Is Auction Sniping Worthwhile?
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While auction sniping is a rather common practice (documented to occur in about 25% of eBay auctions that close in a sale), its never actually been scientifically evaluated and proven to save the bidder money. Until now anyway.
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How Common is eBay Sniping?
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A study by researchers from Stanford University and the University of Chicago indicates that eBay Sniping is more common than most people think.
The study by Professors Patrick Bajari and Ali Hortacscu, found that about 32% of all eBay bids are submitted after 97% of the auction’s duration has passed. The winning bids are made even later in the auction. Bajari and Hortascu report that the average winning bid is made “after 98.3% of the auction time as elapsed (within the last 73 minutes of a 3-day auction), and 25% of the winning bids arrive after 99.8% of the auction time elapsed (the last 8-minutes of a 3-day auction).
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Cross Bidding: New eBay Bidding Strategy Saves Auction Bidders 9 Percent
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A recent study by university economics professors highlights an eBay bidding strategy that saves auction buyers an average of 9% over normal bidding strategies.
The auction strategy, known as cross-bidding, involves selecting a group of auctions with listings for the same or similar items that are all closing within a relatively close period of time.
Here’s how to do it:
An eBay user recently found a rare, 50-year old bottle of Allsopp’s Arctic Ale for sale at a no-reserve auction that was misspelled as Allsop’s (missing one “p”). This beer was brewed in 1852 especially for an arctic expedition to rescue one (lost) Sir John Franklin. Knowing a bargain when he saw one, he snatched it up for $304.00, outbidding one other user who had only bid the minimum, opening amount.
Two months later, the new owner of the full bottle of beer, placed the item for sale on eBay with the correct spelling. He garnered 157 bids and the auction closed at $503,300!
Just goes to show you that spelling counts!