Ebay snipers

RickySteamBoat · Post by **RickySteamBoat** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:32 am

scenario:
You're watching an item on Ebay that you have your heart set on, purposely holding off on a bid until the last minute to avoid messy bidding wars. Then after you lay down your apparently winning bid someone comes in a swipes the item right from under your nose in the very last seconds of the auction.

What’s the story with that?????
Has this ever happened to any one else????
Do you reckon these sneaky gits use Auction sniping software to win their items in the dying seconds of the auction?
Does anyone here use Auction snipers????

ricky

usernick · Post by **usernick** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:57 am

Yes, I use Auction Snipers (auctionstealer) on rare ocassions when I'm not either going to be up when the auction ends, or if I really want the item in question.

I haven't investigated all of them, but auctionstealer allows you to pay a fee of $2 to get it to bid on your behalf 3 seconds before the auction finishes... If you don't pay the $2, then it will bid on your behalf 10 seconds before the auction ends!

So, yeah, they are a very useful tool if you really need that item!

Timbob · Post by **Timbob** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:01 am

when i was cleaning out my inbox a while ago i found out that badger did something like this to me way ago.

he snatched the halcyon 2 single right away from under my nose..
so we mailed a few times to and fro.. and i forgot about it..

and now i saw those mails again and realized it was him!

(that was before i was active on this forum..)

so yeah, it happened to me too

Dollydagger · Post by **Dollydagger** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:30 am

You know this happened to me the other day & I was SO livid. The auction had 30 secs to go & I was so sure I'd won I was already getting out a currency convertor (it was in Euro's) and calculating the total cost then I refreshed to pay and some b*st*rd had won it in the last couple of seconds (and only by 20p)

I didn't even know this type of software existed.

Nick are you saying it's free to use the one that bids 10 seconds before the end?

usernick · Post by **usernick** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:59 pm

Dollydagger wrote:I didn't even know this type of software existed.
Nick are you saying it's free to use the one that bids 10 seconds before the end?

Yup, free if 10 seconds beforehand, and it's a website - check it out here - there may be others (auctionsniper, etc), but I haven't investigated them...

(BTW, I only started using it when I, too, used to get outbid at the last minute - it used to drive me mad!

)

Dog · Post by **Dog** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:48 pm

Kinda reminds me of the time when someone on here outbid me by a penny on a 'Chime' cassette single... Grrrr!

TheEmbryo · Post by **TheEmbryo** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:15 pm

Why not just bid the absolute maximum you are prepared to pay... and then add a few pence for good measure?

Snipers only get one chance. If the bidding is up to, say, £10 and your max bid is something like £13.57, any sniper bidding £12 won't get the item. And if they come in with a bid for £15 and get the item, where's the harm - if you were willing to pay £15 for it, why didn't you say so in the first place!

It is sensible to come in late on auctions to avoid a bidding war, but if you lose it's only because someone was willing to pay more than you - which is kind of the point of having an auction really innit.

usernick · Post by **usernick** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:29 pm

True, all sniping programs do is to prevent a bidding war taking place - i.e. you put in the maximum amount you're prepared to pay, and then sit back and let the sniping program do all the work for you!

If you put in the maximum amount earlier on in the auction, then there is a greater chance that people will put in incremental bids until they outbid you. If you only leave them 3 seconds grace, then they are unable to do that (i.e. you don't give them the option to think "Shall I bid a higher amount for that or not? Okey, just 5 more pounds!")

As I said, I don't use it all the time, just on the odd item or two.

Dog · Post by **Dog** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:29 pm

Yeah and I've made some people pay extortionate money because they've put a high bid on early

Post by **Loopz** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:07 pm

Dog wrote:Kinda reminds me of the time when someone on here outbid me by a penny on a 'Chime' cassette single... Grrrr!

philmanns · Post by **philmanns** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:38 pm

I use auctionstealer. mainly for when i cant be around for the end of the auction. i don't feel it's unfair though as at the end of the day you put the max you're prepared to pay so if you beat someone else. you were prepared to pay more than them which is how an auction works.