Confessions of an eBay Sniper

I just read a post about a frustrated member who lost several Gillette Fatboy auctions on eBay and wanted to post my reply (since the post was taken down).

I snipe. Heh. Heh.

Actually I find that sniping programs work best when no one has bid on the auction. When bidders are in, chances are someone else has already loaded some fantastical number of dollars into the auction (especially vintage razors for some reason).

If you ever want to "go there". I use AuctionSniper.com. Sorry mods...censor me if you have to. You get three free snipes and after that it's 1% of auction end price up to $25 (with $0.25 minimum fee).

I also want you to know, even people who snipe lose auctions. I lost 4 on NEW's this weekend alone.

For me it's a tool to get the bet bargain possible, not a dream crushing win fascination magic machine.

I understand your frustration,
Dave

If you're not snipin' then you don't want to win the auction bad enough. I use a sniping program and have lost several nice razors. OTOH, the sniping program has helped me win when I couldn't be at the computer at the auction end. Why someone would put a bid in at the start of an ebay auction is beyond my comperhension. The reality of it is, you are shooting yourself in the foot if you place a bid in when there is still time on the auction. You give everybody else who wants to win the auction ample opportunity to outbid you. Just my two cents. I am all for sniping.


DL

Simple fact is a sniping program doesn't beat anything. If people would place their acutal honest to god maximum bid they are willing to pay for an item, a sniping program does nothing other than enter an amount higher than what they were willing to pay at the last minute. If your max is 50, and someone beats you with 51 dollars does it really matter if it was done with days, hours, minutes, or even seconds to go? Shouldnt because if that was your max then its gone beyond what you wanted to pay.

I dont use sniping software. I dont get upset when someone outbids me with 4 seconds to go.....because I enter my max and if it goes higher than that, so be it....if I get it cheaper great.

Let me just add that it doesn't matter if you snipe or not. WHat wins the auctions is the highest bid.


DL

ctkelly said:

Simple fact is a sniping program doesn't beat anything. If people would place their acutal honest to god maximum bid they are willing to pay for an item, a sniping program does nothing other than enter an amount higher than what they were willing to pay at the last minute. If your max is 50, and someone beats you with 51 dollars does it really matter if it was done with days, hours, minutes, or even seconds to go? Shouldnt because if that was your max then its gone beyond what you wanted to pay.

I dont use sniping software. I dont get upset when someone outbids me with 4 seconds to go.....because I enter my max and if it goes higher than that, so be it....if I get it cheaper great.

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Say you put a $100 bid at the beginning of a five day auction that has a starting bid of $10. That is five days someone has to try and get to the ceiling bid. They may not get there but they may bid as high as $90 and get frustrated and quit. Had you waited and put your $100 bid in at the last 30 seconds of the auction, you maybe could have won the auction for say $50 instead of $91.

All I'm saying is that it is better for your pocket book and paypal account to wait until the last possible moment to make your best bid.


DL

Dustinl said:

Let me just add that it doesn't matter if you snipe or not. WHat wins the auctions is the highest bid.


DL

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Indeed. IMO, most people's frustration with snipers stems from their failure to understand the proxy bidding system.

Sniped a SA tonite - got the bid in manually with 1 SECOND left - they didn't stand a chance

Dave,

I have to admit, I have sniped.

I really want to thank which ever Mod pulled that post down. I hit the report button and it was already gone. That was just a bit uncalled for. The OP only had 3 posts. I think he did what he signed up to do.

HDStreetGlide said:

Dave,

I have to admit, I have sniped.

I really want to thank which ever Mod pulled that post down. I hit the report button and it was already gone. That was just a bit uncalled for. The OP only had 3 posts. I think he did what he signed up to do.

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I totally missed it.

DL

Dustinl said:

Say you put a $100 bid at the beginning of a five day auction that has a starting bid of $10. That is five days someone has to try and get to the ceiling bid. They may not get there but they may bid as high as $90 and get frustrated and quit. Had you waited and put your $100 bid in at the last 30 seconds of the auction, you maybe could have won the auction for say $50 instead of $91.

All I'm saying is that it is better for your pocket book and paypal account to wait until the last possible moment to make your best bid.


DL

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I agree, the only reason to snipe is to prevent a bidding war. If someone is willing to pay more than you, sniping won't help at all.

The irony is that people who complain about snipers are only upset because they wanted to place another bid - I.E. SNIPE AGAINST ANYONE WHO OUTBIDS THEM!!!!

If thats your practice thats fine, but the point is if I enter a bid of 100 I'm expecting to pay 100 dollars. If I get it for less, fine, if not then someone wanted it more than me.

I guess if they really wanted to solve this sniping problem they would adopt a set of rules like gunbroker.....enter a bid in the last 15 minutes of the auction and they extend it another 15 minutes until there is no further activity. Actually that might generate some ugly bid wars also, but I guess if you're a seller that would be to your benefit.

For the most part I've bought a good portion of my razors right here off of the BST forums. I've come up with some good deals on ebay but nothing worth me getting all excited and posting it here bragging.

Like I said, my max is my max and thats what I expect to pay. I put in my bid whenever I find the item, dont care if its been listed 5 seconds ago or if theres only 5 seconds left.....which has only happened once. If I get outbid, someone wanted it worse than me. End of story.

Dustinl said:

Say you put a $100 bid at the beginning of a five day auction that has a starting bid of $10. That is five days someone has to try and get to the ceiling bid. They may not get there but they may bid as high as $90 and get frustrated and quit. Had you waited and put your $100 bid in at the last 30 seconds of the auction, you maybe could have won the auction for say $50 instead of $91.

All I'm saying is that it is better for your pocket book and paypal account to wait until the last possible moment to make your best bid.


DL

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Oh, btw, I have all but stopped sniping. I only do it manually now, but most times just enter my bid well before ending. I have to do this because my bids have to be placed while logged in to another site to qualify me for extra rebates, and that's not compatible with esnipe.

rajagra said:

The irony is that people who complain about snipers are only upset because they wanted to place another bid - I.E. SNIPE AGAINST ANYONE WHO OUTBIDS THEM!!!!

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I'd like permission to link to this post.

When you see something really desireable with no bids, you know there are a bunch of snipers loaded up and waiting for the final seconds.

In the end, as every one has pointed out, it is the highest bid that wins.

If I bid twenty dollars for a mint fatboy, and lose it in the last second to someone who bid twenty one dollars, you really do not know if they had $150.00 as their top bid. All you know is they topped you. It's not like you could have got it for $21.01.

It is kind of like a silent auction, bids are only revealed at the end, and the highest bid wins. The important difference is, you do not pay your maximum, but rather only the increment above the next highest bid.

This makes eBay pretty interesting, and winning does involve strategy. Bidding early does have an advantage of winning in a tie.

If the Marquis of Queensbury rules state "no hitting below the belt" and you lose a fight from a left hook to the jaw, you can't complain about how unfair it is. No rules were broken, it is just you did not have the ability to win with what you brought to the fight.

For the sellers, a well described and photographed item placed for an end time on a popular bidding day makes better money that a blurry photo of an incorrectly attribted item. The best bargains are found by diligence in searching and really examining lots of lots. I guess next people will complain fatboys are getting too expensive becuase the sellers take clear pictures and have knowledge of identifying models and date codes.

HDStreetGlide said:

I really want to thank which ever Mod pulled that post down. I hit the report button and it was already gone. That was just a bit uncalled for. The OP only had 3 posts. I think he did what he signed up to do.

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I hope the Mod who removed the thread the OP referred to kept a copy. It is a great example of how not to behave on this forum.

On the other hand I hope the Mods are not too harsh with this guy. I belong to a couple of motorcycle forums where his post would have been considered thoughtful and polite. He's just a newbie who didn't read the rules. We all make mistakes.

routeinfo said:

I hope the Mod who removed the thread the OP referred to kept a copy. It is a great example of how not to behave on this forum.

On the other hand I hope the Mods are not too harsh with this guy. I belong to a couple of motorcycle forums where his post would have been considered thoughtful and polite. He's just a newbie who didn't read the rules. We all make mistakes.

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I am an administrator on another forum and the only reason I would ban someone forever for a first offense is for obvious spam. I only know of one forum that does not have a tiered ban system, and it isn't this one. We will probably see whoever posted badly again sometime and hope he learned his lesson (I did not see the post, unfortunately).

tomviolence said:

When you see something really desireable with no bids, you know there are a bunch of snipers loaded up and waiting for the final seconds.

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Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

In my eBay carreer I have won some auctions with bargain basement prices thanks to sniping.

I do agree though, whoever puts in the greatest bid...wins.

That's why I don't see sniping as a winning tool, but as a bargain deal tool.

Thanks for the great discussion guys.
Dave

I'd be rather baffled to see this thread pulled by the mods. Don't see anything wrong in it. No idea about the other thread alluded to, must have missed it.

Yes, I always snipe, too. If nothing else, it removes the temptation for me to keep raising my bid. One shot, that's it. Gixen works well for me, and it is free, although I've used it so often I probably ought to make a donation. I change my eBay password frequently, and if I can be next to the computer, I may manually snipe instead with 10-15 seconds left. To make ties less likely, I generally bid some odd amount, say $20.13 rather than $20.

It's understandable why some people have the gut reaction that sniping is a shady practice, but if they would just take the trouble to analyze what's going on, and understand eBay's automatic bidding system, the objections would vanish.

I have sniped and have been sniped. I don't use any tools I just wait till the last few seconds and put in my max bid. If I loose then I loose... My max is what it is. I have been able to score some really sweet deals waiting till the last few seconds.