Anybody use an eBay Sniper?

[Dean]

Anybody use an eBay sniper they are happy with? Tried BayGenie free addition and it sucks.

Free is good, but interested in anything that bloody works.

[sperry]

eBay sucks.

[ScottyS]

I do it manually.

[tysonK]

I don't even know what this thread is about.

[Dean]

I do it manually.So do I normally, but I won't be near a PC tomorrow, and don't have an iPhone... :)

I'm trying Gixen (http://www.gixen.com/index.php)Free on-line service. Got good reviews.

[Dean]

eBay sucks.I think somebody needs a nap... Gets a bit snippy when his car doesn't cooperate don't he... Seriously, sorry your clutch is acting weird.

[Dean]

I don't even know what this thread is about.Sniping is bidding in the last few seconds of an on-line auction.

[tysonK]

Just buy it now and show those fuckers who they are dealing with!

[wrxkidid]

+1

[knucklesplitter]

I haven't used a sniper since like 2000. It's just not as effective anymore. Ebay's proxy bidding system minimizes the advantage of sniping and people have finally figured it out. Used to be fun though - used to get nasty emails from people who got beat by.01$ in the last 10 seconds of an auction.

I guess I'm saying I wouldn't bother.

[Dean]

Just buy it now and show those fuckers who they are dealing with!

+1Um, you can only do that if there is a BIN option... Duh...

And proxy bidding is for pussies who can't handle the pressure of sniping. :P
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/images/afewgoodmenjack1.JPG

[knucklesplitter]

I bought my STI on Ebay using a proxy bid. Imagine the look on my face when I got that email saying "Congratulations, you've won" a $28,000 item that I didn't think I had a chance on. "Shit, better call the bank".

[Dean]

I bought my STI on Ebay using a proxy bid. Imagine the look on my face when I got that email saying "Congratulations, you've won" a $28,000 item that I didn't think I had a chance on. "Shit, better call the bank".I was just giving you crap. :) But, maybe if you had sniped it, you would have only paid $27,982. :)

[100_Percent_Juice]

I didn't even know such a program was around. I guess I have just always believed in honor and virtue and winning all my auctions with the stinging precision of the surgeon who did your fathers vasectomy shortly after you were born.

[sperry]

I think somebody needs a nap... Gets a bit snippy when his car doesn't cooperate don't he... Seriously, sorry your clutch is acting weird.
Has nothing to do with my mood... eBay does in fact suck. What's the point of a bidding system where everyone can enter the maximum amount they're willing to pay, then get all pissed off that someone else was willing to pay 1 cent more, to the point where people are using software to bid for them?

eBay should let you bid once for an item, and that's that. People then actually bid the max they're willing to pay.

But eBay would still suck, because people on eBay suck and eBay's policies suck. You'd still get ripped off with people selling misrepresented crap, or over charged for shipping, and you'd still be without any recourse because eBay and PayPal have no transaction guarantee or decent conflict resolution system.

But I didn't want to derail the thread too far, so I posted the short version of this post: "eBay sucks".

[100_Percent_Juice]

What's the point of a bidding system where everyone can enter the maximum amount they're willing to pay, then get all pissed off that someone else was willing to pay 1 cent more...
eBay should let you bid once for an item, and that's that. People then actually bid the max they're willing to pay.

Have you ever been to a real life auction? People bid back and forth until someone is willing to pay more then the other person. Thats the whole point.

[GC8.Love]

I used to get pissed when people would outbid me by sniping. And yes, it was always within $1.00 of my max if not even less. :mad:

And it was on rare stuff that I'd actually bid my all on.

So I started manually sniping.

I use Auction Sniper now. I just wish your lead time could be less than 3 seconds prior to the close. I get outsniped once in awhile.

[GC8.Love]

What's the point of a bidding system where everyone can enter the maximum amount they're willing to pay, then get all pissed off that someone else was willing to pay 1 cent more, to the point where people are using software to bid for them?


Well, I think the pissiness comes from the "1 cent more." Who wouldn't really wanna pay up to a certain amount extra to win whatever it is they have to have, most of the time?

$100 more? Well, eff that, depending on what it is..

People will be as cheap as they can, either way.

But when it comes to rare stuff (good for me, being materialistic), it does get me when I actually bid what something's worth or over (because I'm willing to pay) only to get shot down by a piece of ei... I mean a penny.

[knucklesplitter]

Hint of the day: If you are willing to pay... say $100 for something, then bid $101.01 . Anybody willing to pay $100 would pay an extra buck and this will help foil the snipers. Of course I would bid $101.11 and get it, but...

I sell (and buy) a lot of stuff on ebay - 400+ transactions, and I've had very few problems over the last 9 years doing it.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=ks_technology&ftab=AllFeedback&sspagename=STRK:ME:UFS

[MPREZIV]

If it don't say "buy it now" on it, I ain't buying it. Simplifies things...

[100_Percent_Juice]

If it don't say "buy it now" on it, I ain't buying it. Simplifies things...
+1

[Dean]

Thanks all for the responses. Gixen did what I want, and despite my normal propensity for quibbling with Scott, I do not have the energy.

I like eBay and have had largely positive experiences with it and will continue to use it.

Where else can you get a really cool commercial grade peak holding multimeter for under $30. I need an oscilloscope too, but haven't researched enough to know what I should get.

I even used the correct to, two, too to keep Scott happy. :)

[JonnydaJibba]

Sniping is bidding in the last few seconds of an on-line auction.

Yeah and it's annoying as fuck for the people who are trying to buy stuff without breaking the rules.

[Dean]

Yeah and it's annoying as fuck for the people who are trying to buy stuff without breaking the rules.What rules does it break? If you get outbid at the last moment and would have paid more, then you didn't really put in your maximum bid now did you? Next you will say calculators break the slide rules... Push button phones are an unfair advantage at winning radio contests? Speed Dial is right out... OK, those are probably before most everyone's time.

If you want to win a real auction, you have to be the last bidder. To win an timed auction, only have to have the highest bid submitted any time before the deadline. It is your choice as to when you bid. If you choose to play your hand early, all the better for me.

There are auctions that extend by 5-10 minutes when new high bids are made at the end, but those are not very common.

[sperry]

What rules does it break? If you get outbid at the last moment and would have paid more, then you didn't really put in your maximum bid now did you? Next you will say calculators break the slide rules... Push button phones are an unfair advantage at winning radio contests? Speed Dial is right out... OK, those are probably before most everyone's time.

If you want to win a real auction, you have to be the last bidder. To win an timed auction, only have to have the highest bid submitted any time before the deadline. It is your choice as to when you bid. If you choose to play your hand early, all the better for me.

There are auctions that extend by 5-10 minutes when new high bids are made at the end, but those are not very common.
But most timed proxy auctions don't allow people to resubmit bids over and over, nor do they publish the current high bid as people submit their bids.

You put in one bid, and that's your maximum. When the time limit is up, you find out who was willing to pay the most, and it should award the item to the highest bidder by one dollar (or penny, or whatever the min bid unit is) over the 2nd highest bid.

But again, the bidding rules for eBay are the least of their problems... eBay and PayPal should have to have all the same security measures and resolution procedures as other stores, banks and credit card companies, or they should be non-profit. You can't treat your customers with the "all we do is provide people with a service that allows them to meet each other" and take a cut of the transactions as profit. It was that attitude that put Napster out of business.

[Dean]

But most timed proxy auctions don't allow people to resubmit bids over and over, nor do they publish the current high bid as people submit their bids.

You put in one bid, and that's your maximum. When the time limit is up, you find out who was willing to pay the most, and it should award the item to the highest bidder by one dollar (or penny, or whatever the min bid unit is) over the 2nd highest bid.Huh? eBay allows you to increase your maximum bid any time, and displays all but highest bid of the current winning bidder which seams reasonable to me.

Make up your own better auction site or go elsewhere if you don't like how eBay does it.

[sperry]

Huh? eBay allows you to increase your maximum bid any time, and displays all but highest bid of the current winning bidder which seams reasonable to me.

Make up your own better auction site or go elsewhere if you don't like how eBay does it.
Huh yourself! :P My point was that eBay doesn't operate as a real proxy bid auction. They have this goofy hybrid deal where you bid by proxy, but see the results in real time as if it were a live auction, which leads to the sniping crap that pisses people off.

As far as going elsewhere... I do. I've never purchased something off eBay that wasn't "buy it now" (and even then I've only purchased two things in the 5 or 6 years I've had an eBay account).

[knucklesplitter]

Yeah and it's annoying as fuck for the people who are trying to buy stuff without breaking the rules.
Sniping is in no way whatsoever a violation of any ebay rules.

To quote ebay itself (my emphasis added):
"Placing a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing is called “sniping” within the eBay Community. Sniping is part of the eBay experience, and all bids placed before a listing ends are valid - even if they're placed one second before the listing ends.-

To help avoid disappointment, ensure that the maximum bid you enter on the item page is the highest price that you're willing to pay. The eBay bidding system automatically increases your bid up to the maximum price you specify, so entering a higher maximum may help prevent you from being outbid in the closing seconds of a listing."

(http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/outbid-ov.html )

The only reason sniping works is because people do not use the ebay bidding system properly, such that they bid the maximum they are willing to pay for the item (plus an anti-sniping dollar and penny). If people would wise up then sniping would mostly go away. People have gotten more aware and sniping is nowhere near as effective as it was 6 years ago. I won $300 items by a penny sniping back then, and turned around and better relisted them to make $50-100 profit. This doen't work so well anymore.

I usually put a buy-it-now option on my auctions (most of them are store listing anyway), but the BIN price is more than I would let it go for. So... often if you use BIN you pay too much. I bought an item a few weeks ago the had a starting bid of $150 and a BIN of $300. I bid $233.33 which is the highest I was willing to pay (note the anti-sniping added change). My bid cancelled the BIN due to no reserve and I ended up getting it for $150 because nobody else bid, so I saved $150 (100%) by not using buy-it-now.

[ScottyS]

The way to beat snipers is simply to place the highest $$ amount you are absolutely will to pay early on. If you get smoked, so be it. I also bid like that quite often, if I don't think sniping will be needed or know I can get another shot at a similar item later.

Ebay has a lot of screwed-up participants for sure, but you cannot beat the sheer size and searchability of the market. Remaining careful, smart, and avoiding the commercial sales people is the best route. I bet out of ~300+ transactions since 1998 I have only been disappointed 5 times or less.

[knucklesplitter]

Remaining careful, smart, and avoiding the commercial sales people is the best route.

Hey! I think I am one of those "commercial sales people" you avoid. :mad:

;)

[cody]

I like how you can offer them a lower price with Buy It Now. The last two things I purchased via Ebay were discounted by roughly 10% through quick, painless, negotiation. Seriously took me 30 seconds to save $20 one time. :)

[ScottyS]

Hey! I think I am one of those "commercial sales people" you avoid. :mad:

;)

I doubt you are doing a volume per day that promotes shipping problems/errors, or makes it impossible to offer any kind of support/service. I was thinking more along the lines of this: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-CD-TV-430-Thunderbolt-Digital-Satellite-Receiver_W0QQitemZ190130576387QQihZ009QQcategoryZ6 7888QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm sure you realized that, but I wanted to clarify for the innocent bystanders....

[Dean]

I like how you can offer them a lower price with Buy It Now. The last two things I purchased via Ebay were discounted by roughly 10% through quick, painless, negotiation. Seriously took me 30 seconds to save $20 one time. :)Actually, I believe Best Offer is only an option if the seller chooses to enable it for a given BIN only item and I don't think it is an option on any of the auction items, BIN or not.

[knucklesplitter]

Actually, I believe Best Offer is only an option if the seller chooses to enable it for a given BIN only item and I don't think it is an option on any of the auction items, BIN or not.

This is true. "Best offer" is only an option on fixed price "auctions" (not really an auction is it?) and store listings.

I rarely enable best-offer myself, because of all the lowball offers that pour in sometimes.

[JonnydaJibba]

I thought we were talking about a sniping program, a thing that automatically outbids the most recent bidder in the last seconds of the auction. Guess I haven't been paying attention.

[khail19]

I thought we were talking about a sniping program, a thing that automatically outbids the most recent bidder in the last seconds of the auction. Guess I haven't been paying attention.

A sniping program doesn't automatically outbid the highest bidder. You still specify the amount you are willing to bid, the only difference is that the sniping program waits until 2-5 seconds before the auction closes to place the bid for you. If you aren't the highest bidder you still don't win. I usually just do it myself, but if I'm going to be at work or asleep when the auction ends then I'll use a sniper. I just don't see the point in bidding on something with 5 days left, gives everyone plenty of time to keep driving the price up. If it worked like Scott said (which is how proxy bidding should be done), then sniping wouldn't be an issue. But then people wouldn't go crazy overbidding on items and eBay and Paypal wouldn't make so much money.