Should I take up sniping?

[mariok54]

Although I have no idea what it is, or how it works, after the other night I might just look into it!

I spotted a Swarovski black lamb up for grabs, but the owner didn't actually describe it for what it was 'Shady' ... My wife collects all things sheepish, and I bought her this tiny crystal black sheep, from the Swarovski shop, back in 2006, for c £20 ... they are now fetching anything over £150.

I thought this would make a nice mate for hers, and and Easter is coming .. (I plan ahead!).

However, the auction was due to end at c 12:55 am! GMT! which was rather odd as the seller lives in the UK. I had to work the next morning so wasn't prepared to stay up, but set the alarm for 12:45. Staggered downstairs .. When I went to bed the bid was still in single figures, it was now just in double figures. I placed a tentative bid of £51 to see what would happen, I didn't want to put my highest bid and give people time to bid up to my limit (not knowing who would be up then!). Ii immediately went to 75p beyond mine, so I thought I was in with a good chance, and that was the time to bid to my limit, but that was also the time that the pc decided to play up! I lost it 

So what is sniping, other than taking pot shots at people? and does it work?

[waywardangler]

It works, somewhat.  You still have to have the highest bid in. I was just reading about this on a tackle forum last night. Some guys use sniping software so they do not have to be by the computer and actually bid, the software does it for them. I do not agree with sniping because if you put in your max bid, you can always be outbid ny someone that has a higher max bid. So if you snipe, you have killed any chance of resniping because you are out of time to bid again.  I kind of equate it with two fools with more money than they know what to do with so they sit on an auction and snipe each other. I have not seen anything rare enough for me to want something that bad.

[waywardangler]

Lifted from the tackle forum..."There's a couple of valid reasons for sniping and/or an automatic/timed snipe bid. 1) it helps eliminate those (sellers) who might have a desire to push bids up, to maximize thier gain. (not that that happens) And 2) You may not be at home, or at a computer, to monitor the bidding and will miss the end of the auction. Everyone wants to get the item they are interested in, for the lowest possible price. So based on the internet action environment, people wait to see how high the bidding will go (i.e. wait till the end)."

Some guys recommend esnipe.com and others use auctionsniper.com

I think esnipe has a fee and auctionsniper is free.  Oh, and neither one work when eBay has problems.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I use http://www.auctionsniper.com/ I have found that on high-demand items, the "real" bidding takes place in the final seconds of the auction and nothing can get your bid in in the last three to five seconds like an automated program. Waywardangler is right, you do still have to have the highest bid. In the final seconds there is no time for anyone to reconsider the amount of their bid and up the price after they have been out-bid. So sniping eliminates re-bidding. So it is a better thing for buyers than it is for sellers.

Auctionsniper is really nice for people like me who are on the go all the time working, commuting, sailing, robbing trains etc. I like being able to go off to do whatever I need to do and know that the software will put a bid in for me, then notify me of the final result.

Now time for my shameless referral request: If you end up deciding to use auctionsniper, please put me down talesofthesevenseas@hotmail.com, as having referred you! I can get some free snipes!   It is free, but once you use up your free snipes, then you have to pay a small percentage for the service. However if you refer people to auctionsniper, you get more free snipes. I've been going for years on just referrals. I only use it when there is something I can't be at the computer or when I think there will be a bidding war in the final seconds.

[mariok54]

Thanks for that Wayward... I'm a little bit the more wiser now.
I suppose at the end of the day, it was my fault. But that tactic, of assuming that people will always go that little bit beyond their planned highest bid, has served me pretty well in the past. When I first started to buy on ebay I used to put my highest bid about a minute before the end, and used to get hammered! A steep learning curve that was!

[mariok54]

Robbing trains, eh? I thought your face looked rather familiar, and I was thinking it was from Theatre posters 

[waywardangler]

people like me who are on the go all the time working, commuting, sailing, robbing trains

...aarrrrrrrr! And all this time I thought that you were really a pirate! Or was that what you meant by sailing? 

[talesofthesevenseas]

Piracy, train robberies... It's all the same!   

[mart]

Never sniped because no one else wants what I want !!  I have been guilty of trying to bluff in the last hour !! Thats much more fun !!

[CaryW]

I manually snipe for lots of items I purchase on ebay. I've never used sniping software and I've never been outbid by sniping software. I don't buy items too often but what I do is when I see an item I want, I'll put it on my watch list and see what happens in the fews days before it ends. I then watch the item for the final ten minutes and see if anyone is pushing the bids up. I don't bid on the item until the final 10 seconds or so. I basically have the bid placed and ready to push the button on one tab and on another tab I have the listing where I update it often so I know the time left. Although I think now, ebay has a live clock update on their listings so you don't have to refresh. I push the bid button around tens seconds or so. Basically I'm trying to place a bid at the very end, so no one else has time to swoop in and beat me. I get much better deals doing it this way as opposed to bidding in the beginning.

[waywardangler]

No matter which way one bids, one has to be the high bidder to win. A last second bid will not guarantee success if a previous bidder has a higher max bid in the auction.  Something sniping does not beat.