While that may seem like a discount that is too good to be true, there are thousands of online shoppers that are able to save big on high priced items. How do they do it? By shopping on eBay and other online auction sites. They use a practice called auction sniping. Most online auctions allow bidders to place bids right up to the last seconds of the auction. Because of this, an auction sniper can wait until the last few seconds of the auction to place their maximum bid. Auction sniping works so well because the majority of bidders are inexperienced. The typical bidder is unaware of auction snipers. They place their lowest bid each time they bid. When they see that the auction price stays low, they figure noone else is interested in that particular item. This provides the perfect setup for an auction sniper to jump in and outbid them just before the auction ends leaving the other bidder no time to rebid. There is even auction sniping software available that will take care of the dirty work for you so that you don't have to stay up till 3am waiting for an auction to end.
So, how does this relate to saving you money on gear? Most of the popular products mentioned on this blog and other review sites can be found on online auctions. Sellers will often list a product with a starting price of $0.99 which sets up the perfect opportunity to get it cheap using the sniping technique. I have personally saved thousands of dollars on the outdoor clothing and gear that I currently use by sniping on online auctions. There are also many items that were purchased and never used that end up on eBay and other sites for a fraction of the original cost. I just picked up $350 worth of diving gear for $30 including shipping this week. So, if lack of funds is keeping you from investing in the gear that you want, give auction sniping a try. There are some risks involved. To read about some of them check out this article on online auction fraud.