Different approaches, similar results
CheapTalk wondered if sniping or squatting worked better on EBay. When you snipe, you don’t bid until the last seconds. Squatting, conversely, has you bid your full value at the start of the auction – proclaiming “I want this”.
Their relatively small tests found the results equal:
We found that these two effects almost exactly canceled each other out for auctions of DVDs. We expect that this would be true for similar objects that are homogeneous and sold in many simultaneous auctions. So the next time you are bidding in such an auction, don’t think too hard and just bid your value.
In other words, sniping requires work, squatting doesn’t and with equal results, why work harder?
As appropriate as “sniping” would be on GunBroker.com, squatting worked much better for me there.