Sniping, what's the big deal?
By Tyler Jones

Arguments pro and con on sniping have been raging ever since I arrived on Planet eBay back in September of 2000, and even before then. I know this because threads on sniping that originated before I got here have been resurrected now and again. Too, tiptie, the grand poo-bah of sniping, reports that the debate has gone on at least since 1997.

Recently, several people on the Soapbox and the Bidding chat board have voiced concern, amusement and downright irritation at the level of passion that snipers and anti-snipers demonstrate. Why, they wonder, can't we just leave well enough alone and let people bid how they want?

I can't speak for other snipers like aeolean, englandboy, dr.gizmonic, tiptie and others, but I can give you the main reasons why I so fiercely defend sniping all of the time. In fact, though, many snipers have said that they agree with the commentary on this page.

Quite simply, one reason is that people don't WANT to leave well enough alone. The anti-snipers are not content to bid their own way and let us bid ours. First, they denounce the practice of sniping as unfair, mean, dishonest, cheating, etc.. They also have called us every name in the book, from scum and undesireable to some that I won't repeat. :-) We've been compared to Hitler, Satan and many other bad guys from history. Just Check out this from eBay user englandboy to see what anti-snipers have to say.

To be honest, this hurts. It hurts to have people dumping hatred on me just because they don't understand the rules or the eBay situation. When this happens, I naturally want to respond. It's true that snipers have also engaged in name-calling, and I'm sure that the feelings of many an anti-sniper have been hurt, but in the traditional school-yard defense, "they started it". Almost every time, the name-calling will begin when somebody, angry at being sniped, will post a hate-filled paragraph on the chat boards, filled with all kinds of rage. Things tend to go downhill from there.

Some people say that by teaching people to snipe, we bring up soldiers against us. That is, we give newbies the tools to improve their bidding skills, then they turn around and use those same skills against us. This makes it harder and/or more expensive to win auctions. Well, that's the price we pay. I'd rather have an educated knowledgeable eBay userbase. In my opinion, that's the key to the long-term success and survival of eBay. If I have to pay a few more dollars for my widget, I suppose I can live with that.

The final reason is even more important. Anti-snipers are also not content to just leave things the way they are. They continually demand that snipers change their bidding tactics to let them win more often. They raise a hue and cry and ask for various solutions to sniping.

Now, eBay has said repeatedly that they will not change the current format, whereby each auction begins and ends at a certain time and where anybody can bid during that timeframe, right up to the end of the auction.

However, it is my opinion that if the anti-sniper chorus grows too loud, then eBay might change after all. Many people say not to worry. After all, we estimate the hard-core anti-sniper contingent at less than 1% of the total population. This is not necessarily a fixed amount, though. If newbies and veterans who don't know much about sniping come on the chat boards and only seem complaints against sniping and never see any defense of it, they may be sucked into agreement withouth knowing the whole story. That 1% could become 2%, then 5%, then 30%, and then what?

Would eBay stand by it's "never" pledge? In my experience in the real world, I've seen a few things, and one of them is the knowledge that "never" is a very long time, and it's nearly impossible to guarantee that you will never do something ever.. I've gas stations say they'll "never" charge more than $1.00 for a gallon of gas, theatres who will "never" charge more than $5.00 for a movie ticket. Companies that will "never" lay off people, and internet firms that will "never" charge anything for their services. Over and over again, the crys of never, never, never echo in my ears. Then, sooner or later (usually sooner in this fast-paced world), out comes the memo "Due to unforseen changes in the industry, we have been forced to..." do exactly that which they were "never" going to do.

Imagine if every day, thousands of eBayers, outraged at the evils of sniping, leave eBay. Too, thousands more demand that eBay stop prevent sniping or they too will leave, and this chorus grows every day. Auctions dwindle. Profits fall. What would eBay do then? What, seriously, would you expect that they do? Stand on their principles, allow sniping to continue, and simply wait until their company goes into bankruptcy? Or would they grit their teeth, implement some sort of anti-sniper program, and move forward as best they can? In this case, I think that they site would be much smaller and much less profitable, but with a very large anti-sniping sentiment out there, their choices would be a smaller site or no site at all.

It's all very well and good to stand on principles no matter the cost, but everybody has to eat. I believe that if eBay should ever be faced with the choice between a smaller site that does not allow sniping, or a bankrupt non-existant site, even if they know sniping is fair, then they would obviously choose to have something, even if it's not the best. eBay must give people what they want. As snipers, our goal is to make sure they want the right thing.

Right down to the marrow of my bones, I really truly believe that the current auction system is the fairest one for everybody, given the 24/7 global format of eBay. By "fair" I mean equality of opportunity.

Everybody can bid. You can bid as often as you want for as much as you want. You can bid 1 time or 1000 times, right up to the end of the auction. However I bid does not affect you. I can't bid in such a way to prevent you from bidding, although if I bid a certain amount you will be prevented from bidding less, but that's just mathematics. My bidding strategy does not in any way affect anybody else's.

I'm gonna get melodramatic here, so you may want to get out the hip boots. :-)

Online commerce is still very young, and massive commercial online auctions newer still. We're at the beginning of an entirely new industry, and we're just starting to feel our way about. Choices that we make right now could have reverberations for years or decades to come. The way in which we set up these early auctions will provide the template for everything to come.

I believe that if we start screwing around with the auction format to make things more "fair" in the sense of punishing good bidders or rewarding bad bidders, then we run a terrible risk. Online auction formats may not last that long. One of eBay's competitors, who allows this sort of thing, once laid off 420 people, and may be on the auction block. Coincidence?

This isn't something that we're reading about in history books or is happening far away. It's right here. We're at ground zero of a momentous time. Every bid, every NPB, every post, every argument and thought is right now shaping the online auction world.

It is my opinion that if we allow the open nature of online bidding to end, even in the name of "fairness", then we may doom it for all time. By defending it at every turn, I do my part in helping to prevent that from happening. I firmly believe that if we, the snipers, do not defend our actions and explain why sniping is good, the anti-snipers may force bad changes on all of us, and that will damage the online auction industry, perhaps beyond recovery. This may be something that we will have to do for the rest of eternity. If that's necessary, I'll be here.