Sniping Programs

What's the deal with "Sniping Programs" I really don't know much about them and I'm not here to pass judgement or anything, whatever works for you. I read that lots of you guys use them. I Ebay myself from time to time, but never tried one of these programs. Normally, I'm by a computer. Even at work, I have one on my desk. My understanding is, it will place your max bid within a few seconds of the end of the Auction. I guess it's like an item babysitter, if your not around. So, If I come along, and my max bid is higher than yours, I win, so what's the point. I don't get it.

I use esnipe (eSnipe - Bid on eBay Automatically - eSnipe 3.0). I think they charge 1% or something like that.

If I change my mind I can retract a snipe without p*ssing ebay off.

If the seller posts another photo that shows a significant issue, I can retract or lower my snipe without p*ssing ebay off.

If another nicer item shows up I can switch my snipe without p*ssing ebay off.

I can place similar items in a batch, and esnipe will bid until I win one, then stop. This is a great way to snag a wonderedge for example without risking winning 5 of them if SRP is sleeping that week.

Since my bid isn't sitting there on ebay for the world to see, it's much more difficult for a dishonest seller to engage in shill bidding. I have been bitten by this once, and it's very difficult to prove.

At one time, ebay would show the names of the bidders, and you could do a search on ebay member and find out what he was bidding on. This meant that if you knew the ebay name of an SRP member you could search for his id to clue you in on what the good stuff was.

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Originally Posted by zib

What's the deal with "Sniping Programs" I really don't know much about them and I'm not here to pass judgement or anything, whatever works for you. I read that lots of you guys use them. I Ebay myself from time to time, but never tried one of these programs. Normally, I'm by a computer. Even at work, I have one on my desk. My understanding is, it will place your max bid within a few seconds of the end of the Auction. I guess it's like an item babysitter, if your not around. So, If I come along, and my max bid is higher than yours, I win, so what's the point. I don't get it.

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That's the way I look at it. You're right, if you don't snipe and your max bid is higher, than you'd win. I don't get that adrenaline rush like some others like do at hitting the button at the last second. I look at sniping as a set it and forget it option and also it completely prevents me from getting wrapped up in that ever loved if you're the seller and ever loathed if you're the remorseful buyer phenomenon known as "auction fever".

Chris L

Sniping sucks!But it saves me a lot of cash.Thanks Snipers!!:D

I often wondered about "Shill Bidding" I've probably been burned by this myself. I think the seller knows what your max bid is when your strictly Ebay bidding, don't they. What would stop a seller from having another log in, and jacking the bidding.
I can see some of the advantages, especially being able to retract your bid, I've done this, and seller's see this. I questioned a seller one time about a razor. The seller said, "I see you've retracted bids before, so I'd rather you not bid if you not sure". You know it's hard especially with razors. I always ask questions and sometimes I change my mind, I'm human. It shouldn't be held against you. As Ebay say's it's a legally binding contract. Thank God for Paypal. I just got my money back from a bad Wonderedge. The blade has a serious frown to it. I don't know why I didn't see it. The seller wouldn't take it back, so Paypal made him take it back.

The sellers don't know your max bid, but they can find out with the assistance of a second account.

What happened to me was some ebay account that was only a day old and no prior activity placed a series of bids on my item, going up in I think $5 increments. Then after he beat my bid, he retracted his last bid leaving me the winner at a few cents below my max bid. Ebay frowns on retractions, but if the account is a one-time throwaway account then the seller doesn't care if ebay locks it out.

By bidding with only seconds left there's no time for the seller to engage in such shenanigans.

Convenience is the name of the game. I use JustSnipe.

You're always going to lose if someone's max bid was higher than yours- it doesn't matter if you snipe or not, so I don't see that as an issue. We all know that bidding early is just plain dumb, and sniping lets you rethink your max bid up until the end if you desire. Sniping programs just let you set it and forget it. I don't have to worry about being stuck in a meeting when an item ends. And as mparker said, the batches are a great feature.

I use gixen after reading about it here. Convenience, fire and forget it, and no emotions. Very efficient. Think I've only changed my max bid lower once.

+1 Leighton. I love Gixen. I snipe because I like to have my bid put in with seconds left without having to do it myself. I have missed a few auctions in the past because I just forgot to check. With sniping I just set my bid and walk away. If I find something better I cancel the bid.

I don't think sniping is better than sitting there and manually posting a bid with 2 seconds to go. I think they're the same. It's just a matter of convenience.

We can all agree that you don't want to post a bid too soon. You have the shill bidding problem plus, when a lot of people show interest in an item, those who wouldnt otherwise know any better will show interest as well. By holding off the bid until the last minutes you essentially keep the item on the down low so to speak.

Go Sniping!

I recently started using eSnipe (eSnipe - Bid on eBay Automatically - eSnipe 3.0) and have so far been happy with it. I won three auctions that I might have lost otherwise.

In one way it is quite similar to putting in a max bid directly with eBay, but the trouble with this is that on an item that generates a lot of interest or competition you can start a bidding war where emotion takes over and prices skyrocket.

Previous posts noted other advantages. Here are few real-life examples:

1. Before using eSnipe,I bid on one item and it wasn't until a couple of days later I noticed a defect in the item and would never have put in my max bid if I'd seen that at first. Luckily I was eventually outbid.
   
   
2. I saw an item I really wanted and put in a max bid. I then contacted the seller to see if he was willing to arrange a buy-it-now price where I was willing to go a little high for the guaranteed win and earlier delivery. The seller was willing but couldn't do it because there was already a bid on the item -- mine! With eSnipe I might have been able to do that. The item eventually went for more than I wanted to spend.
   
   
3. Auctions for two of the wins I mentioned above did escalate into bidding wars right near the end, and not just because of some earlier max bids, but people actually placing bids in the last 5-10 minutes. My snipe came in with 7 seconds to spare and because my max bid registered with eSnipe was higher than the high bid at the time I won, and for less than my max bid. If I had simply placed a max bid with eBay it could have pushed that bidding war beyond what I was willing to pay.
   

And I think it is all fair. If someone was really willing to pay more than I was (outside of emotional responses to live bidding) they could have won the auction.