Sniping services

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Is there something else a sniping service does that I'm missing?

Well if I have nothing else to do, then yes I can do this like I did years ago and do the two things you stated. Spend my whole day waiting for the auction to end or putting some max bid in and hoping for the best.

What really has happened when I did that over the past 20 years on eBay is a massive about of frustration as I forgot about an auction till a couple minutes after it ended because I lost track of time or I paid an absolute crap ton more than I would have on a last second bid. Reason being that either a legit bidder nickel and dime bid me to near my max till they decided they did not want it or a Shiller did it dishonestly. Sniping kills those opportunities for shills and non snipers to add bids.

Gavelsnipe is free and takes no effort, working for wasted money by not sniping is effort.

[Snapolit1]

If you really want something and want to sniff out fraud, seems to me the best thing you can do it watch an auction in the closing minute and see if the action passes the smell test. If it does jump in. If not just let it go.

Originally Posted by JustinD

Well if I have nothing else to do, then yes I can do this like I did years ago and do the two things you stated. Spend my whole day waiting for the auction to end or putting some max bid in and hoping for the best.

What really has happened when I did that over the past 20 years on eBay is a massive about of frustration as I forgot about an auction till a couple minutes after it ended because I lost track of time or I paid an absolute crap ton more than I would have on a last second bid. Reason being that either a legit bidder nickel and dime bid me to near my max till they decided they did not want it or a Shiller did it dishonestly. Sniping kills those opportunities for shills and non snipers to add bids.

Gavelsnipe is free and takes no effort, working for wasted money by not sniping is effort.

[Snapolit1]

And how much does this service cost?

I mean if I had a wedding or some event that was going to keep me from the computer on a must get item I sort of get it. But it seems like I can do the same thing for free and be watching the action.

How does a sniping service keep me from shill bidding if the shill bidder realizes most of you are using sniping services and with 5 seconds to go just bids thousands higher on eBay to drag all of you up with him.

I'm just not as smart as you guys but trying desperately to learn.

If I was a shill bidder I'd step on the gas in the last 10 seconds. Rising tide
lifts all snipes as someone once said.

[Peter_Spaeth]

$5 a month for unlimited snipes on JustSnipe. Free for up to 2 at any given time, I believe.

[Snapolit1]

If I was shilling something and thought to myself "under no circumstances am I going to let this go for under $20,000" I have no clue how a sniping service is going to act as some kind of deterrence to me. If it is sitting at $18,000 with ten seconds to go I enter a bid for $20,000. I must be missing something.

[Dpeck100]

OP if most of the message board participants understood economics and markets they would realize that sniping makes no difference and under no circumstances does it prevent you from being shilled. I have read more idiotic posts related to this topic than any other. Predicting what others will bid consistently is impossible and in order for a snipe to be as effective as most think it is you would have to do this. 30% of all bids come at the close relagating its effectiveness. The shill snipe is as popular as ever. Just watch the final closing moments of many auctions and the bidders with all the tell tale signs also come in at the end. If you feel like you are being shilled with time to go put in the triple stacked bid as it is the ultimate bate. A true shill can't resist and your outbid. Nothing wrong with bidding at the end but not even remotely as effective as most think.

[RedsFan1941]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

How does a sniping service keep me from shill bidding if the shill bidder realizes most of you are using sniping services and with 5 seconds to go just bids thousands higher on eBay to drag all of you up with him.

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

If I was shilling something and thought to myself "under no circumstances am I going to let this go for under $20,000" I have no clue how a sniping service is going to act as some kind of deterrence to me. If it is sitting at $18,000 with ten seconds to go I enter a bid for $20,000. I must be missing something.

Your post on April 24:

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Bid what a card is worth to you and not above that and you will never be defrauded.

[Snapolit1]

Ronnie -flattered that you spend so much time studying my past posts. Maybe I will publish them in a bound volume to save you time and effort.

I'm just trying to understand how a service works that I've never used and can't seem to understand what others see in it.

[swarmee]

Yeah, odd post from the OP. There are a bunch of reasons for and against using a sniping service.
Pros: Auction can close at 4am and you can still bid with seconds to go while you're sleeping.
Single bid at the end *reduces* the likelihood of being raised either by the consignor/owner or other bidders. Many only bid when they get the email from eBay saying "You're no longer the high bidder..."
If you get stressed out watching the end of auctions, it can reduce your blood pressure.

Cons: Sometimes snipes don't go through because eBay turns on their Captcha software to root out bots from bidding, and sniping services are by definition, bots. (Strong passwords can reduce the odds of your getting the captcha block, but this mainly seems to happen on Sunday nights which is when a lot of big cards get sold.)
You have to remember to change your password in the sniping service whenever you change it on eBay, or else they won't go through.
Some sniping services have had their own network outages and didn't make bids.

I have never signed up for one, since I prefer to watch the end of auctions, and if it's important enough, I'll even wake up in the middle of the night to bid. Bidding your max hours before the end time is just costing you more money.

[CobbSpikedMe]

I use a sniping service when I find an auction that I really want to win and don't want to have to worry about missing the end of the auction for any reason. I set my snipe and can forget it. The sniping service is free too. I just set my snipe at my max amount I'm willing to pay and that's it. It's convenience that I want, and I don't need to remember or put anything on hold just so I can sit there watching an eBay auction end on my phone.

And sniping (whether its a service you're using or you do it yourself) does save you money in some cases. Not all the time, but I'll gladly take the savings when it does.

AndyH

[Snapolit1]

I get the convenience factor! I said that already. Peter told me there have been thousands of posts about how it will protect me from being shilled. That's what I'm not getting.

I like watching auctions end provided it's not 3am.

[nolemmings]

It reduces some shilling, but not all.

It is also convenient when sellers are ending multiple auctions within seconds of one another or at the same time, and you want to get your max bid in on more than could be handled if you tried to do it manually.

It can be a secondary means of getting in a bid that you absolutely do not want to miss even if you are watching---kind of a fail-safe if your Internet fails, your computer hangs, your power goes out, etc.

Justsnipe let's you have a few free snipes each month or so--I forget because I do not use it all that much. I am glad to know that I can use it though, and have done so as recently as in the past 4-6 weeks.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I get the convenience factor! I said that already. Peter told me there have been thousands of posts about how it will protect me from being shilled. That's what I'm not getting.

I like watching auctions end provided it's not 3am.

It won't protect you from all shilling as there are many ways to shill, and different reasons people do it. So if for example someone is intent on essentially establishing a reserve, there isn't anything you can do about it. But if you put your high bid out there during an auction, as opposed to doing it by snipe, people see it and can try to run you up and either outbid you and then retract, or outbid you and hope to push you higher, or if they are good with reading the increments, string bid and stop short and leave you at your max. If your bid isn't out there, they can't do any of this.

Maybe overall it doesn't make much difference, I don't know that anyone has that data, but it seems to make sense not to put a target on your back?