Do you use a sniping service?

[HalChaseCollector]

Ive never done it and don't know what it is. Could someone give me a quick run down on what snipe services are? Thanks!

[gregr2]

Originally Posted by HalChaseCollector

Ive never done it and don't know what it is. Could someone give me a quick run down on what snipe services are? Thanks!

You setup a free account, then you add the Ebay URL of the item you are interested in, then add your maximum bid amount. At the last few seconds of the auction, the service puts in the bid for you up to your maximum bid. It runs on several servers and I have never had one that didn't get executed. They can also send you email notifications if your maximum bid has been surpassed.

[T206Collector]

I always wondered who was placing ebay bids before 20 seconds were left in the auction -- I guess now I know. Half the respondents! WOW!

As a bidder, why would you let your competitors know your high bid? This just encourages people to bid you up early and often.

Stated another way, the only person who benefits from early bidding is the seller.

If you bid with enough time to let competitors or shillers see your bid and respond then you are just asking to pay more to win, and you undoubtedly will lose more.

Instead, try sniping. Take the ebay item number to Gavelsnipe. Put the number into the system and how much your top bid is. Then leave it alone. It will place the bid for you with 8 or so seconds left. Nobody can respond. You just get your bid in at your max. Set it, and forget it!

[gregr2]

This is from the front page of gavelsnipe.com:

GavelSnipe improves your odds to win auctions at lower prices. By not tipping your hand early, your bids won’t start as many costly bidding wars, or lose lots you’d have otherwise won.

Simply type, or copy and paste, the auction URL into your MY SNIPES page, and enter your bid. Or better yet, use the time-saving Snipe-It! Toolbar instead. GavelSnipe displays everything for you, with optional email updates nightly, and/or whenever you get outbid.

Seconds before each auction ends, GavelSnipe submits your bid from three bid servers (in
separate cities). Your computer does not have to be turned on.

If you ever want to retract any bid, you can do so up to five minutes before the auction closes.

[brob28]

I've used Gavelsnipe for a few years now and it has worked perfectly. Set your max bid and walk away and enjoy other things instead of watching the clock tick on an auction! Most of the times the item goes for about what I'd expect, but there have been times where I've "stolen" an item with the snipe.

[Butch7999]

Sniped manually for many years -- quite successfully, and we were proud of our sharp timing and quick fingers.
Then eBay auction pages started filling with so much Java and Flash doohickeys that it slowed page loads to a crawl
(at least on our old system) and often made manual sniping close to impossible.

A friend turned us on to GavelSnipe, which worked superbly for us for many years following. A few weeks ago,
it inexplicably refused to acknowledge our correctly-entered sign-in/password and thereupon blocked us
from accessing our account. Polite inquiries to GavelSnipe yielded the rudest responses we've ever gotten from
any supposedly professional company, twice coming just short of calling us irresponsible idiots in so many words
and offering no explanation nor any help beyond telling us to open a new account.

[tonyo]

I've known about snipe services since joining this board 5 years ago (wow time flies), but never used one.

Like someone said: it would just be a vehicle for me to spend more money, which I am constantly battling against.

I normally wait till the end and manually enter my bid at the last seconds.

I've forgotten or shown up late a few times over the years, but that's ok... another way to help control my spending.

[t206trader]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

I always wondered who was placing ebay bids before 20 seconds were left in the auction -- I guess now I know. Half the respondents! WOW!

As a bidder, why would you let your competitors know your high bid? This just encourages people to bid you up early and often.

Stated another way, the only person who benefits from early bidding is the seller.

If you bid with enough time to let competitors or shillers see your bid and respond then you are just asking to pay more to win, and you undoubtedly will lose more.

Instead, try sniping. Take the ebay item number to Gavelsnipe. Put the number into the system and how much your top bid is. Then leave it alone. It will place the bid for you with 8 or so seconds left. Nobody can respond. You just get your bid in at your max. Set it, and forget it!

True, but if the price is artificially low it also encourages more bidders in the final few seconds thereby potentially hurting your odds. I realize this effect is less than that gained by just sniping but just adding a potential reason people might bid earlier.