what is your eBay technique?

[kaninchen]

are you a bid high and early sort of pony?
or are you a wait and snipe sort of pony?
or are you even a sporadic bidding over many days sort of pony?

why?
pros and cons to each method?

[Shenanigans]

I've done all three I used to place my max bid several days before, but then I got sniped SO MANY TIMES that I've resoted to sniping myself My computer is a bit too slow for last few seconds sniping though. More like last few minutes My sister thought she had all but won a TAF Baby Dancing Butterflies for me one time, but she was sniped the last 2 seconds and she emailed the sniper even, lol. If I don't snipe I have terrible anticipation that I'm the one who's going to be sniped and lose my pony But I also know if I do snipe then there's a bigger chance that I'll end up spending more than I had originally wanted. It's best for me to bid my max several hours before so I'm not tempted to go into a biding war!

[butterflybuttons]

I used to bid days before the end, but was mostly sniped. So now I wait till the last few hours, or minutes if it ends when I'll be around.

If it is something I desperately want I'll place a low bid early, that way I'm less likely to miss the end.

[Diamond]

Snipe!  Auction sniper is our friend.  Set it and forget it, now worrying if I am not at home and helps me stay in budget.  Not that we have been spending lately.

[Starly]

Buy it now or don't buy at all.

I hate competition/waiting.

[teresat]

Well one benefit to waiting till the last minute (or seconds) I can see if I should bother to bid. If it's too high, I just skip it.

[Calico_Star]

My technique? Avoid ebay to avoid disappointment

Other than that...kind of depends on the auction, how badly I want the item, and how much I'm willing to pay.

[Glacia471]

I'm a sniper. I'll put a minimum bid on something I'm interested in just to get it into the 'my bids' page so I can keep a better eye on it, and then snipe it with a few seconds to go. That way if I change my mind, chances are I'll get outbid since I only put the very minimum. Or if I do want it, I won't get into a bidding war since I'd be easily outbid initially and they won't have any bid to 'fight' against until the last few seconds.

[StarDragon]

I'm a sniper... I like to wait until the last seconds and bid a few dollars more than the amount I want to pay.
 Sometimes I bid an amount in the last few minutes if there is no activity, and just in case there is, I wait 'till there's 10 seconds and bid a higher maximum.

[Jupiter]

I hate snipers, I don't do it unless someone starts a last min bidwar..and that's only if I really really want something.  I usually tend to wait til to hour to30 mins to bid on most auctions. Sometimes I do  a first bid to get   it in my bid watch list

[Koudoawaia]

When I used to buy stuff on ebay fairly often, I skipped the bidding and only bought buy it now things because I was afraid of losing everything I bid on. As it turns out, the one time I did bid on something for someone's birthday, I did lose the auction so the buy it now only system works for me. =p

[foalpatrol]

I put a large max bid on in the last 5 minutes, then close my laptop and have a cup of tea without waiting to see if I've won.

[NovelNerd]

Snipe!  Auction sniper is our friend.  Set it and forget it, now worrying if I am not at home and helps me stay in budget.  Not that we have been spending lately.

Wow, until seeing your post and googling it I had no idea there was stuff that did the sniping for you. O_O Shows how much I know!

Which kinds out of all this snipping stuff are safe ones to use for my computer?

[xelli]

Definitely a sniper. Just because I don't usually have a high amount of money to set it all earlier so I'm waiting to the last seconds and praying that the few cents more will do the deal But still I often get sniped. I bought a pony recently bidding only 1 cent higher than the other person in the last few seconds... I was really happy but then I thought how angry must the other person be...

[Gonzo]

I try to avoid auctions unless I have no choice; I usually tell Mom about them and wait to bid until the last minutes, in hopes of keeping the price low.