EBay Sniping

JimR · Mar 30, 2004

You have to be very careful when bidding a high price on an item. I have seen many times when there will be people with "O" feedback pumping up an auction. It makes me think that the seller is using different names. I have seen this many times this year on Kubota tractors. Bidding $1000.00 on a $50.00 could have cost you dearly.

OkeeDon · Mar 30, 2004

Some items seem to be more "safe" than others. I recently decided to buy a power inverter so I can use my laptop in the car without running down the computer's battery. Because there were so many inverters, and so few bidders, I ended up buying 3 or them, one for each vehicle. I paid $1.26 + 12.99 shipping & handling, $2.99 + 9.99 s&h, and $6.50 + 8.00 s&h. That's an average of $13.91 each including all costs. Discounted prices were from $28 to $35 each from other sources. In 2 cases I was the only bidder; I beat one other bid for the $1.26 model.

But, you're right, of course. At the time, I was in a jam to fix a race car, and couldn't find the part anywhere. I was actually willing to pay the $1000 if I had to. But, as I said above, it was risky.

PineRidge · Mar 30, 2004

Another reason that I like Auction Sniper is that it allows me to build a folder. Lets say I want a rare green widget and after I do an eBay search I find 7 of them meeting my demands. I can add all 7 widgets into the single sniper folder and give each one a different high bid amount, then tell the software that I only want one green widget. When the time comes to bid the software will try its best to get me the widget at my high bid amount. If I am outbid then it reverts its attention to the second widget and the process starts all over again right on down the line. Once I win one widget the rest of the items in the folder are canceled automatically. That way you can be out working on the tractor and still be doing some serious bidding at eBay. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

OkeeDon · Mar 30, 2004

That sounds like a great feature. Is Auction Sniper one of the online services? I think I'll Email Auction Scoop and ask them to put that feature in their next revision.

PineRidge · Mar 30, 2004

That sounds like a great feature. Is Auction Sniper one of the online services? I think I'll Email Auction Scoop and ask them to put that feature in their next revision.


Yes Don it can been seen and used click here
I believe that they also give you the first 4 snipes for free. It is a very low % after that, like 1% if I'm not mistaken.

Boondox · Mar 31, 2004

I use Auction Sniper for a couple of reasons:

1) Placing a proxy bid early just cranks up the price if the other bidders are inexperienced. So if I bid a fair proxy price on an item with more than a few minutes remaining on the auction, it can quickly be bid up past my strike price.
2) My unreliable rural phone connection fails completely in fog or rain, so if the forecast calls for either I use a snipe service and walk away. Otherwise I'm stuck at home with no way to place a bid in the last few minutes.

Pete

fivestring · Mar 31, 2004

"Otherwise I'm stuck at home with no way to place a bid in the last few minutes." 

But...
You can still use that new Unisaw!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

rockyridgefarm · Mar 31, 2004

I have "heard" that Merlin Auctionmagic does a gtreat job!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Boondox · Mar 31, 2004

( "Otherwise I'm stuck at home with no way to place a bid in the last few minutes." 

But...
You can still use that new Unisaw!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Yes, and at times I feel like using it on the telephone! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Pete

beenthere · Apr 1, 2004

Thanks Gatorboy. You straightened me out (or helped make my point). /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I will continue to use E-bay proxy then, as it will have the "last" split, split second input to the bidding.

Not sure why the outside esniping is beneficial other than the 'book keeping' and/or spreadsheet help (which would be good if bidding a lot).