Snipe bidding?

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glojo

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Hi gang,
Could anyone please tell me what is Snipe Bidding is and is it worth having?

I accept it is a way of bidding for goods on Ebay but I wonder how it works especially if two or three people use it for the same item?

Thanks for any input,
Regards,
John
 
It's an automated feature that puts in a last gasp bid - if people bid at the same time it's no different - the highest amount wins. The theory is that bidding late on an item may give you a better chance than bidding early to your maximum limit.
 
If you are bidding on popular or high interest items it might help, assuming everyone is trying the last minute tactic.

If I want something, rather than wait and end up in this situation I often bid near but below my max quite early on in the auction. If bny the final day or few hours it's over my budget, I let it go the deal wasn't for me. If not it's time to set that final bid and wait.


I could get sniped myself using my tactic, so you could combine the two I suppose. If you always place your highest bid early enough you can't loose, but if you bid low hoping to get a steal but WOULD have bidded higher if you thought you need to, that's when you can get sniped and if that's the way you read the auction then it is the time you could set a snipe yourself.
 
I have a really good system for "sniping" on eBay.

I just bid the maximum amount I'm willing to pay for an object. That way, even if someone has set up a sniping service, if their bid is below mine I still win.

However, if their bid is higher than mine then they have paid more than I think it's worth.

Despite what people say the highest bid will always win and sniping software doesn't get you any bargains as all it does bids up to your highest offer right at the end of the auction.

No real advantage at all

Andy
 
What I was trying to say Andy, but like your version!
 
As Graham says it can help with low interest items. I have made bids on auctions where there have only been two bidders - start a bidding war early and the price rises - most people tend to put a low first bid amount in - I've won items by bidding at the last minute and just being the 2nd bidder.
 
I was selling a sky+ box recently and had a buy it now for £75. The auction was at £50ish for ages and in the last minute went up to £81 !! LOL!!

:D
 
John, try Esnipe using the sign-up free credits and see if it works for you.

I do use it and have found it saves money.

If you bid early, others have too much time to convince themselves they MUST win the item - and bid again.

I set up a bid for end minus 5 secs at the max I think the item is worth - for popular items you can set up a bid group and Esnipe will bid on each one until its wins one and then stops.
 
try auction sniper ..........if you want that auction
 
I always bid at the last minute - I've found that bidding early just kicks off a bidding war. I judge my last minute bid to be several increments plus some odd pence higher than the current high bid.

I know people say you should only bid what the item is worth (to you) but if I'm buying on eBay, with all its risks, then I want the item as cheaply as possible, preferably for next to nothing (plus postage).

The main problem with my strategy (or is it tactics :rolleyes:) is that I quite often forget and miss the end of the auction! In reality, I probably didn't the item anyway, so that way I save myself a few bob. :D
 
glojo said:
Hi gang,
Could anyone please tell me what is Snipe Bidding is and is it worth having?

I accept it is a way of bidding for goods on Ebay but I wonder how it works especially if two or three people use it for the same item?

Thanks for any input,
Regards,
John


sometimes the severs can be out by seconds and that way you could lose the item if they all hit at the same time then ie 3 sec to go well i don't know .....that would be intresting
 
GrahamC230K said:
What I was trying to say Andy, but like your version!
:) I'll thank Andy instead :)
Thanks everyone

Regards,
John
 
No real advantage at all

seems like you never tried it then Andy - its saved me £££££'s.

The MAIN advantage is that your bid does NOT get entered AT ALL until YOU want it too, eg last minute or last 15 seconds etc

Agree that if it goes higher than your bid you lose anyway - ermmm yes !

However - if the leading bidder is sitting pretty then you pop along at the last moment with your own hopefully winning bid without giving your interest away.

Totally legal, totally ethical totally works for me :D

John, try it manually by bidding as late as you can, snipe services work automatically so you dont need to keep watching.

hth
 
sat there with the watch and managed 3 sec ....but that was with the wifes auction for a cd would never try with MY stuff
 
I use Bidnapper to snipe. If everyone used eBay "properly" (i.e. putting in only one bid) there would be no point ... but they don't, so there is :)
 
The comment re the time being out - Esnipe runs off "Ebay time" so its always in sync. There is the possibility of congestion delaying the bid although the hosted services (like Esnipe) are far less susceptible than the versions running on your home PC.
 
grasmere said:
seems like you never tried it then Andy - its saved me £££££'s.

How do you know it's saved you pounds?

It hasn't actually saved you a penny. You have paid more for the auction than anyone else wanted to. It's just you have done it at the last second.

When you spend the money is totally irrelevant what counts is that you have spent it.

That's exactly how eBay works though - he who bids highest wins :D

Andy
 
Andy not sure you're seeing the light - which is fine - but snipe bidding does work!
 
stats007 said:
Andy not sure you're seeing the light - which is fine - but snipe bidding does work!

I use eBay a lot (and Annie runs a shop on there) so I'm fully aware of the "light" and I have seen it :)

If I bid on something early in the auction - as an example I'm happy to bid £200 on something. So I enter that into eBay as my maximum bid. Now, someone else sets up a bid sniper to bid their maximum price (let's say £180) at the last second. What happens? eBay outbids them and I still win it. If they have entered £201 as their maximum bid then ebay will bid against them until the sniper puts in a bid higher than mine. If they have not left enough time then they will still lose but if they have left plenty of time they will get the item for £201 which is exactly the same amount of money they would have paid had they entered the bid manually.

However, they have paid a comission to the company who provided the sniping software so they have probaly paid more than they needed to win an auction.

so yes I have seen the light but i didn't let it dazzle me :D

An item is only worth what people are happy to pay and everyone thinks that by hanging on to the last second means they will get a bargain - that is of course utter crap as the same people will be bidding whether they bid with 1 day, 1 week, 1 minute or 1 second to go. The item will sell to the person who has placed the highest bid and ebay's priority goes with the earliest highest bidder.

Now, I'm willing to accept you see it differently but please feel free to explain to me how a sniping system can actually save you money :)

Andy
 

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