Snap-On sockets, Ebay, got sniped....

[jvitez]

Grrr. I hardly ever bid on ebay, just decide if I want something and pay the Buy It Now price. But yesterday I was searching for 3/8 drive metric deep socket sets, and found an auction for a new Snap-On set. Perfect! I'm off today, so watched as the countdown began. I bid $5 more than the last bid with 20 seconds to go. Hah! There I sat, a bit nervous, but a bit smug too. "This set will go great with the Snap-On shallow SAE 3/8 set I have" I'm thinking. Three seconds before the auction ends, Boom! A bid $2.50 higher than mine appears. Three seconds?!! Grrrr.

I've never experience the power and speed of sniping software, but this has to have been it. Or can someone be that accurate to manually submit a bid 3 seconds before the end? Is sniping software becoming mandatory in the eternal game of one-upmanship?

 

[Boost Creep]

its not hard to do manually if you have a decent speed internet connection

 

[jake26]

I use this service:

http://www.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm

You get 3 free snipes a week. I do not understand why you WOULDN'T use it?

 

[tcheat]

I've been sniped before, so I typically use bidslammer.com. Their product isn't the best, but works. They usually submit the bids in the last 5 seconds.

 

[mtwaterguy]

Why wouldn't you just put in your maximum bid and let it go? That way you don't end up paying more than you want and you don't end up in a bidding war.

 

[jvitez]

Why wouldn't you just put in your maximum bid and let it go? That way you don't end up paying more than you want and you don't end up in a bidding war.

Because I hardly ever bid on ebay, and thought going up $5 20 seconds before the end was pretty good. So much for what I thought I knew.....

 

[snapmom]

Sometimes you will lose, it use to bother me at first, but you will get use to it, there are people out there who have money to burn and they do. You just move on to the next widget. Bid as close to the end as possible, bid what you are willing to pay, add a few cents to prevent ties. If you lose, then the other bidder paid to much.

 

[Packard V8]

Why wouldn't you just put in your maximum bid and let it go? That way you don't end up paying more than you want and you don't end up in a bidding war.

This is essentially what a bid snipe program does. The advantage is sometimes it catches off-guard a manual bidder, such as jvitez[/B, who is watching and hoping. Thus the snipe bid avoids being re-raised by a manual bid, but can get into a duel with other snipe programs.

jack ivnes

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Said it before, i'll say it again: It always goes to the highest bidder.

 

[mtwaterguy]

Doesn't a snipe bid just bid higher than the existing bid? If it just bids up to your pre-set maximum bid, that's accomplished with a normal bid with ebay.

 

[bmrisko]

If you really want something just bid an astronomical number and you are guaranteed to win it.

 

[impulse922]

bid sniping is how you get stuff for cheap.

'nuff said.

 

[Packard V8]

If it just bids up to your pre-set maximum bid, that's accomplished with a normal bid with ebay.

Yes, but snipers are hoping to slide in that maximum bid at the last second so manual bidders don't have the time to see the maximum bid and re-raise.

jack vines

 

[Teken]

Yes, but snipers are hoping to slide in that maximum bid at the last second so manual bidders don't have the time to see the maximum bid and re-raise.

jack vines

I don't follow could you clarify this one more time. Perhaps its because I have been buffing so long my brain is on pause.

Please explain this another way.

 

[Packard V8]

Not every eBay bidder puts in his maximum on the first and stops there if it gets out-bid later. Some throw in a low-ball opening bid, then when it gets re-raised, they get determined and enter a series of higher and higher bids.

If you put in your maximum early in the auction, the sequential bidders may decide to re-raise you. If your snipe bid comes in higher at the last second, they don't have time to manually re-raise.

jack vines

 

[Teken]

Not every eBay bidder puts in his maximum on the first and stops there if it gets out-bid later. Some throw in a low-ball opening bid, then when it gets re-raised, they get determined and enter a series of higher and higher bids.

If you put in your maximum early in the auction, the sequential bidders may decide to re-raise you. If your snipe bid comes in higher at the last second, they don't have time to manually re-raise.

jack vines

This makes a lot more sense, thanks. It's funny how you explained it because in the order in which you did this is how I have progressed over the years.

1. Bidding low hoping to win the item, always ended in a loss and epic fail = no won item.

2. Placed the highest bid I was comfortable with. Only to watch others ramp up my bid, showing my cards as they say, = no won item.

3. Placing a medium bid, only to find myself in a bidding war and whoring out the cash, and winning but actually losing because I was too competitive to let it go. = Yes, you won but you over paid on something that is *** years old and really you will never get that kind of money back again because your pride and ego was over riding your brain = Epic Fail.

4. I just sit there and wait the last few seconds to bid, and watch for the snippers now. If I see someone ramping up the bids and the dollars are hitting straight north, I wait to see how high it is and compare it to the list price of the new item. If its close, I pass . . . If its still 30% lower then I will make a last final ditch attempted and bid at the highest dollar value but still under the 30% retail value.

This has worked for me in the most favorable ways . . .

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Yes, but snipers are hoping to slide in that maximum bid at the last second so manual bidders don't have the time to see the maximum bid and re-raise.

But if the sniper's maximum is less than the opposing bidder's maximum then the opposing bidder will still win. People seem to think that sniping is foolproof, it isn't. At all. All it does is put in a bid at a point where there's not enough time for other bidders to raise their maximum bid. So however you do it, the highest bidder will win. every single time. No point getting pissed at someone sniping beating you, they were willing to pay more than you away.

I manually put my bid in with about 15-20 seconds to go. Win some, lose some. I don't get pissed when i lose to a higher bidder as they were willing to pay more than me.

 

[flyingvette]

I can easily do a bid in the final 3 seconds manually. Used to do it all the time. I eventually learned that it was fun, but rather pointless. Bid what you're absolutely willing to pay at max and you'll probably override those 3-5 second snipes. Or watch very very closely and do a 3-5$ additional manual bid in the last 3 seconds if you want the thrill.

 

[Teken]

I can easily do a bid in the final 3 seconds manually. Used to do it all the time. I eventually learned that it was fun, but rather pointless. Bid what you're absolutely willing to pay at max and you'll probably override those 3-5 second snipes. Or watch very very closely and do a 3-5$ additional manual bid in the last 3 seconds if you want the thrill.

 

[MattT]

I prefer manual "sniping" over the automated services. Like others have said the automatics bid in the last 5 seconds. I can reliably hit 2 seconds manually.

 

[Teken]

I don't get pissed when i lose to a higher bidder

Come on now . . . You get red faced, don't deny it! -->

 

[mrholeshot]

If I see something that I really want I use the second hand on my watch. I use instand bid because I always enter in a low bid early. then at the end of the auction I wait for one minute and enter the absolute maximum I willing to pay. Then when the clock reaches 3 seconds I hit the button. Most of the time I'm within one second of the end of auction. I do red-light on ocassion but most time I beat out the next guy with just a dollar over his bid and usually much less than my maximum bid. I never count out the stuff I'm selling until the last minute. Ive seen some guitars I sell go from 50 dollars to 700 in 30 seconds. I missed out on an old Craftsman Cantilever tool box because I forgot about it until 30 minutes after the auction ended. Been kicking myself for two days

 

[rhastings80]

I use esnipe and place all of my bids with one second left.

 

[trebomb]

It's just as annoying as a seller, since it cuts down on the back-and-forth bidding activity. My stuff will sit all week and not budge until the snipes roll in.

That said, I use auctionsniper.com when buying.

 

[KnacK]

I buy stuff off of eBay all of the time and I use jbidwatcher - free and the programmer keeps it up to date.

For those that don't use eBay a lot there are a few tips I can give you.

1. Use watch lists. This will keep you updated on your auction without having to stay at your pc all of the time.

2. DO NOT PLACE A BID EARLIER THAN 5 TO 15 MINUTES BEFORE IT ENDS! The only thing that early bidding does is artificially create a bidding war/******* match and over inflates the price.

3.Use some sort of sniping software. This will serve a couple of purposes:
a. Allows you be away from your pc while the auction is going on (work/sleep/***/etc)
b. Just enter the highest amount that you feel you'd pay for the item and walk away. This also prevents you from overpaying for an item once you have personally set your spending limit.

4. Verify SHIPPING cost before bidding on an item. You can ROYALLY get screwed on over inflated shipping costs to make up for low auction prices.

5. Take a look where the item is coming from. I, for one, order cheap cell phone car chargers from Hong Kong. They work, they're cheap, and I get them in a week via postal mail. Something to think about.This can dictate how soon you get your item.

6. Look at there feedback rating. I won't buy from anyone with less than a 95% rating, even then I check what their negative feedback comments are.

7. How may items has the seller sold. If its just a few, they better have perfect feedback.

By following these guidelines you should have a pretty good eBay experience. I have been buying for years on eBay and have never been scammed or conned or ripped off.

(sorry if this went a little OT)

 

[compman25]

I use snipestreet.com, it's free and does a good job.

 

[Boiler]

I use bidnapper when I'm not around, but typically I snipe manually within the last 3 seconds. I'll give you my secret to last second sniping for a dollar: Have a reasonably fast connection, and open two browsers. Sign in using both of them and go to the auction in question with both. You'll notice the clock ticking away near the price if it is close enough in time. Type in your maximum bid you're willing to pay, and hit "place bid" which will take you to the page with "confirm bid" on it. Now put your mousepoint over the confirm bid button, and watch the clock on the other page. When it gets to 2-3 seconds, click "confirm bid".

Adding bid after bid is silly. It just ramps up the price, gives others more confidence in an items value, and rarely wins. Many times I have thought, I'll pay $105 for that, but then someone bids it to $106 and I think...hmm, I guess I can swing another 2 bucks and I grab it. Don't give people the chance.

20 seconds is a long time. I used to "confirm bid" at 5 or 6 seconds, but found myself adding another bid with a second or two to go. If I can do it, so can someone else.

The key to it all is really know how much you'd be happy paying. If you just want a bargain, put in that 80% of value. But if it is something you never see and reaaaaally want, 110% of street value can still be a good deal.

 

[jake26]

I buy stuff off of eBay all of the time and I use jbidwatcher - free and the programmer keeps it up to date.

For those that don't use eBay a lot there are a few tips I can give you.

1. Use watch lists. This will keep you updated on your auction without having to stay at your pc all of the time.

2. DO NOT PLACE A BID EARLIER THAN 5 TO 15 MINUTES BEFORE IT ENDS! The only thing that early bidding does is artificially create a bidding war/******* match and over inflates the price.

3.Use some sort of sniping software. This will serve a couple of purposes:
a. Allows you be away from your pc while the auction is going on (work/sleep/***/etc)
b. Just enter the highest amount that you feel you'd pay for the item and walk away. This also prevents you from overpaying for an item once you have personally set your spending limit.

4. Verify SHIPPING cost before bidding on an item. You can ROYALLY get screwed on over inflated shipping costs to make up for low auction prices.

5. Take a look where the item is coming from. I, for one, order cheap cell phone car chargers from Hong Kong. They work, they're cheap, and I get them in a week via postal mail. Something to think about.This can dictate how soon you get your item.

6. Look at there feedback rating. I won't buy from anyone with less than a 95% rating, even then I check what their negative feedback comments are.

7. How may items has the seller sold. If its just a few, they better have perfect feedback.

By following these guidelines you should have a pretty good eBay experience. I have been buying for years on eBay and have never been scammed or conned or ripped off.

(sorry if this went a little OT)

Very nice list.

These small rules will make nearly any eBay experience painless. I for one will avoid bidding on an item till the very end with a snipe program because when I see an auction with 20+ bids, I give up on it immediately but an auction with 3 or less is ripe for a SNIPE!

 

[chad s]

I prefer manual "sniping" over the automated services. Like others have said the automatics bid in the last 5 seconds. I can reliably hit 2 seconds manually.

But why take the effort? Suppose you are not in front of a computer at the last minute?

 

[Falcon67]

I have a good connection, so I bid my max on an item at about 10 seconds to go. If I win, I win. If not, oh well. If I can't be there for the auction end, then I bid my max and go on about my business. If somebody wants it for more than I think it's worth, good for the seller. I set a price and stick to it. If I REALLY, REALLY want it, then I bid accordingly with the same attitude. I don't do bid wars. I needed one more book to complete a section of my Engine Annual collection. I found a good one and set the bid way out there - about 5X what I ended up paying for it. I don't do that very often.

 

[JohnFreeman]

As was said earlier, snipe or no, it ALWAYS goes to the highest bidder.

I've been using Esnipe for ~5 years and I'd never venture into Ebay without it.

 

[jvitez]

Great advice gents. Like I said, I usually just use the Buy It Now button. The SO socket set went for 60% retail, which was the max I was willing to pay. It went from 14 to 21 bids in the last 20 minutes, with most of them in the last few minutes. I guess many folks are trying the same thing. I just never encountered the 3 second snipe before. I'm not pi$$ed, more like mildly irritated. I can't justify spending retail on SO sockets for my weekend warrior use.

Anyway, it was rather fun overall. Thanks for the advice for the next time. But I think I'll just order the Gray Canada socket set I've had my eye on at a local dealer and leave it at that.

 

[MattT]

But why take the effort? Suppose you are not in front of a computer at the last minute?

Because I get better success rate, and probably cheaper prices though that's hard to be sure on, with my manual 1 to 2 second left manual bids. If I'm not at the computer I'll leave it to the automated sniper.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I buy stuff off of eBay all of the time and I use jbidwatcher - free and the programmer keeps it up to date.

For those that don't use eBay a lot there are a few tips I can give you.

1. Use watch lists. This will keep you updated on your auction without having to stay at your pc all of the time.

2. DO NOT PLACE A BID EARLIER THAN 5 TO 15 MINUTES BEFORE IT ENDS! The only thing that early bidding does is artificially create a bidding war/******* match and over inflates the price.

3.Use some sort of sniping software. This will serve a couple of purposes:
a. Allows you be away from your pc while the auction is going on (work/sleep/***/etc)
b. Just enter the highest amount that you feel you'd pay for the item and walk away. This also prevents you from overpaying for an item once you have personally set your spending limit.

4. Verify SHIPPING cost before bidding on an item. You can ROYALLY get screwed on over inflated shipping costs to make up for low auction prices.

5. Take a look where the item is coming from. I, for one, order cheap cell phone car chargers from Hong Kong. They work, they're cheap, and I get them in a week via postal mail. Something to think about.This can dictate how soon you get your item.

6. Look at there feedback rating. I won't buy from anyone with less than a 95% rating, even then I check what their negative feedback comments are.

7. How may items has the seller sold. If its just a few, they better have perfect feedback.

By following these guidelines you should have a pretty good eBay experience. I have been buying for years on eBay and have never been scammed or conned or ripped off.

(sorry if this went a little OT)

Great list!!!!

Here is my philosophy on e-bay.

Any bid posted before the last 10 seconds does nothing more than raise your final price when bidding against a manual bidder. If I trusted the speed of my internet connection I would wait until the last second if I could.

If I really want something I put a bid that is the maximum I am willing to pay for something about 10 seconds before the end of the auction. I will not give a manual bidder a chance to raise the price more than one or two increments. I learned this the hard way when bidding for my a factory panel mount GPS for my car. The bid was $300 and I put in a $1,200 bid about a minute before the end of the auction, and proceeded to watch a manual bidder drive the price up about a hundred dollars at a time. By the time the auction ended I wound up paying about $1,100. If I waited another 50 seconds before placing the bid I probably would have paid $400 to $500 max.

Never bid a round number. Inexperienced bidders tend to do this so you will have an edge over them. If my target amount is $1200 I usually bid something like $1207.67. This way you will beat out a nice round $1200 bid.

Chris

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

But if the sniper's maximum is less than the opposing bidder's maximum then the opposing bidder will still win. People seem to think that sniping is foolproof, it isn't. At all. All it does is put in a bid at a point where there's not enough time for other bidders to raise their maximum bid. So however you do it, the highest bidder will win. every single time. No point getting pissed at someone sniping beating you, they were willing to pay more than you away.

I manually put my bid in with about 15-20 seconds to go. Win some, lose some. I don't get pissed when i lose to a higher bidder as they were willing to pay more than me.

I've tried explaining that position here before... somehow many people just don't see the simplicity of what you say.

Sniping does exist as an action. However it is not RELEVANT. The higher price will always win, snipe or not.

I try to say this as simple as possible "If you really put in the most that you are willing to spend on the item and do not win it, then you did exactly what you wanted and did not spend MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO SPEND"

So if someone beats you by 9 cents in the last 2 seconds of the auction, then it is your fault for losing because YOU ALREADY ENTERED ABSOLUTE most you wanted to spend!

All sniping does is enter that your maximum amount at the last second.... Does not guarantee anything.

-BWP

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I've tried explaining that position here before... somehow many people just don't see the simplicity of what you say.

Sniping does exist as an action. However it is not RELEVANT. The higher price will always win, snipe or not.

I try to say this as simple as possible "If you really put in the most that you are willing to spend on the item and do not win it, then you did exactly what you wanted and did not spend MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO SPEND"

All sniping does is enter that your maximum amount at the last second.... Does not guarantee anything.

-BWP

I'm glad we're on the same wavelength, BWP.

I've also tried explaining to so many people and no-one seems to grasp the concept of how bidding works. Highest bidder wins, reglardless of timing or tactics. If two opposing bidders use sniping programs on the same auction for the last 3 seconds the highest bidder will still win. Doesn't matter if it was either sniping bidder or another bidder who placed their bid with 7 days to go.

 

[MattT]

I've also tried explaining to so many people and no-one seems to grasp the concept of how bidding works. Highest bidder wins, reglardless of timing or tactics.

Tactics and timing are an element of any live auction format. Every time you enter a bid other folks have time to think and react until the last couple seconds before the hammer falls on feebay. If I enter a my max bid early on feebay other bidders will run the price up. Why last second bidding works is 'cos early bidders don't enter their max price when they bid. They bid enough to get their bid in the lead.

For something I'm willing to go $100 on it'll work like this:

The early tightwad bidders will back and forth themselves up to about $20.

Then a serious bidder kicks in and runs them off. Item is probably sat at $20something with a max bid of $30 at this point.

Now you have two options. Enter your $100 max bid early and the serious bidder will keep bumping his bid trying to get ahead of you. You'll win or loose somewhere around $100. Or wait until he has no time to react and win the item for $31.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Tactics and timing are an element of any live auction format. Every time you enter a bid other folks have time to think and react until the last couple seconds before the hammer falls on feebay. If I enter a my max bid early on feebay other bidders will run the price up. Why last second bidding works is 'cos early bidders don't enter their max price when they bid. They bid enough to get their bid in the lead.

For something I'm willing to go $100 on it'll work like this:

The early tightwad bidders will back and forth themselves up to about $20.

Then a serious bidder kicks in and runs them off. Item is probably sat at $20something with a max bid of $30 at this point.

Now you have two options. Enter your $100 max bid early and the serious bidder will keep bumping his bid trying to get ahead of you. You'll win or loose somewhere around $100. Or wait until he has no time to react and win the item for $31.

And who wins?

The person willing to pay the most.

Sure, timing can affect the closing price, i never denied that. Timing doesn't affect who wins. The highest bidder always wins.

 

[Teken]

Also if it wasn't clear to everyone bid sniping at the last few seconds doesn't help you if your bid is below what the final one is.

I have watched people sit at $30.00 for the last hour, then some monkey jumps in thinking he can drop it $35.00, all the while the clock is ticking away at the 10 second mark there isn't a lot of time to be ******* around.

As he clearly tried to up the anty (it went up 5 more times) and lost out because he didn't know the previous guy had set a comfortable and max bid.

If you don't test the waters first, and if you believe you can wait the last ten seconds to find out that the previous bidder has a higher max bid then you, you will lose!

 

[MattT]

And who wins?

The person willing to pay the most.

Incorrect. If the serious early bidder is willing to pay $100 chances are he won't bid $100 immediately. He'll bid in increments just to get back to winning. If you leave him sitting in the lead at $30 dollars until 1 second before the hammer falls he'll sit there thinking he's gonna get a bargain and never get the time to up his bid to the maximum he's willing to pay.