This is why I prefer to place a bid in the last few minutes as I feel that adding my bid in the beginning will only increase the likelihood of the price going up. If I forget to place my bid in time, I see that as a sign I didn't really want it enough anyway and life goes on.
Very true. Placing an early bid is a sign to a buyer that you are interested. But the way eBay works is as soon as an item starts attracting bids it gets "promoted" to the head of their searches. The same happens with items that a lot of people are watching. So then more people are likely to see the ad and more people bid. At least that is the theory, and I am sure eBay is totally in favour of "bidding war" mentality.
And how much you want to bet, in the case of that snorkel, some of the bidders thought they would be getting all three snorkels, not just the middle one? It is amazing how many people do not actually read the description. Having sold a few things on eBay in the past I found this happened all too often. It would not matter how clearly you state that an item is only available for pick up from your house. Then somebody wins it and you see their address is in Germany or the United States. So you ask the buyer how they intend to pick up the item. They ask you for a shipping quote. LOL!
