There’s no point regretting ‘progress’ (even though perhaps we should, as we’re retro on here!) and sniping is certainly here to stay, but the bottom line is that it’s a bad thing that will act to drive prices up.
It’s one thing to use sniping against manual bidders, but it’s quite different once there are several snipers in the same auction, all committed to the concept of ‘winning’ (which is a term that includes the related concept of ‘paying over the odds’). The age of the bargain may soon be gone methinks.
It always amuses me when you see big art auctions and the saleroom bursts into applause for the ‘winner’ when a huge price is paid. The reality is that the ‘winner’ is the only person in the room who thinks the item is worth what he bid, and all the experts who refused to bid that much think he’s a complete idiot for paying over the odds. But still he gets a round of applause for being the winner.
And once everybody on eBay is sniping and obsessed with winning, there’ll be no bids until five seconds to go, when the snipes will battle it out with people’s limits as their ammunition. The price with ten seconds to go will bear no relation to the outcome and the only way you’ll be able to ‘win’ will be to put a lunatic limit on your snipe.
Good news for sellers mind.
