eBay Sniping

[The Ween]

I never bid on anything until the last few seconds, even if there's no bids. If I can't be at the computer at the time the auction ends, I'll put in a maximum bid as late as I can and hope for the best. That's all you can do. Putting an auction up for days just gives bidders time to look over the auction and determine whether they want the item and how much they're willing to pay. Good bidders never drive the auction up during those 3 or 5 days the auction is active. Anyone doing that is just shooting themselves in the foot.

Stick the item on your watch list then bid the very latest you can.

 

[mr.thrifty]

Sniping is only one way to get a good deal from the bay.....

young grasshopper has much to learn....

 

[Master Wayne]

I sniped your mom last night.

 

[mr.thrifty]

I sniped your mom last night.

 

[Darth Madden]

The $1 thing is what always bothers me. Of course I would be willing to pay $1 over my max! The only reason you would lose out on an item for one lousy dollar is because you were sniped, not because you weren't willing to shell out one more additional dollar. I personally do bid on things at the last minute as well, without any software or anything. Sometimes I still lose out to other snipers out there, and sometimes I may not reach the opposing bidder's max bid. Ultimately what I've learned from Ebay is not to depend on it too much for items and be willing to let things go. Most of the time, the item will come back and you will have another chance to get it.

But that doesn't mean you would have won it for $1 more. If you bid $50 and the sniper bids $110 he would win it for $51 but you would have had to pay $111 to win.

 

[The Ween]

Sniping is only one way to get a good deal from the bay.....

young grasshopper has much to learn....

Master.......teach me they ways of the Shaolin eBayist!

 

[Master Wayne]

How is this a fail? That dog looks like he's doing just fine.

 

[mr.thrifty]

..

 

[Chapter 2099]

Question "sniper" experts!!!! A VERY weird question here. Try to comprehend this because I'm having trouble describing what I'm saying.

Is there a program that exists that allows you to tell it what you MAX. bid is, but instead of placing it last minute, it places smaller bids to ensure that you're the highest bidder for the longest amount of time before getting outbid????

Yes, I know that makes no sense. BUT, I'm bidding on an auction and within a MINUTE of bidding (not a few seconds), I'm outbid by the SAME person. For a minute, I'll be the high bidder, then this guy comes in and outbids me. I'm bidding in $1.00 increments, so I'll turn around and outbid the guy and a minute later he outbids me. It can be 2 in the afternoon, 9 at night, or 4 in the morning, AND THIS SAME GUY will outbid me within a minute. Does this bidder just have no life or is this the work of a program????

 

[Chapter 2099]

And yes, I know. I should bid last minute, etc. etc. Just humor me on this.

 

[ProgMatinee]

almost seems like its the seller himself testing your max bid, because I don't see the advantage for another bidder bidding like that. If they had that much time on their hands they would just snipe it at the very end....

ebay does the incrememntal bidding for you...so either the person is up to some funny business trying to drive up your bids or they are really stupid.

 

[nash]

Question "sniper" experts!!!! A VERY weird question here. Try to comprehend this because I'm having trouble describing what I'm saying.

Is there a program that exists that allows you to tell it what you MAX. bid is, but instead of placing it last minute, it places smaller bids to ensure that you're the highest bidder for the longest amount of time before getting outbid????

Yes, I know that makes no sense. BUT, I'm bidding on an auction and within a MINUTE of bidding (not a few seconds), I'm outbid by the SAME person. For a minute, I'll be the high bidder, then this guy comes in and outbids me. I'm bidding in $1.00 increments, so I'll turn around and outbid the guy and a minute later he outbids me. It can be 2 in the afternoon, 9 at night, or 4 in the morning, AND THIS SAME GUY will outbid me within a minute. Does this bidder just have no life or is this the work of a program????

umm,...lol are you serious dude?

if someone's max bid is $100 and the current bid only shows $30, that person will have the highest bid until you bid over $100.

 

[LordAzrael]

I use www.auctionsniper.com and find it very good.

For me using a tool has the advantage I don't have to be there at the time - which means I can snipe during work or when I'm asleep - something very useful as I'm in Australia and I bid on alot of US auctions. Work blocks ebay but doesn't block auctionsniper so I can check on current prices through its watch function. It also stops the price getting jacked up too high or losing by $1.

I set me snipe for 3 seconds out, and for $2 or $3 more than the price I'm wanting to pay - i.e. If I want to pay $60 I'll put the snipe at $62. This means that if someone bids a round $60 you'll still win.

It also takes the emotion out - I put the snipe on then forget about it. I either win for no more than the specified price or I don't. Use in combination with saved searches and you'll eventually get what you want at a reasonable price.

 

[ProgMatinee]

umm,...lol are you serious dude?

if someone's max bid is $100 and the current bid only shows $30, that person will have the highest bid until you bid over $100.

at first I thought the same thing, but I don't think thats what he's asking, but I don't know. maybe he is. I see now that "I'm bidding in $1.00 increments" must mean that 2099 is going in an making a manual entry of $1 over the current bidder. "

 

[hairlesswookiee]

LOL...ebay is the devil.

 

[galactiboy]

Yeah, I think what he was saying is that he would bid... become the high bidder (getting that confirmation screen) then when he checked back a few seconds later the previous high bidder would again be ahead of him.

I do think there are programs that will do that, I'm not familiar with them; but it would make sense. The only other option is both of you were sitting at the computer at the same time exchanging $1.00 increment bids

 

[BuffyGirl]

I snipe, sorry. I'm good at it. I wait till the last few seconds and I give my max bid. Sometimes even more than I'd like just to ensure I do get it.

I don't have a special program to tell me. I just watch the countdown and then do it. You just have to be very careful that you don't think you have more seconds then you have and then wait too long. I've done that once. I was peeved.

I just won an auction the other day by sniping and I'm glad I won.

 

[Darth Cruel]

Question "sniper" experts!!!! A VERY weird question here. Try to comprehend this because I'm having trouble describing what I'm saying.

Is there a program that exists that allows you to tell it what you MAX. bid is, but instead of placing it last minute, it places smaller bids to ensure that you're the highest bidder for the longest amount of time before getting outbid????

Yes, I know that makes no sense. BUT, I'm bidding on an auction and within a MINUTE of bidding (not a few seconds), I'm outbid by the SAME person. For a minute, I'll be the high bidder, then this guy comes in and outbids me. I'm bidding in $1.00 increments, so I'll turn around and outbid the guy and a minute later he outbids me. It can be 2 in the afternoon, 9 at night, or 4 in the morning, AND THIS SAME GUY will outbid me within a minute. Does this bidder just have no life or is this the work of a program????

I wonder if this could be caused by ebay's maximum bid function and some lag between your computer and ebay. I don't know...it is just a thought.

 

[Chapter 2099]

almost seems like its the seller himself testing your max bid, because I don't see the advantage for another bidder bidding like that. If they had that much time on their hands they would just snipe it at the very end....

ebay does the incrememntal bidding for you...so either the person is up to some funny business trying to drive up your bids or they are really stupid.

umm,...lol are you serious dude?

if someone's max bid is $100 and the current bid only shows $30, that person will have the highest bid until you bid over $100.

at first I thought the same thing, but I don't think thats what he's asking, but I don't know. maybe he is. I see now that "I'm bidding in $1.00 increments" must mean that 2099 is going in an making a manual entry of $1 over the current bidder. "

I wonder if this could be caused by ebay's maximum bid function and some lag between your computer and ebay. I don't know...it is just a thought.

I'm still trying to figure out how to say it properly.

I found this piece that was WELL below retail, so I thought well let's see what I'm working with here in terms of bids. So I bumped it $20 or so, and I became the high bidder. ***Normally, I wouldn't bid anymore and if someone outbid me, so be it.*** BUT, in this case, I was the high bidder for about a minute MAYBE two, and then, I got outbid. Well, then it became a "hunt" for me. So I bumped it $5.00. Again, I became the high bidder. About a minute or two passed and I got outbid again. So I said, well, no sense in playing this "game," but I was still intrigued. And this point, I said to myself, NORMAL bidders don't just "jack up" the bid like that. They should have enough common sense to avoid the issue and wait until last minute. Keep in mind, there was still 6 + days left in the auction.

So still intrigued and after an hour break, I went back and bid $5.00 more. Again, I was the high bidder. A minute went by and I got out bid AGAIN!!! The time it took to outbid me was almost a minute to the "T" EVERY SINGLE TIME, which made me think it was a machine generated bid OR it was someone that 1.) had a "high bidder" complex and just wanted to know they were going to be the high bidder no matter what or 2.) it was someone "shill bidding."

So, I know what you're thinking. Most sniper programs wait till the last second, but then I thought there may a program out there that DOES place incremental bids, all the while having a maximum that it will not surpass. Why? Because there are bidders out there who go off on a tangent and "jack up" bids. So if I'm willing to pay $1000 for a piece and the current bid is $50, you can be certain that there's NO WAY I'm placing my maximum bid of $1000 right then and there. I'm going to place much smaller bids instead. That way I don't put all of my "eggs" in one basket.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. Why would ANY PROGRAM be designed like that, when it could just place your max. bid last second and AVOID the "bid war" that I illustrated above??? I don't know. Does it make perfect sense? No, but I've heard of crazier.

What amazed me is that after I became the high bidder on every occassion, it took about a minute for me to get outbid. Someone or something (ie a program) was definitely letting me become the high bidder, AND THEN, was notified, AND THEN, I became outbid. There was no glitch, per se'. I placed the first bids in the afternoon, and then again late night. I was just amazed that the response was identical BOTH times. Normally, you would think if it was a person, the chance of them being in front of a computer to rebid on both occassions is zero to none, which is why I leaned toward machine. But it sounds crazy enough to be a person.

Interestingly enough, I woke up this morning and the seller ended the auction early. So with that said, if it was "shill bidding" that I was battling, why would the owner end his own auction that sooner instead of seeing how far I'd go with all of that time left? On the other hand, it may well have a been an actual bidder, who decided to email the seller and say "Hey, let me just buy this. I'll pay now, etc. etc."

WOW!!! What a post!!! Can't wait to see the responses!

 

[nash]

honestly that's just too much for me to read right now after 2 bottles of wine. all i know is that I snipe and i win. I dont need no stupid ass programs to do work for me.