Sniper, No Sniping!

Snipers are an elite form of Cod-Bag.

I have a modest respect for these guys, though because at least they are legitimate buyers. They know what they are willing to pay for an item, plug it into their automated program and walk away. They win a lot of auctions at the expense of sellers and inexperienced buyers who would have been willing to pay more. Snipers take advantage of a primary weakness of eBay: It is not really an auction.

If you go to an auction and raise your paddle you are agreeing to price that is just above the next guy, true. But if you shout out a much higher number, the auctioneer doesn't round it down to just barely outbid the previous bidder. Your high number becomes the new price to beat and the auction continues until the guy up front is satisfied that no one else is willing to pay more.


There is a website out there that has an awesome technology that really captures the spirit of an auction. It is www.bidz.com. Bidz weakness is the narrow scope of products, but the technology is brilliant. Your screen refreshes constantly and there is this adrenalin-inducing countdown for each item. Once the end time gets below 10 seconds the clock will reset to ten seconds every time a bid is placed, allowing the other person to bid again. That ten seconds is just enough time to act, but not think. As you watch, you can see bidders playing psychological games with each other. One guy may wait until the very last instant, getting the other fellows hopes up, while another guy may rebut instantly as if to say, "I can go lots higher, you might as well give up now." Its easy to get caught up in the action. Even if you don't like jewelry, you can find yourself wanting to bid.

And there lies the beauty. Bidz is a seller's market. They are getting fair market value for their goods because they've taken out the sniper.