If this all sounds a bit too much like playing dirty for you, then is another, more low-tech way to get around sniping. You can just email the seller and say that you were sniped at the last minute but would really like the item. If they have another to sell, the chances are they’ll agree to sell it to you for the price the auction closed at.

Of course, there’s more to eBay than just bidding – the site offers a whole set of tools to help you manage your auctions. In the next email, we’ll take a look at these tools.