AuctionSniper

I used to use Sniperight. I dont know if it still works. I liked it but I was always scared it wouldn't work. I don't bother with it anymore. People here will argue with you about the merits of sniping auctions though.

 

I use esnipe. Hasn't let me down yet. Easy to use.

 

call me an ebay rookie, but if you put in your max bid, what's the purpose of having the auction sniper? do you really save that much money between a high bid and fighting for it at the last moment?

 

I really don't get the purpose of "sniping". If you see an item, you put in the maximum that you're going to pay for it. If someone outbids that price, so what? You weren't going to spend more than that, anyway.

 

esnipe is the one i've used many times in he past... and it has been around for years.

 

I think the theory is that if you are the high bidder, even if you have a higher maximum, someone will almost always come and bid you up higher right before the auction ends.

Apparently, if you let it sit until the last few seconds, you can "snipe" another highest bidder that might not have their maximum up very high and win the auction cheaper.

I guess it also "guarantees" an item that you must have.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of that, but whatever.

 

I've used esnipe for years and hundreds of snipes and I've only had it fail me once - their server went down when my bid was due. But that was a very rare occation and I've continued to use them. Its saved me time and money expecially using bid folders to manage multiple auctions while I'm away or just don't feel like making my blood pressure rise as I was my computer clock tick down...

 

It is a well known ebay secret that people "watch" auctions and bid at the very last minute. If you put in your high bid hours before an auction then the auction price tends to be a lot more then it would be if all bidders waited until the last minute. We're talking about huge differences most of the time. If you see a 7 day auction for an item and bid the first day your max bid, you are going to generally pay more then if you watch that auction and bid in the final minutes.

 

If you put in a max of $10, you could have someone enter in $5... not high enough so how about ... $7 ... still not high enough so how about ... $11. Auction ends and they'd win.

But if you didn't bid and they put in $5 thinking they are going to win and with a few seconds left, your $10 bid goes in, you get the item for $5.50 and they don't have time to place another bid.

 

You lose. If not, you win.

 

I like and use esnipe also.

 

What does it cost to use esnipe?

 

14 day free trial... after that, http://www.esnipe.com/Fees/

 

Complete BS. Y'all just aren't being honest with your maximum bid.

If I see something that I think I'd be willing to pay $80 for, I'll place $80 as my max bid, regardless of what it is showing. I've done this before and my bid has been $11 dollars for most of the week. Then the trolls come in at the last second. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose. But if all I'm willing to spend is $80 for it, I'm not going to be pissed if someone gets it for $81. I wasn't willing to spend $81 on it.

 

Yeah, but you can see how someone might be willing to pay $80, but would rather pay $50 if they could.

It does sound kind of shady though.

 

But if you put in your bid at the end, other people have less time to beat it. That's just the way it works with a timed auction.

Getting the "shoppers high" makes some people lose their rationality and bid again over the amount they promised themselves they would spend on the item. If you wait to the end they don't have time to rebid.

 

I use auction sniper and it works great.

You are battling scarcity psychology when you bid. Don't bid until the last second. If an item has 0 or very few bids, your opponent tends thinks he can get it at the end of the auction for less. The max proxy bid tends to be lower. You snipe in a take it.

If you just proxy bid, you are increasing the activity on the item and the opponent bidders tend naturally to increase their interest and demand for the item, by the principals of scarcity, consistency and committment, and social proof.

 

But the other people don't need "time to beat it". They just enter the max they're willing to pay, and it increments automatically (just like everybody else).

So, if I enter my max. And other bidders enter their max, the person with the highest max will always win, and (let's say I win), the auction won't necessarily reach my max - it will just automatically increment slightly higher than the second-highest max.