How To Win An Ebay Auction, For Doubters Of Snipe Eficacy

[amk]

I've used snipes quite a lot recently when I have been travelling and so not able to check ebay auctions very often. Won two lots I really wanted, which was nice.

[JonSzanto]

Snipe programs are the only way to go. It completely changed my interaction with eBay for the better, and there has been zero downside. I'll never go back.

 

Well, I still do BIN by hand.

[pajaro]

Set your max price higher than anyone else's bid, and you'll win whether you put it in a week before or a second before closing.

 

How do you know what anyone else's bid is going to be?

 

If you bid the amount that is the highest you are willing to spend, it is subject to being probed with bids until someone beats it. If you put the same amount in a snipe program as your snipe amount, nobody has any idea you will even bid, let alone how you are willing to go. You are exposing no bid to be probed or counter-bid against. Using a snipe program or a manual last second snipe is just a strategy more likely to succeed than putting your high bid out there to be probed and counter bid. If you win with a snipe you avoid all the counter-bidding that jacks up the price of the item.

 

Bidding your highest amount other than at the last instant is a sucker play.

Edited November 17, 2014 by pajaro

[sidthecat]

Snipers are hateful, but the one I used at the last auction was very effective. It requires the discipline to sit on one's hands and let the other bidders be lulled into a false sense of security.

[RMN]

Moving this to Market Watch

 

 

D.ick

[Betweenthelines]

What program do you mac users use? I've always bemoaned snipers, but perhaps it's time I play dirty too.

[tmenyc]

I've always used esnipe, which is web-based and operating system-agnostic. It's never failed me on a technical level and its fees, which you only pay on a win, are well worth the win for me, since it's not coming any other way.

Know a couple of things: 1) setting it for zero seconds is probably too late, because of all of the pipelines your bid needs to go through. 2) Snipe software is served closer to eBay than everyone who is not in Silicon Valley, so the bid starts physically closer to ebay. Yes, it matters in the last second. 3) I'm with Bruce. For me, it's utility, and a strategic means of keeping one more bidder out until the very end, discouraging more bidding and higher prices. That, of course, is why ebay discourages the use of snipers, and why one should use them. 4) back to the original poster's thought, the fact that your best bid lost by only $1 is not meaningful except for the fact that it was your highest bid. Because ebay is a dutch auction, it automatically bids the next increment, not the higher bidder's highest bids. It bids next increments as long as there are bidders to back the bids. So, you don't know the winner's max, never will. All you know is that he/she was willing for it to be at least $1 higher than your max, so you lost.

 

Tim

[OcalaFlGuy]

I use website based Auctionsniper.com. It should work fine on a Mac. (They have an app but I don't use it.)

 

Your first 3 successful (winning) snipes are free. If you join for the 3 free and use my nickname Connieldr, I get 3 free too.

 

I've used them for a few years now, never a glitch, and, I actually pay their 1% of the close price (up to a dollar paid or something like that) IF I

run out of free snipes.

 

I will normally hand fire my shots but sometimes middle of the night closes or a wonky wifi has me use AS.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[bbs]

No, the sure fire way to win auctions is to make a best offer on a pen that you don't think is going to be accepted, then spot an auction for the very same model but with a different nib that's ending within the hour, think oh well I won't get the other one so I'll bid on this, and of course you will both win that and have your offer accepted.

 

But I do actually like both my Conway Stewart Bellivers in Shingle .... (Yes, even the colour was the same, sigh!)

[mhosea]

I've won auctions with the same max bid as another sniper who thought there was some value in playing it closer. Lost one, too. Your snipe needs to be late enough to thwart the manual bidders, but you don't need to be the last snipe.

[inkstainedruth]

No, the sure fire way to win auctions is to make a best offer on a pen that you don't think is going to be accepted, then spot an auction for the very same model but with a different nib that's ending within the hour, think oh well I won't get the other one so I'll bid on this, and of course you will both win that and have your offer accepted.

 

But I do actually like both my Conway Stewart Bellivers in Shingle .... (Yes, even the colour was the same, sigh!)

That's almost what I did last year when I got 2 Parker 51s the same weekend. I had concentrated on the Plum Demi all week, and started at a reasonably high bid (none of this nickel and dime stuff), then watched the price creep up over the course of the week. Upped my maximum a couple of times when I got nervous. Bid on the black 51 Vac sort of as a backup. Figured I didn't have a snowball's chance in you-know-where on the Plummer. As in "What is this 'snipe' of which you speak? I'm just gonna get flat outbid, and someone *else* will get sniped at the last second....". Kinda forgot about the other pen. Then, as it turned out, I won and didn't even hit my intermediate max on the first pen, and was the *only* bidder on the 51 Vac (a fact which I can only attribute to the fact that it had the cap for a 51 Special on it; OR that no one was in the market for a black UK made one that weekend... even though that pen *also* had free shipping, to boot).

Go figure. No sniping program needed (just dumb luck and/or an alignment of the stars...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[kirchh]

What program do you mac users use? I've always bemoaned snipers, but perhaps it's time I play dirty too.

 

Why do you bemoan snipers, and why is it "playing dirty?"

 

When you lose an auction to a sniper, you are losing to someone who concretely expressed that s/he was willing to pay more for the item than were you. What's "playing dirty" about offering more than you are willing to offer?

 

--Daniel

[Betweenthelines]

 

Why do you bemoan snipers, and why is it "playing dirty?"

 

When you lose an auction to a sniper, you are losing to someone who concretely expressed that s/he was willing to pay more for the item than were you. What's "playing dirty" about offering more than you are willing to offer?

 

--Daniel

 

Using a "bot" to bid faster and more efficiently than a human being, so that you can grab an auction with <5 seconds to go is gaming the system, plain and simple. I get that eBay is apparently fine with people using such programs, and in fact I'm trying out auctionsniper right now, but I'm not going to lie to myself and try to justify it as anything more than it is - it's playing dirty and I'm OK with it!

[kirchh]

 

Using a "bot" to bid faster and more efficiently than a human being, so that you can grab an auction with <5 seconds to go is gaming the system, plain and simple. I get that eBay is apparently fine with people using such programs, and in fact I'm trying out auctionsniper right now, but I'm not going to lie to myself and try to justify it as anything more than it is - it's playing dirty and I'm OK with it!

 

I'm not sure you understand how the auction works.

 

Someone can't "grab" an auction from you unless s/he is willing to pay more than you are, no matter when s/he bids.

 

You may not like the feeling you get when you are outbid with seconds to go -- as opposed to being outbid with days to go -- but there is no "gaming of the system." You are simply being outbid by someone who is willing to pay more than you are.

 

Do you disagree?

 

--Daniel

[Betweenthelines]

 

I'm not sure you understand how the auction works.

 

Someone can't "grab" an auction from you unless s/he is willing to pay more than you are, no matter when s/he bids.

 

You may not like the feeling you get when you are outbid with seconds to go -- as opposed to being outbid with days to go -- but there is no "gaming of the system." You are simply being outbid by someone who is willing to pay more than you are.

 

Do you disagree?

 

--Daniel

 

 

Oh I understand perfectly how the auction works. However, as has been previously stated in this thread, a person's maximum bid will change depending on the auction's activity - e.g., when it comes down to it, he/she may be willing to pay $5 more for the item in order to have it, if his/her maximum bid is in jeopardy of losing. If you've used eBay at all, you know this to be true. Otherwise, and if your rationale were sound, no one would have any regrets or frustrations when the auction is sniped, because they would be happy with their maximum bid.

 

The bottom line is - auctions are fluid. We are human beings, with constantly changing emotions and desires, not to mention the huge element of human error and limitations. If I bid 60.00 on an item, and someone outbids me at 60.50 with 5 seconds left and I can't put up another bid fast enough because I'm not a robot, I'm probably going to be frustrated. This happens to people every day.

 

eBay is, essentially, a game. If the playing field were truly level as you claim, then automatic auction sniping would be part of eBay's standard features. As it is, it is not, and must be sought through 3rd party resources, most of whom charge for their services. This creates an uneven playing field, as it takes out the element of human error and, quite honestly, reflexes (clicking a bid at the very last second).

 

I get your rationale, and it's sound in theory, but not in reality. People are not going to generally make a max bid on an item and be happy with losing by 0.50 or 1.00 - why? Because often we don't know how much we want an item until it is in danger of being taken away, (hence sniping "lulling bidders into a false sense of security", as another poster stated) and because, I said, the process is fluid. Your rationale would only make sense if it were a live auction with no time limit. It's the "beating the buzzer faster than a human being can click" that's the "dirty" part.

 

Justifying bots is no different than those who try to justify performance enhancing drugs in sports. I suggest you re-read that quote in your signature.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Betweenthelines

[kirchh]

 

 

Oh I understand perfectly how the auction works. However, as has been previously stated in this thread, a person's maximum bid will change depending on the auction's activity - e.g., when it comes down to it, he/she may be willing to pay $5 more for the item in order to have it, if his/her maximum bid is in jeopardy of losing. If you've used eBay at all, you know this to be true. Otherwise, and if your rationale were sound, no one would have any regrets or frustrations when the auction is sniped, because they would be happy with their maximum bid.

 

The bottom line is - auctions are fluid. We are human beings, with constantly changing emotions and desires, not to mention the huge element of human error and limitations. If I bid 60.00 on an item, and someone outbids me at 60.50 with 5 seconds left and I can't put up another bid fast enough because I'm not a robot, I'm probably going to be frustrated. This happens to people every day.

 

eBay is, essentially, a game. If the playing field were truly level as you claim, then automatic auction sniping would be part of eBay's standard features. As it is, it is not, and must be sought through 3rd party resources, most of whom charge for their services. This creates an uneven playing field, as it takes out the element of human error and, quite honestly, reflexes (clicking a bid at the very last second).

 

I get your rationale, and it's sound in theory, but not in reality. People are not going to generally make a max bid on an item and be happy with losing by 0.50 or 1.00 - why? Because often we don't know how much we want an item until it is in danger of being taken away, (hence sniping "lulling bidders into a false sense of security", as another poster stated) and because, I said, the process is fluid.

 

Justifying bots is no different than those who try to justify performance enhancing drugs in sports. I suggest you re-read that quote in your signature.

 

You seem to have missed the central points I made.

 

I specifically stated, "You may not like the feeling you get when you are outbid with seconds to go."

 

If you find yourself placing bids and perceiving that you have been outbid by $0.50 or $1.00 (even though in the general case, you have no idea how much the high bidder's max bid actually was), and then regretting that you didn't bid a higher amount, that's on you. There is only one party responsible for the regret that you feel, and it's not eBay, a sniping service, or a sniper. It's you, for not being capable of determining the amount you are willing to pay for an item until it's too late.

 

If you bid $60 on an item that you would be willing to pay $61 for, you made a mistake, and you own that mistake. Any regret that occurs as a consequence of that mistake is your responsibility and cannot be shifted anywhere else.

 

I agree that many people, yourself apparently included, have insufficient ability to decide how much they are willing to pay for an item. In general, one method that addresses the specific mistake that you make that produces frustration is to imagine the situation in which you do not win an item and your emotions are equal parts disappointment and relief. That generally reveals the most you are truly willing to pay -- where even a dollar more would be too much.

 

Determining one's true maximum requires some practice to develop that skill. If some people have more skill at determining their maximum bids, that does not translate to an uneven playing field.

 

You also seem to feel that sniping deprives you of the ability -- or the right, somehow -- to increase your bid in response if you are outbid. But consider that the snipers themselves have no such ability. If a sniper places a bid with a couple of seconds left in the auction, and then finds s/he has been outbid by $0.50 or $1.00, s/he is probably going to be frustrated. This happens to people every day. So the playing field is tilted against them, by your logic.

 

In essence, your frustration is resulting in your aiming at the wrong target. You blame snipers, or snipe programs, but the truth is that when you lose to a sniper, you lose to someone who was willing to offer more than you were.

 

--Daniel

Edited November 18, 2014 by kirchh

[kirchh]

Justifying bots is no different than those who try to justify performance enhancing drugs in sports. I suggest you re-read that quote in your signature.

 

This assertion is false.

 

Performance-enhancing drugs in sports are illegal and, in effect, penalize those who do not violate the rules. There are no rules governing when a bid can be placed in an eBay auction, nor can someone outbid you unless they are willing to pay more for an item than are you and you both enter your max bids.

 

Stealing money so that you can place a higher max bid than you would otherwise be able to afford would be a better parallel to your PED example.

 

--Daniel

[Betweenthelines]

Denial is a powerful drug, one that I don't have the patience to bang my head against. So instead of bickering with you, or anyone else for that matter, I will merely "agree to disagree", and bow out of this thread. Toodles.

[kirchh]

Denial is a powerful drug, one that I don't have the patience to bang my head against. So instead of bickering with you, or anyone else for that matter, I will merely "agree to disagree", and bow out of this thread. Toodles.

 

Very disappointing that you would resort to an ad hominem argument, rather than discussing the substance of my posts. But in any event, my points stand unchallenged.

 

--Daniel

[mhosea]

 

Very disappointing that you would resort to an ad hominem argument, rather than discussing the substance of my posts. But in any event, my points stand unchallenged.

 

If it's any consolation to you, I read what you wrote rather carefully, and I felt that it was well-reasoned and dead-on accurate. I've been using eBay for over 15 years now, and I once complained about sniping, too. I would guess that not many people show up for the first time at eBay understanding all the implications of an auction with a fixed time limit, but either you learn, or you complain, it seems. We used to talk about eBay implementing an extension so that things would have to settle for a few minutes before an auction would end. Despite how trivial it would be to implement, eBay has refused to offer it, not even for a fee. Likewise they have not offered an in-house sniping service. My interpretation is that they like the status quo and probably see value in having both types of bidders on the site.

 

I would also like to reiterate that it is not necessarily advantageous to bid in the last 1 second, and most auctions that I watch to completion do experience a cluster of bids mostly a few seconds out or more. Manual sniping remains viable in most cases, and fun. You just open a bidding box in the last minute of the auction and enter your maximum bid without pressing enter. The box is updated, so you can watch and wait from that point, press enter when you are ready. Obviously if you are on a dial-up connection, you might want to press several seconds out. But heck, I have my jbidwatcher bids snipe several seconds out, easily within the window of viable manual sniping. I don't remember the last time I lost because somebody "probed" me. If they did, it was just had time for one shot, two at most. Other snipes come in, of course, but there's no harm in a small crowd comparing pre-determined maximum bids at that point. The largest will win, as it should. I still snipe manually once in awhile. It works.