Do you use a sniping service?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

Long, long ago, you could actually look at the items on ebay someone was bidding on. I got a chaser who would check what i was bidding on, which was fairly unique, and snipe me which necessitated me finding a service.

Exactly what got me to auctionstealer. I had a number of 'followers' who would not only piggy back on my work ferreting out stuff but would also run up my bids. That doesn't happen any more since eBay made it impossible to track bidders, but the service remains valuable to me:
--I no longer worry that my max bid will be run up or chipped at all week long. My max isn't revealed until the last seven seconds.
--I am terrible for forgetting to bid on something. More than one time I have checked my inbox to find that I'd won a card that I really wanted but that I neglected.

Taylor, it is very liberating not to have to pay attention to when an auction ends and not to have to be online to bid into the final seconds of it. When something important to my collection pops up, I enter a placeholder bid and set a max bid with auctionstealer and then forget about the card. Just not having to actively track ebay auctions is worth the cost of the service to me.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Taylor, it is very liberating not to have to pay attention to when an auction ends and not to have to be online to bid into the final seconds of it. When something important to my collection pops up, I enter a placeholder bid and set a max bid with auctionstealer and then forget about the card. Just not having to actively track ebay auctions is worth the cost of the service to me.

Adam,

I generally do that as well. Placeholder and snipe for something I really want. Placeholder or snipe alone for stuff I might like (at the right price), depending. But also, in the midst of multi-tasking, I have added an auction to snipe and forgot to set the bid. Thus while close, I demonstrate how it is not totally foolproof for this old fool. LOL

[slidekellyslide]

I'm surprised at the number of members who believe it is somehow underhanded and shady to use a sniping service. Ebay is not a true auction, you don't go to a live auction and watch them place a time limit on an item, they don't stop the bidding at straight up noon, and say sorry, no more bids will be accepted.

Sniping allows one to bid without being shilled, and to bid while not being anywhere near your computer or unable to use your phone app.