Sniping That Doll On EBay

So, you just found that OOAK (one of a kind) doll and he or she is on EBay?
What to do...hmm...place a bid now or wait?

Everyone has their own style when it comes to the auction giant of the web. Personally, I started buying on EBay several years ago. I had no idea what "sniping" was, but I found out pretty fast.

Many many times when I was an EBay newbie would I place a bid only to find I had lost in the last few seconds.
This became unnerving until I learned to "snipe."

Sniping is the art (oh yes, it's an art) of placing a bid within the last few seconds of an auction thus keeping others from retaliating and outbidding you.
Now, this doesn't always work. Negative factors include other snipers and a bid placed before you that was either through the roof or just a little bit higher than your sniping bid.

There are a couple of ways to keep this from happening;
1) Place a huge comfortable snipe bid
2) Have split screens with the same ending auction with one snipe bid and one even higher snipe bid as collateral.
You can do the second by right clicking on the auction header and selecting "open in new window." Then you have two screens of the same auction.
I have had 4 screens open at one time.

I normally win 95 percent of my auctions unless there are two, what we call "newbies", fighting it out and amassing a huge paycheck for the doll seller.
Beware of them! They are dangerous and will eat up any bid you place.
I frequently pass up those auctions, unless I'm feeling fiesty!

You can tell a newbie by clicking on "# of bids" on the item's page.
It will show the bidders in ascending order of bids from the bottom up.
Newbies are the ones with feedback scores of (0-10).
I understand the frenzy and adrenaline rush, but $100 for an item you can "Buy It Now" for $50?
Absurd, unless you are Ivanna Trump.

The problem with sniping is that you have to be willing to spend the money if you win and you almost always have to be present at the end of the auction.
There are sniping bots that can place bids for you, but most don't work very well (from what I've heard in the dolly streets).
With new apps on cellphones for Ebay, it makes it sooooo much easier to snipe by yourself anyway, even if you're in the bathroom!

So have fun, but remember, I am out there too!