sniping....?

[artful dodgette]

As an avid e-bay lover, Im still new to hear of 'sniping',
how many of you ladies use snipers to get those dream items?

 

[KittyT]

As an avid e-bay lover, Im still new to hear of 'sniping',
how many of you ladies use snipers to get those dream items?

Sniping is great. It helps prevent an item's price from skyrocketing early and reduces chances that you'll lose out on an item when you can't be in front of the computer.

I use esnipe and have been happy with it. If I lose an item, it's because I wasn't able to offer a high enough bid for it, not because I couldn't be glued to the computer at the last minute.

 

[sixsexsix]

Sniping is great. It helps prevent an item's price from skyrocketing early and reduces chances that you'll lose out on an item when you can't be in front of the computer.

I use esnipe and have been happy with it. If I lose an item, it's because I wasn't able to offer a high enough bid for it, not because I couldn't be glued to the computer at the last minute.

Are sniping programs free?

 

[Deleted member 3716]

Are sniping programs free?

esnipe has a 14 day free trial period.
after that you buy bid points, its something like $5 for 500.
if you dont win the auction, you pay nothing, if you do it costs you a percentage of the item price (very low) in bid points.
i would really recommend it.
it takes the stress out of ebay shopping.

until you get your credit card bill,that is.

 

[KittyT]

Esnipe is very affordable.

"eSnipe is free to new users for the first 14 days. After the trial period, eSnipe only charges if you win an auction, even if you lost because your bid was too low. When you do win the cost is 25 cents for items up to US$24.99, 1% of the winning amount for items up to US$1,000 (rounded down to the nearest penny), and a maximum of $10 thereafter. So if you win an item for $47, the fee is 47 cents. If you win an item for $230.58, the fee is $2.30. eSnipe fees are in BidPoints, which you can buy in quantity for discounts."

 

[sixsexsix]

Esnipe is very affordable.

"eSnipe is free to new users for the first 14 days. After the trial period, eSnipe only charges if you win an auction, even if you lost because your bid was too low. When you do win the cost is 25 cents for items up to US$24.99, 1% of the winning amount for items up to US$1,000 (rounded down to the nearest penny), and a maximum of $10 thereafter. So if you win an item for $47, the fee is 47 cents. If you win an item for $230.58, the fee is $2.30. eSnipe fees are in BidPoints, which you can buy in quantity for discounts."

Thanks for the info! I have never used it presuming it cost an arm and a leg and will have to try. Any way to minimize the oh-my-god-i-can't-believe-i-forgot-to-bid-on-that!!'s sounds good to me.

 

[KittyT]

Thanks for the info! I have never used it presuming it cost an arm and a leg and will have to try. Any way to minimize the oh-my-god-i-can't-believe-i-forgot-to-bid-on-that!!'s sounds good to me.

Remember there's also the oh-my-god-i-don't-need-that-and-can't-believe-i-bid-on-that factor too. You can delete your bid within a certain amount of time before the auction end if you change your mind.

 

[The Shirt]

I've come to the conclusion that I have to start using it. The old way simply does not work anymore. Sniping has that air of "if you can't beat them, join them" to me though. I really just don't enjoy ebay anymore.

 

[kamikat]

I'm with you, Shirt! I've pretty much switched to just doing the "buy it now" auctions. I'll only bid on a regular auction is it's something I'm completely in love with.

 

[Decodence]

Sniping is only useful if you are resolute in your absolute worth of an item, as in I wouldn't pay a penny more than $x.00 for that, and mean it.

 

[PolkaDotMeggie]

What exactly IS sniping??

 

[Decodence]

What exactly IS sniping??

A program which enters a max bid amount at a specified time prior to the end of the auction (I go 4 seconds on mine). The only benefit is that you eliminate paying more than via ebay's proxy bid should you happen to be bidding against of those "only $5 more" type of bidders, and you are willing to pay more than their max.

 

[nightandthecity]

sniping is bidding within the last few seconds so no one has a chance to reply.

Work out the absolute max you will pay...if someone wins a dollar above you and you think "I'd have paid that" then you didn't bid your max. Run through it in your head, eventually you will reach a price beyond which you won't go.

Then bid that maximum amount in the last few seconds.

There are, of course, risks. I've set out to manually snipe stuff and been hit by net congestion and computer failure. And even automated sniping services have a small failure rate, as I've personally experienced.

 

[PolkaDotMeggie]

Thank you for the tutorial! I am not big into ebay the last year since my husband has been gone. That's probably a good thing too--- don't want to blow loads of money while he is gone!

 

[deadpandiva]

I just signed up. I never thought I'd use a sniping program but you really can't win much with out it.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Artful, I use bidmate.co.uk, it's free for the first 4 snipes per week, and then...well I don't know since I've never bought more than that!

 

[SarahLouise]

I use Bid Burglar and am pleased with it so far. It's free for the 14 day trial period and then you can buy more snipes, for example 25 snipes is £3 which is 12p per snipe. It's definitely worth it for me as I bid on Ebay US the vast majority of the time and due to the time difference the auctions always end in the morning but I use it for UK auctions now too. I probably wouldn't win many auctions if I didn't use a sniper to be honest! They are great because you don't have to be glued to the computer when an auction is ending - you can enter your maximum bid and just forget about it. Do remember though that it doesn't necessarily mean you'll win an auction because if somebody else's snipe is higher than yours it will obviously go to them and your bid won't show in the bid history.

 

[KittyT]

Work out the absolute max you will pay...if someone wins a dollar above you and you think "I'd have paid that" then you didn't bid your max. Run through it in your head, eventually you will reach a price beyond which you won't go.

The best way to ensure winning is to take your maximum bid, and then put in a bid slightly higher than that, staying away from whole dollar numbers. For example, if your max is $25, put in a max bid of $26.51 in your sniping program. That will help you beat out anyone else who's max bid is also $25, since most bidders still stick with whole numbers, unless they're experienced ebayers.

Obviously, this won't help for beating people who determine their max bid amount is still higher than yours.

 

[Sunny]

I use JustSnipe. It IS free, five bids a week (resets on Sundays). I think the minimum lead time is 8 seconds, which is significant if someone else is using one with less lead time.

But the other point of sniping, as someone else has said, isn't just to get the bid in at the last possible moment; it's to make sure that you're bidding the absolute maximum you're willing to pay. So even when I get outbid at the last second, I'm fairly okay with it. Because I know that I would regret bidding more than I did.

It is also possible to do your own sniping. Here's the key: The time displayed is measured from the very instant that you begin to load the page. So a few minutes before it ends, I use an analog clock, and hit "Refresh" exactly when my second hand reaches the 12. Then I know exactly when the auction will end, based on my clock. So maybe 15 seconds before, I enter my bid, then hit "Place Bid" at exactly the 2 or 1 seconds left time. I did it just this week, trying to save my JustSnipe credits. I lost the auction, but that's because the current high bidder's maximum was higher than mine; it wasn't placed earlier. And I'm okay with it, because it was definitely my highest bid. More money to spend on something else.

 

[Miss 1929]

Esnipe is my friend!

I hardly ever bid without using it. If there are no bids on something really cool, I will put the first bid in for the minimum, and then also do an Esnipe for my real max. Esnipe won't bid against yourself. That way the seller won't pull the item before the auction ends (I have losy a few things that way).
It does take the stress out of it, plus I am a busy gal and can't always be at the computer when it is ending!
It also checks on the auction before closing (I have mine set at 90 minutes) and notifies you if you are already out bid, by email!
It's so cool.