You can report it to ebay, don't know if it will help at all, but they say that they do check them out.

Why not just bid the max amount you are willing to pay, and then just know that if you don't win, that you didn't really want to pay what it went for.

I don't have any sniping software, but do often bid quite late in the auction. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose.

Same with me Chemocurl. I just bid and back off, having set my max. I do tend to bid late so as not to contribute to early inflation. And I lose a few, that is for sure.

Unless the rules have changed, sniping is perfectly legal and I say more power to them. There are often a number of people sniping and it just raises the bid...I love it when that happens. People who snipe won't bid early anyway for fear of raising the price so I love snipers.

I always snipe when I can. I don't use software either. That would take the fun out of it.
You have to bid the highest you are willing to pay. Even with software the sniper can only bid what he is willing to pay. Decide what the widget is worth to you, bid once, bid you max and bid as late as you can. Don't blame the sniper for being willing to pay more than you are.

I've been sniped a lot, but after cussing a bit, I realize it's part of the game. I did snipe a couple of times, but the first time was when a DGD had asked me to bid on a little black dress, and told me the amount she would pay. Well, someone sniped me near the end, and I retaliated...just had to get the little black dress for her! Won the bid, but it turned out that she really didn't like the dress all that well!

Sniping is NOT illegal on Ebay. In fact, Ebay has this to say about sniping:

"What we wonÂt investigate:

Someone outbid me at the last minute. Placing a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing is called "sniping" within the eBay community. Sniping is part of the eBay experience, and all bids placed before a listing ends are valid, even if they're placed one second before the listing ends. Learn how to avoid being outbid."

I use ensipe.com. I can't sit around waiting for my auctions, especially when they end on east coast time. I think they let you use it for free for 2 weeks. Then the fees are very reasonable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Getting Outbid

Thanks for the info, Tally (sez Talley_Sue).

I appreciate the detail. (you did mean esnipe, right?)

I've used esnipe.com with great success. I think it only backfired twice. You can set up an account for $10.

I was going to say the same thing as Ruthie. I always snipe unless it is something that I don't care that much if I get it or not, and at regular auctions, I will usually wait until there are just a couple of people bidding on something before I will join in.

I use auctionsniper dot com. I think it costs about 25 CENTS per snipe. One of the best features of using a snipe is that if you change your mind before the auction ends ...and I've been known to change my mind here and there....it's no big deal because your bid has not even been entered yet. Can't do that when you use Ebay and set your highest limit. I NEVER, EVER bid on anything on Ebay without going through auctionsniper. I don't know if they still do this, but they used to give you a few snipes free when you first signed up. There is no other fee for the service and no software to download.

Sometimes its not sniping, but luck instead. One night I was looking for a movie for DH and found it with only seconds left, I bid and won. If you really want something you will be right there sitting & waiting. I can usually find the same thing cheaper if I keep looking elsewhere on the web.

Posted by naughtykitty: "I've used esnipe.com with great success. I think it only backfired twice."

I'm new to the eBay experience and it all seems so confusing to me. How does sniping, or using esnipe 'backfire'?

I've had two positive experiences with eBay and two rip-offs, one which cost me a lot of money. I want to be safe.

Sometimes its not sniping, but luck instead. I agree with Joann. I was looking for a laptop last week, found 1 with 4 minutes left.. by the time I read the description, looked up one thing on google.. I ended up bidding and winning with just 23 seconds left.

I do always try to bid in the last couple minutes and I always bid the highest price I am willing to pay. I don't use a snipe service.

Try sniping with dial-up, LOL! It seems to go slow as molasses when I really want something.

It's all fun though.

Dilly Dally, By backfire I mean that even with sniping, someone had outbid me. Once on a vintage lamp and once on a bunch of skeins of wool yarn in an impossible to find color. I guess it wasn't worth as much to me as it was to them. Not too big a deal though.