see them
in action (as I have) you'll see that you're not outbid all
in one fell swoop as you would be if they merely had a
higher maximum. . . Your bid will be walked up in small
increments until they have either outbid you or the time
runs out. It is completely illegal according to Ebay rules,
but there are people you can literally pay to act as a "bid
sniper" on an auction on your behalf - so sometimes "bid
snipers" aren't even bidding with their own money. >_<

Lastly, an auction with a low minimum bid draws less
attention. If I'm willing to bid high, I'll bid last second
so that the auction draws less attention while it is in
progress, and thus hopefully draws fewer potential bidders.

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac