Sniping is something I personally love about eBay. Other online auction services will not allow sniping. If last minute bidding occurs, their rule is that the last bid has to stand for several minutes before being declared the winning bid. I sell most of my items in my store on a Buy It Now basis but now and then I have auctioned something off and watched my item sniped at the last minute. For the sellers, it can be a two-edge sword: counter bidding against one another can bring a good price but, on the other hand, someone willing to pay enough and ambitious enough to snipe an item can bring an unexpected boost to the final selling price.

So what IS sniping exactly? It really is quite simple: it is putting in a bid on an item at the very last minute or even seconds and winning by outbidding everyone else. There are sniping programs which will do this for you and that is convenient when you are not near your computer when the bidding ends or if it ends at an inconvenient time. It also is a nice safety net in case you somehow lose your connection at the last minute during an auction. I am not going to list any specific programs here as I don't know all the details of each and don't wish to endorse any but they are easy enough to find in any search engine by entering search words "sniping program." Hunt around if you are interested but be sure to read all the details. If you don't bid a great deal you can generally find a free program to use.

Manual sniping, however, is a great way for an auction adrenaline junkie to get a rush! I think it is just plain fun to watch an auction and snipe it at the last minute. Unfortunately, the other bidders don't quite see it that way but we all have the same advantages here and, if they don't learn about these things, then they will lose the auction. The success rate alone speaks for the positive use of sniping. I win probably 85-90%, or more, of the auctions I bid on with the remainder being ones that I lose because the final selling price is over what I have decided is my ceiling.

To really take advantage of an auction by sniping you first should scope out the various listings up for your desired item. Compare them well ahead of time and this means days, not hours. Read over the feedback of the seller, be absolutely sure to check out the shipping details (never buy from someone who doesn't list a shipping cost - email asking how much it will be first), read the listing carefully for the condition of the item and seller's policies, particularly on returns. Once you have established that you would definitely like to bid on that item, you now have a decision to make. Decide NOW on the absolute maximum price you would pay for that item. Not what you hope to get it for but what is the ceiling price you would pay. This is often a hard part for most people as we all want a bargain but, as you will see, it is the key to successful sniping.

If you are going to be sniping manually then make sure you are online several minutes before the auction ends. See what the bidding is at currently. By the way, NEVER bid on anything until the last minute. If you bid on it first you are creating interest in the item and the price will start to rise. If you bid against others you will create a bidding war and it just might backfire on you. So, no matter how badly you want this item, sit tight and keep those fingers off the keyboard until the very last.

When it starts to get down to about two minutes I begin refreshing my page. Depending on your connection, you will need to decide about when you want to start doing this. It will also make a difference as to when you actually place your bid. I have a high speed connection and so I normally bid about the last 45-50 seconds of the auction. At that point, I place my bid for my MAXIMUM that I have previously decided upon and I add a few cents just for good measure. So, for instance, the item is selling at $10.00 and there are 45 seconds left on the auction. I have decided previously that the most I would pay for this item is $20.00 so, at that point I bid $20.03. The closer you can get to the end of the auction the less time there is for another bidder to outbid you. The only way you can lose is if there IS enough time for a very quick bidder to get in another bid greater than yours OR if someone has set an autobidding at a greater amount than that. In that case, there is nothing more you can do. However, you shouldn't feel badly about your loss as you made a choice about how much it was worth to you. The bad part about auctions is that people get carried away and end up spending far more than they really had planned to spend. You have mixed emotions of being happy you won and being upset that you spent too much! With this sniping method you shouldn't feel that way. There will be another auction and there will be another chance to snipe the item!