Sniping has its own good and bad things.

Bad things are that you may loose auction if you use unreliable service or your PC crashed if you use software-based sniper.

You may also loose when the seller ended auction earlier due to low bidding interest.

Good things.

It prevents this auction from shill bidding, which some sellers do (that is much more cheating, than sniping).

some collectioners prefer to keep their own research in secret.

you can always change your mind and cancel your snipe before auction ended. anytime. this way you can decrease non-paying auctions.

For me, shill bidding protection is my main concern.

I never used EZ sniper, but I could suggest a free sniper which I use: myibay eBay bid sniper

There are more when I did my own research. You can search for "free ebay sniper" if you want to compare.

That's completely true. You always have to bid your max (sniping or not).

I would personally prefer to bid as late as possible (snipe) in order to prevent shill bidding. In any case, I bid my max.

PalominoGirl wrote:As you can see most aren't fond of Sniping -- unless they're the ones using it. But I can give one GREAT reason why I used it: A couple of years ago I wanted a gift for Daddy that was available no where else -- a very special item, custom made and perfect for him. I was sitting here w/ a dial up (yes, I admit it but let it be known I live on a hundred acre horse ranch surrounded on three sides by a national forest and didn't get WiFi until yesterday -- WOO HOO!! and I tell you truly, EVERY time I bid on something I really, really wanted it was like "Kill me now," because I knew that 24k connection would do me no favors. So I admit it! I've used Sniping software! And I got the gift for my daddy which actually made him tear up. It's special!

Hi Palomono Girl, Great story. I am of a mind "do whatever it takes as long as it is legal". It was good to hear you won out. My experiences with ebay haven't been so positive as it seems there are a lot of shills out there bidding up the price. I can well imagine that the dial up connection was a frustrating experience as well, when trying to bid on anything. Good to hear you at least have WiFi now. I guess there are some trade offs to living in a tranquil place. I'm in the Suburbs with an Interstate Highway directly behind the house. Not so tranquil. Incidently, both my sisters had Horses at one time. Primarily Quarter Horses, but my youngest sister got into Morgans after a time. coastie