Thread: I'm so sick of sniping software!!!

I've lost out in the last 10 seconds of I have no idea how many auctions in the last month or two and usually only by $1 or less. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to sit as high bidder for 3-5 days only to lose the stupid thing in the last seconds of the sale?! Today finally clinched it for me...I lost a fantastic Genco to a bid exactly $0.01 more than mine 4 seconds before the auction ended and then 30 minutes later I lost a Dubl Duck to a bid $1.00 higher than mine. Is it just me or does it seem like sniping software is cheating...I mean if I'm not sitting there at the end of my bids my wife is sitting here with me on the phone (usually from work) monitoring my auctions as they end. I mean...how are we supposed to compete with this shit?!

That being said I'm of the "sniping software should be banned, and anyone found to be using it should have their eBay account suspended" camp, but I'm coming to grips with the fact that that will never happen. So I guess the question here is what is the best software to go against my own sense of morality and give me a fighting chance at this stuff? I'm so anti-snipe that I'd much prefer not to PAY for a service because that would be WAY too evil so I'm mostly interested in free services.

If I start winning some good stuff instead of losing everything pretty much all the time, then I might consider converting to the "sniping rocks" camp and consider paying for a better service.

I'm not complaining Gawker, but to put things in perspective, you sniped me on that I X L Wostenholm just recently. When I'm sniped I just figure it wasn't meant to be!
Besides I have plenty of razors.

Mark

Well seeing as how I do all my bidding IRL, I can't fess up to "sniping" you Mark However I do apologize for yanking that blade from your grasp and suggest getting your eBay name added to the SRP eBay list as I NEVER bid on a razor that a fellow SRP member has already put a bid on. If it makes you feel any better she's a real beast! I've been working on honing it up for the past several days (that's the one I was discussing with you in the other thread believe it or not) and test shaved with it before work today. It shaved OK but was a bit rough so I worked on it some more this evening after work and I'll try it again in a day or two when my face cools off.

As to the "not meant to be" I bought that for quite a while but I'd much prefer to see that my bid isn't going to get it early on instead of drooling over it fro DAYS before getting it ripped away from me at the last possible second. That's my only real gripe is that it sucks to win something forever and lose it 4 seconds out

BTW I'm prolly going to be re-scaling her in the next couple of weeks as the scales were pretty shabby. I'll be sure to post some pics of the finished product as soon as possible.

Thats the trick!! to get you drooling over something you never considered buying before that moment, and then when you win you feel more confident to try again and when you lose you get even more determined to win the next item. and so it goes until you have to declare bankruptcy or you learn a little self control.
my ex never learned the self control part. by the way, my ebay name is mechanobaker and anyone who wants to bid against me, well, that's fine by me.


Mark

You have two options with sniping. Either place the max bid you are willing to pay, meaning if you get beat it was more than you were willing to spend, or just don't use ebay. I generally don't bid on items until the last minute or two, but I don't use software, I do it myself. I've seen numerous items go well above what I intended to pay, and so I never bid at all. And I don't want to contribute to a price being driven up by bidding early in the auction.

RT

I like sniping software, and frankly I don't see anything unethical or unfair about it. Its just bidding on an item through a second party.

For me, I like it because I won't get involved in bidding wars. It ends up saving me time and money as I just set my bid and forget about it. If it gets beat, then it gets beat and I don't worry about it.

As for free software I don't know of any (but would appreciate it if someone did ). I guess you could just snipe an item yourself waiting until there's about twenty seconds or so left before you put in your bid.

There was a thread on here not too long ago about a free internet based sniping program. It sounded easy to use, and if I ever have the free cash to give into my RAD (and Gary doesn't put anything nice up) I will be using it. I also fear dirving up the price over value by bidding too early.

I do all of my sniping IRL but it´s sniping nonetheless.

I use a sniping program (esnipe) regularly. As for the ethics, sniping is basically equivalent to a sealed bid.

Sniping systems provide a lot of useful features if you're gonna be doing much bidding on ebay:
1) reduces my exposure to shilling
2) I can fiddle with my bids without running afoul of ebay's rules
3) keeps me out of bidding wars
4) prevents others from finding out what I'm bidding on until it's too late
5) group bids (bid on X items until you win one)

Yes it's annoying to lose an auction at the last second, but the reason it hurts is because you're counting your chickens before they hatch and you did not bid the maximum you were willing to pay. The problem with bidding your maximum is that it's distressingly common to wind up paying nearly your maximum because of shill bidding, or because bidders are attracted like flies to items with other bidders on it, or because bidders are specificially searching for auctions *you* are bidding on.

The free software is Gixen.com. I love it.

The main thing I use it for is to make sure I don't miss any bargains. If I see something I think might be a good buy, like a mis-marked razor, I'll set a pretty low snipe bid. The other day I got three DEs for $2 plus $2.50 shipping, because they were marked as "straight razors." Or I might set a $10 or $15 snipe on a razor that looks like a good newbie blade. If I don't get it, that's OK because that's the most I was willing to pay.

Charles, I had the same experience as you when I was bidding early. I'd end up losing by $1 or less, and it's infuriating. If it helps, the winning bidder probably put in a much higher max bid, and a bidding war would just have driven the price up $5, $10 or $15.

I agree that bidding early just contributes to a higher final price. Whenever I've done that, someone almost always outbids me in the final day, and then things get ugly...

Just my experience,
Josh