having recently tried to bid on a few items on Ebay.even staying up `till about 3 am and placing what i thought to be the final bid in the last second or two, and still being pipped at the post, it finally dawned on me that somebod (probably everybody!) is using a "Bid Sniper".
Does anybody here use such things, if so, what can you recommend?
thanks folks!
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I use AuctionStealer, which is free for up to three auctions a time.
Works for me, irrespective of some who will tell you ebay isn't actually an auction, and have other ideas as to the usefulness of a sniper.
Note you do have it give it your ebay credentials which ebay don't like and you might not either. I don't give a flying hippo though.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 21 Mar 11 at 15:01
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I always though you could setup auto bids on ebay anyway. Or am I missing something - only bid on one item and I was the only bidder ;-)
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>> I always though you could setup auto bids on ebay anyway. Or am I missing
>> something - only bid on one item and I was the only bidder ;-)
>>
Ebay won't autobid in the last few seconds, which is essential for any sniping tool.
Same as Cc, I use Auctionstealer, and for sure it improves my 'win' rate, although most stuff I buy these days is BIN anyway.
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>> I always though you could setup auto bids on ebay anyway. Or am I missing
>> something - only bid on one item and I was the only bidder ;-)
>>
Contrary to what has been said, auto bids do work right up to the end. Otherwise you could be sniped by a lower bid, which doesn't happen!
There are still some good reasons for sniping though.
By not revealing your bid until the final seconds, you might beat someone who would otherwise outbid you.
If you place your bid early, the system will automatically bid up to your maximum, but the fact of bidding gives more people confidence to bid themselves.
I'm sure you'll find this hard to believe, but there are also naughty sellers who will use false accounts to bid on their own sales, to tease out the high bids. Having done so, they withdraw the winning bid leaving you paying more than you should.
The rule for bidding on ebay is bid once, bid your maximum, and do it as late as possible. Automatic sniping is the easiest way to do that. I use JustSnipe, which allows you up to I think 5 a week free with minimum 8 seconds to go.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 21 Mar 11 at 22:26
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>>
>> Works for me, irrespective of some who will tell you ebay isn't actually an auction,
>> and have other ideas as to the usefulness of a sniper.
>>
Oh yes, I've had that bun-fight on various sites over the years, amazing how many people don't understand human nature.
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Cheers! i`ll give Auctionstealer a try then and see how i get on! thanks!
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Auction Sniper has won me at least four pieces of furniture in the last month or so.
There are, like other sniper offerings, a modest number of free bids, with the default 7 second before auction end, submission of your snipe.
Of course, if there is a higher bid, than your "snipe" bid on the table, the automated system cannot bid for you and you will receive an email to that effect.
www.auctionsniper.com/
Last edited by: Roger on Mon 21 Mar 11 at 22:10
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I win every single auction where I want the item... if the price acceptable to me. How? By bidding the max I want close to the end... I'm never beaten by a sniper's bid because they will only win if they bid more than I was willing to pay.
It isn't the last bid that wins an ebay auction... it's the highest!
If you're not winning items you're not bidding enough... simple.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Mon 21 Mar 11 at 22:30
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I understand your point Fenlander, but bidding as late as possible deprives other watchers who have bid lower than your maximum of the time to see they are beaten and consider a higher bid.
It is quite possible that, by leaving even a few minutes after your bid, you will either (a) lose an auction you could have won, or (b) win and pay more than you might have,
by leaving somebody time to increase their bid.
Sniping is a no-lose approach, provided you know your maximum and are happy to stick to it.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 21 Mar 11 at 22:41
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But Devonite is saying he bids in the closing moments and still isn't winning... so it's not timing... he's obviously not prepared to bid enough.
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I should have added that Devonite, if he is bidding in the last second or two, is in fact sniping anyway - he could still be losing out to auto bids, so I agree he's probably just not bidding enough!
EDIT - hadn't seen your last post as I was writing this!
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 21 Mar 11 at 22:56
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thats just the trouble! when i bid last thing it is the highest bid! - no point staying up otherwise, more than once i`ve nearly fallen of my chair in utter disbelief that i haven`t won! = each time i`ve been beaten it`s username such as j***7 which makes me think it`s a snipe-bot.
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>>>thats just the trouble! when i bid last thing it is the highest bid!
Well it's not the highest bid or you would win... do you mean your highest bid? If so then that's fine... it made more than you want to pay.
>>>username such as j***7
Ebay has been doing this for a while now... only the seller can see the true ID of the winner... nothing to do with sniping.
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>> thats just the trouble! when i bid last thing it is the highest bid! -
>> no point staying up otherwise, more than once i`ve nearly fallen of my chair in
>> utter disbelief that i haven`t won! = each time i`ve been beaten it`s username such
>> as j***7 which makes me think it`s a snipe-bot.
>>
It's possible that you've lost to a snipe bid, but just as likely to be an automatic one. The point is, at the time you bid, you can't possibly know what the highest bid is.
Say you see an auction standing at £10. At the last second you bid £10.50, and then you find that you've lost to a bid of £11.00.
That could be accounted for by there being two other people in the auction. One has bid £9.50, the other, Bidder2, £15.
Prior to you bidding, the system will automatically bid for Bidder2 up to £10, sufficient to beat the second highest bid. All you see is the auction at £10 - you can't see that Bidder 2 has in fact bid £15. The instant after you bid £10.50, it bids £11 for Bidder 2 and you lose.
You should see if this has happened - the name of the winning bidder will be the same as the highest bid immediately prior to your bid. If it's a different name, then that's a last-seconds bid, possibly a programmed snipe bid, arriving after yours.
Last edited by: Manatee on Tue 22 Mar 11 at 08:00
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....to continue the example above, and pick up Fenlander's point. If you were prepared to pay up to £20 to win, you should bid £20, not £10.50. The system will then auto-bid up to £15.50 and you will win at that price in the absence of any higher bids placed after yours.
What you need to do is decide how much you are prepared to pay and bid that - rather than just bidding to top the bid you can see.
I repeat - bid once, bid as late as you can*, and bid your maximum. Nobody has found a better way of bidding on ebay as far as I know.
*that's why it's easier to use an auction sniper - you don't need to be there with your finger over the enter key at 3 in the morning. All it's doing is automating a sensible strategy. It doesn't guarantee you'll win, but it leaves no time for beaten bidders to consider upping their bids.
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My principle is 99% in agreement with Manatee... the only difference is not wanting to give my Ebay account login to a 3rd party sniper site.
In truth if you manually bid about 10sec out you will stop the *just one more bid* folks from having time to respond.
As Manatee says the crucial bit is always bid to your maximum.
I know folks who bid their max 5 days out and don't bother to look again until the auction end.... I can't get quite that relaxed.
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>> In truth if you manually bid about 10sec out...
But if he'd bid earlier, he'd have had time to see the automatic bid from the other person and had a chance to outbid. Or should have bid higher in the first place.
It sounds to me it could simply be auto bidding that is beating devonite and leaving it to the last seconds means he has no chance of winning.
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>>>Or should have bid higher in the first place.
That's the only bit that matters.
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The sniping thing had put so many people off using Ebay that more & more sellers are now offering Buy It Now options.
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Cheers for the explanation chaps! - see how i get on with my own "sniper"! ;-)
thanks!
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Thank heavens that's now been sorted.
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www.hidbid.com is a good sniping service to use.
Just remember that regardless of when your bid is placed, it still has to be the highest to win. EXCEPT, when 2 bids are the same or there isn't enough difference between them to meet ebay's minimum bid increment. In that case, the 1st one in wins.
Automated sniping is a convenience for people that want to avoid drawing early attention to an item, and 'nibbling' bidders (bidders who will bid the minimun increment over and over until they're the high bid), both of which normally result in a higher final price. If you have the time, you can do it manually.
A couple more benefits of sniping:
1. Sniping is actually a way of combatting shill bidding - when the seller or his buddy bids on the item until they're the high bid, and know your max, then retract their bid, and use yet another account to bid on the item, bidding just below your max. You don't give the shiller time to retract their bid in order to leave you as the high bidder, close to your max. You can't do much about a shill bidder letting their bid ride to the end of the auction, if it just raises but doesn't exceed yours.
2. You can just cancel a snipe with up to 2 or 3 minutes before the end of an auction, if you change your mind about bidding on an item, and your bid won't be placed. If you place a bid on ebay and then retract it (not a seller's or ebay's favorite thing), you can be blocked from bidding on other auctions after doing this a few times, not sure what that # is.
Anyone bidding on ebay should understand ebay's proxy bidding system, and have an idea about their bid increments:
pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html
pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html
pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html
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ebay sniper - Crankcase
