Best EBay sniping tool?

[david i]

That's silly. I don't really see a real advantage to that. I mean, it's nice that my personal maximum will now be placed at the last possible moment (8 seconds, in the free JustSnipe service), rather than hours beforehand. And yes, that does helpfully defeat nibblers. But what about all those auctions I've seen, where a winning bidder actually increments up his bid ten or fifteen times, all within the last minute? Isn't that some kind of sniping program?

 

I cannot speak for all sniperware, but i have a sneaking suspicion that those auctions with several last minute bids by same fellow represent nibblers firing by hand. Hoping maybe to clog the pipeline (though i have great doubts that would work).

 

I would really like it if my sniping program would actually proxy-bid for me. At one minute to go, before the end of the auction, the FinalSniper smile.gif software logs in to EBay, finds out the item's current price, and bids one increment higher. It then monitors the winning bid, and at any time that someone else squeezes in a higher bid, it ups again. Thus, I'm not at the mercy of the EBay proxy bidding system, but instead am at the mercy of FinalSniper's.

 

If i follow, this does not impact your bidding. Sniperwarde that fires your bid at very end will yield a final bid one imcrement above the underbidder's max.

 

 

This seems to me to have several advantages, but I can't really describe them. Am I all washed up here? Are there sniping services that would do it my way instead of the way JustSnipe has just done it. They only enter one bid for me, at 8 seconds to go. That's better than nothing; but it's not what I thought sniping would be. They're just firing one bullet. I want them to accurately fire a whole magazine of them, as many as necessary to win at a price as low as possible.

 

Make sense?

 

Again, if you map out what happens with a single last-second snipe vs the model i believe you outline, i believe the outcome is exactly the same. Furthermore at worst, your system- if i'm not misreading the suggestion- poses greater risk for not winning your item even at price you would have paid which might have won. Firing bids takes little time. Opening page to scope the bid seems to take bit more. Since your high bid will be set by ebay to only one increment above second high bid, there is no advantage to having to open the page repeatedly to set new bids.

 

regards

 

david

Edited March 10, 2008 by david i

[Jinnayah]

An open bidding scenario is the classic motion picture auction.

 

A closed bidding scenario is sealed bids handed to the auctioneer, but not revealed in presence or quantity to other bidders.

 

With snipes, you've got a mix of open bidding (with semi-hidden limits) and closed bidding.

 

I think that's more effectively addressed with eBay than with buyers. As I mentioned earlier, there are other auction services that eliminate the "closed bidding" by extending the auction time after a last-minute bid, thereby assuring that other bidders can react -- like a live auction. Ebay instead has a hard end time, which allows -- even encourages-- sniping. Given how long that system and the resultant sniping have been in place, I must conclude that it's now an intentional part of the system, not a 'cheat'.

[GuidoForks]

My favorite eBay sniping tool is a Casio stopwatch.

[Rapt]

I think that's more effectively addressed with eBay than with buyers. As I mentioned earlier, there are other auction services that eliminate the "closed bidding" by extending the auction time after a last-minute bid, thereby assuring that other bidders can react -- like a live auction. Ebay instead has a hard end time, which allows -- even encourages-- sniping. Given how long that system and the resultant sniping have been in place, I must conclude that it's now an intentional part of the system, not a 'cheat'.

 

What she said! Extending the bidding time if there is active bidding would eliminate this issue. However it would drive prices up and benefit the seller more than the buyer. The perception would then be there would be fewer "deals" to be had and fewer participants, which means fewer auctions which means less volume and thus less money.

 

It also dramatically increases the complexity of running the auction as opposed to a hard end time, which increases costs and again decreases money in Ebay's pocket...

 

 

 

[Deirdre]

What she said! Extending the bidding time if there is active bidding would eliminate this issue. However it would drive prices up and benefit the seller more than the buyer. The perception would then be there would be fewer "deals" to be had and fewer participants, which means fewer auctions which means less volume and thus less money.

Also, with no hard end times, an auction could be strung out indefinitely, which gets into its own type of problems. At least eBay knows when it's getting its money now.

[david i]

What she said! Extending the bidding time if there is active bidding would eliminate this issue. However it would drive prices up and benefit the seller more than the buyer. The perception would then be there would be fewer "deals" to be had and fewer participants, which means fewer auctions which means less volume and thus less money.

Also, with no hard end times, an auction could be strung out indefinitely, which gets into its own type of problems. At least eBay knows when it's getting its money now.

 

Ebay certainly has its challenges, but I don't mind the discrete ending time. Who would want to have to sit about all evening whilst things nibble up for extra half hour per $20 pen? There have been (still are?) open ended e-auction sites, but at least early on they didn't seem to thrive.

 

regards

david

 

 

[david i]

I still don't understand the advantage of sniping. If I see a pen that I want on eBay, I bid the top price I am willing to pay. If I bid $400, and others all stop bidding at $300, then I'll get the pen for $301, which is a great deal for me. If somebody snipes, they'll get the pen for $401. I shouldn't be sad, because $401 is more than I was willing to pay. If I had been willing to pay more than $400, I should have bid more than $400.

 

Charlie, the answer is that- I assert- sniping makes one more likely to get his pen at a given bid, due to issues of auction psychology, which i and others have outlined in other discussions over the years.

 

No one reasonably asserts snipping will let one win all auctions, but it does *maximize* the likelyhood of winning at a given price. Even a mild benefit mapped onto hundreds of auctions yields many pens won well.

 

regards

david

 

 

 

 

[finalidid]

Deirdre: ah, I see what you mean by "open" and "closed" now ... technical auction terminology, sorry I missed it.

 

Advantage to sniping: highest bidder still wins, but often at a lower price than with non-sniping, because the second-place guy is prevented from irresponsible nibbling. That second-place irresponsible nibbler's maximum SHOULD be his total maximum, period; not something which he's willing to increase when it becomes clear that it's not the top bid. If he's willing to increase it, then it's not his maximum. So, as a nibbler, he's messing with the assumptions behind eBay. Consequently, sniping is actually MORE true to the ethical foundation of that type of auction, than nibbling is.

 

(There, does that make sense? I tried to make it as simple as possible.)

 

About extending the time limits. EBay in Japan and (IIRC) Australia do this -- if someone enters a bid within (I guess) a minute or ten of the end time, then the end time is extended a few more minutes to allow further bidding. I think there's a limit to how many extensions are possible.

 

But what about the best sniping service? Which one do y'all use? JustSnipe worked for me, fine; though its website is a bit klunky (has some edges unsealed, so to speak; you can end up having to log back in umpteen times, because you can't find the main auction page because it's not adequately linked from some of the FAQ pages and others). It's free, for up to five per week.

 

[aunt rebecca]

i use www.esnipe.com. the fees are low, they e mail me if i am outbid during the auction so i can modify my bid--or not. they do not charge anything if you lose the auction. they have never screwed up in the 6 years i've used them.

[StickMan]

Personally, I prefer a manual semi-snipe. I wait until two or three minutes left, then put in my real maximum bid.

 

That doesn't leave a lot of time for nibblers to rack up the price.

[kiavonne]

Well, thanks for the discussions and opinions after I popped in earlier. I'm disappointed, but I can see the points you've made here.

 

Me, as of an hour ago, ebay and I parted ways. After seeing this thread I knew I wouldn't get the items I'd put bids on, and the last was just sniped by a dealer (from the look of his/her history) with a lot more to spend than I. I really just cannot compete. I'll be dragging out classifieds from the newspaper for estate sales and garage sales, now. Probably just as well. Hard lessons learned, but I won't forget them.

 

/hugs all around.

[finalidid]

Nice stick, man, Stickman.

 

[skybird]

Lets roll this all back to first principles.....

Highest bidder (or first bidder at highest price) wins.

 

Every seller wants the most - every buyer wants to pay the least.

Thats it!!

How we get to the best price is the issue here.

 

A person using shill bidding can work the ante upwards during bidding. That's the chance that they take if the item is knocked down to their shill bidder.

If they have a reserve, they could use a shill to get the bidding just under the reserve to encourage bidders to pay reserve or over. (Dummy bids). If it is below reserve the product won't sell, so there are no fees and no transaction.

 

As a bidder you can put your highest and best bid down, but that will show your hand to folks like me who like to fish a little at a time to see where the bids are going. I hate to put up a high amount, but will make multiple bids to my level to ensure that I don't overbid (to my way of thinking). I hate showing my hand too.

 

Gotta love Auctionsniper.

 

It works hand in hand with eBay and I often use it for a few reasons.

1). I live in Australia and items often close when I'm asleep.

2). There are times when I don't want folks to know just how far I'm prepared to go.

3). That way they don't keep bidding on my amount - in other words I keep my bidding secret.

4). I can put in a very high snipe on something and hope for the best.

5). The eBay proxy service makes sure that my bid is just the next level from the underbidder and not the full amount that I have stated.

6). This proxy bid system is a whole lot more favourable to the buyer than a Highest Bid In Full Wins system (thank goodness)

7). It works well for both parties.

8). Last second manual bidding is subject to the slowness of the internet and is very difficult to time especially with a busy server and 16,000kms between destinations........

 

I bought a pen last week when I put a snipe in at 501 and I got it for 120. Can't go wrong there, I was lucky and nobody else saw the value that I know is in this one ;-))

In the same manner I have been outsniped on many occasions and have no idea how high the primary bidder would have gone.

The most expensive pen I bought went at the reserve exactly and my high bid exactly (without my snipe). I had a snipe in as well but fished out the reserve for my own knowledge before going to sleep. Auctionsniper tried to charge me, but I had them waive the charge as my bid won prior to sniping.

 

Its better that way.

[finalidid]

Umm ... yer point is ... ?

 

 

 

[gregkoos]

From reading all of the above, I think I'm one of the low-life, Morelock creatures, known as a nibbler. Because I have limited resources, I have a different buying strategy. It means little to me whether my strategy depletes the wealth those with larger resources. I seek to discover how low I can go in a bid and still win. So ... it differs little from the well-funded bidders strategy. We both hols a common goal to win at the lowest cost.

 

As to snipers and what not - I can see the use of it for proffesional bidders, who must win in order to maintian their business

[Deirdre]

I like the surprise of winning via sniping. I get text messages. "Oh look, you bought a toaster!" (our vintage toaster was an eBay purchase)

[david i]

From reading all of the above, I think I'm one of the low-life, Morelock creatures, known as a nibbler. Because I have limited resources, I have a different buying strategy. It means little to me whether my strategy depletes the wealth those with larger resources. I seek to discover how low I can go in a bid and still win. So ... it differs little from the well-funded bidders strategy. We both hols a common goal to win at the lowest cost.

 

As to snipers and what not - I can see the use of it for proffesional bidders, who must win in order to maintian their business

 

 

I assert it matters not whether a given bidder is wealthy or on tight budget, amateur penster or pro.

 

The issue with sniping vs nibbling has to do simply with maximizing the likelyhood of winning for the lowest bid possible. I would expect that those on the most tight budget might be the most inclined to snipe, as certainly nibbling makes them less likely to win the auction at their maximum planned bid.

 

regards

 

david

 

[finalidid]

Nibbling: it's not just for the toasters any more ...

 

[aunt rebecca]

i want the item so i snipe. i use esnipe, it is inexpensive and has never let me down. the url is: www.esnipe.com.

[gregkoos]

David, you may be correct here, but there is a touch of fun in bidding.