Auction site sniper

robfosters

robfosters

robfosters

Caporegime
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Posts
53,767
Location
Welling, London
Has anyone got any suggestions for a good and free sniping program? I know some people think it's immoral, so i'll leave it to your conscience as to reply or not :D

It would be really cool if there was one that monitored a section, say like blu ray and sniped anything under a certain price.
 
I've done that but I can't really make head nor tail of the ones that have come up so I am asking peoples personal opinions on ones they have used.

Forums would actually die if people just turned to google every single time.
 
I don't get these sniping thingies :/

I just put in the maximum amount I want to pay for an item. If I get it for that price - result. If it goes for more than I wanted to pay for it - result - I didn't want it at that price anyway.

Am I missing something?
 
Bidding early on an item tends to push the price up. Getting a bid in at the last moment increases the chance of getting a bargain as it removes any chance of bidders revising their maximum offer upwards when they are outbid.
 
Quink said:
I don't get these sniping thingies :/ [...] Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Yes: sniping tools hide your intent until the last possible moment. This protects you from any unscrupulous shill bidding. Why show your hand to all the other players when you don't have to?

I use Bid-o-matic; it's not the most user-friendly of programs, but it's reliable, effective and I'm used to it.

E: But Quink, if you can get it for less than the maximum amount you're prepared to pay, isn't that a better result?
 
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I'd never really thought of it that way - cheaper is always better :)

I must say I've always just bunged my max bid in and left it at that - if I win, I win. Does bidding as late as possible really make that much difference?

I'm only an occasional ebayer to be fair and a lot of the stuff I want has a buy it now thing. When bidding though, I can't really see why putting in my max bid is detrimental. I know how much I want to pay for the item - if it's more than that amount then I don't want it. What differenced does it make if I put that amount in at the start or near the end? Schill bidding isn't a problem because I know how much I wan to spend (if that makes sense?).
Sorry if I sound a bit dumb :)
 
The answer is that not everyone puts in their max bid immediately and leaves it at that. The majority (? probably) will place a bid lower than the max they are prepared to pay, and will revise their bid as and when they get outbid. Therefore, if you already know the max you will pay, then bidding at the last moment prevents you being outbid by someone prepared to pay more who has as yet bid less than they are prepared to pay.

You're more likely to win the auction, and you are more likely to pay a lower price if you bid in the last few seconds.
 
I use Gixen - it's simple and effective and it's never let me down. However, I've never had any need to use/try any of the others so I don't know how it fairs up against competition.
 
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