[tbdoah]

God, just lost an auction for an RM-DM5K in the last three seconds. What?

I'm so mad right now it's not even funny. Now a minute before, yeah, that's fine, but three seconds? Why I oughtta..... Come on, where's the respect for fellow head-fiers, eh?

 

[greenhorn]

That must be a punishment because you had outbid vwap

 

[JMedeiros]

I feel your pain. I have been an eBay member for seven years and I have found the best way to win an item I want is in the last 7-5 seconds of the auction. A minute gives people too much time to up the bid. I decide the most I will pay and fire it in in the last moments of the auction (this was not me bidding on that auction, promise!

The fine art of sniping is almost a requirement if you want to score a popular item on eBay.

I am often outbid by other snipers...but at least I'm in the game. Bidding a minute before the auction ends is like showing everybody else your hand.

John

 

[kentamcolin]

You could always just proxy more than someone else is likely to pay. If you really want an item, what's a few extra bucks?

 

[flipzter]

"The fine art of sniping"

I have lost several MP3 player auctions lately and one of the auctions had this sentence: "The best way to avoid having a sniper take your auction is to bid the most you are willing to pay on your first bid."

Now come on, if that were the case you could never find one of the deals of a lifetime. The seller is using the problem to get the highest price possible. This is a smart seller.

I hate snipers, but lately I've been thinking of d/l the sniper software and joining the crowd. http://www.auctionsniper.com/

 

[Musicfan123]

What if 2 bidders use the same program?

Better yet, what if all bidders use the same program?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

The way I see it there are two diametrically oppposed groups on eBay:

Those who bid too early, thus driving the price up above what it normally would sell for;

And those who either bid at the last second or use Sniping services. I personally used a sniper service online to get some expensive tubes at a real steal. It works well and I reco it highly. It keeps the price from being jacked too high and gives a fighting chance since anyone could sit at the computer and do it, I just prefer to use a program to do so and allow me to forget about it.

 

[JMedeiros]

Quote:

Originally posted by flipzter "The fine art of sniping" I hate snipers, but lately I've been thinking of d/l the sniper software and joining the crowd. http://www.auctionsniper.com/

I only shop the Listed Today/Buy it Now or the Going, Going Gone catagories.

I find manual sniping alot more fun and effective. All you need is a watch with a second hand and an eye on your mouse.

John

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by JMedeiros I find manual sniping alot more fun and effective. All you need is a watch with a second hand and an eye on your mouse. John

Make sure to add good internet connection to that list!

I know as I lost some decent tubes due to my old connection.

 

[JMedeiros]

Quote:

Originally posted by ServinginEcuador Make sure to add good internet connection to that list! I know as I lost some decent tubes due to my old connection.

You got that right, Doug. When I had dialup...I would often lose an item due to slow refresh...but with cable it's light years better.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally posted by ServinginEcuador Make sure to add good internet connection to that list! I know as I lost some decent tubes due to my old connection.

http://www.esnipe.com/

 

[warubozu]

Sniping services works great. Only problem is that the service can't guarnatee a success bid on your behalf if the connect between the snipping service and Ebay is bad. I once loss an item on Ebay using a snipping service because at the moment I had set the snipping service to place my bid, Ebay was very busy and it couldn't successfully place my bid.

 

[tbdoah]

I was seriously considering using esnipe for this auction, but I thought that I'd have enough time at the end to manually snipe (I have cable), but 3 seconds doesn't leav you too much time, now does it?

This really makes me want to give up on the honest way on ebay and only go after BIN/sniping

.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Sniping is like the RonCo rotisserie thingie: set it and forget it. It avoids the hype that causes people to overbid in the heat of the moment and last miute of the auction. I found myself thinking, if it's worth $700, why not $725? It's only $25, go for it! Discretion got the better part of me and I decided against the purchase. It is easy to get worked up and overbid your predecided upon max when you're watching the item go higher and higher during the last minutes of the auction.

It sucks when you're outbid by someone using an esnipe like program, but we sure feel good when we win one, don't it?

 

[fewtch]

Just decide carefully how high you're willing to go, place the bid sometime in the last few hours of the auction and leave it at that... another good way to do it (although we don't usually celebrate sanity around here, it was worth saying...

).