What are my thoughts? Let them be morons.
This is more a thing of shill bidding rather than people being morons, although I won’t deny mentally impaired people roam eBay quite often. Shill bidding is against eBay TOS, but it happens everyday, whether the seller knows it or not; it's a common occurrence. People fuel a bid war simply to raise the value of an item. Scarcely will you ever see any one of these auctions get completed.
Nonetheless, bidding wars are a thing to behold, and they've entertained me quite often.
I personally prefer BINs (with BO if possible), but I do bid from time to time. I have no shame admitting I snipe the stuff I want, as I’ve gotten a good number of deals this way. I hate having to wait for auctions to end, though.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the commodity of thrift stores and the like around where I live, so eBay has for the most part been my only option.
Auctions arn't there to save you a buck, you're just bitching you can't get a good deal every time you enter one. There are several reasons people use auctions instead of buy it nows when it comes to condition, location, or how rare it actually is.
I've personally saved money when choosing an auction over BIN. Granted, I have a set amount that I am willing to spend and don't go over that amount regardless of how much I want whatever I'm bidding on. But yeah, you can save money if you choose auctions over BINs, especially if all the BINs available are ridiculously priced. The truth of the matter is auctions can be a waste of time, whether you win or not...especially if you don't.
I only go for auctions if it's something relatively rare (only has auctions) or if all BINs are ridiculously high and auction is the only chance of a decent price.
Pretty much what I do, too.
On auction listings, I’ll pick a price I want to pay and bid at the last second. If I win, great. If not...I didn’t spend more than I wanted to. Everything else purchased on EBay is “buy it now”.
That's what smart people do, otherwise you'll end up buying out of impulse and have buyer's remorse when eBay recommends you another listing for the same item at a better price.