Auction Snipers

Universal

Universal

Universal

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
2,506
Location
London
Not sure if this is ok to post here. These been mentioned in the forums in the past but never used them. Are they worth it? Keep loosing items all the time at the last second.

Any info would be great.
Cheers
 
I never quite understood this, forgive me being a bit blonde..... Say for example 2 people are both bidding on an item that they aren't willing to pay more than a tenner for and are both using ezsniper (or whatever one they choose), how is that going to work? Also how is that any better than me putting in a £10 bid an hour or so before the auction ends?
 
If you put a bid in an hour before then it gives other bidders time to think if they really want the item and if they want to bid again, (I know you should just bid what you want to pay but people don't)

With sniping they have a minute or a few seconds to make a bid, which is often impossible (dueing to loading time of pages etc)
 
It's a psychological thing.

Say for example (taking the two people's names I can see directly above this window) that Muban is selling something that both DiG and I really want.

I'm prepared to pay a tenner for it. DiG doesn't really know how much he wants to pay and hasn't thought about an upper limit. He puts a bid on for a fiver a couple of days before the auction.

I know that I'm not prepared to pay more than £10. I set a maximum bid of £10 shortly after DiG has placed his bet. Because of the way eBay works, it increases the bid to £5.50. DiG sees this, thinks about it and bids £6. My bid is automatically increased to £6.50 and so on and so on. When DiG bids at £10.50 it overrides my bid and because I've set my maximum and walked away he wins the auction.

Alternatively, DiG puts his bid on for a fiver. I set my sniping software to put my maximum bid on of £10.

Five seconds before the end of the auction, my bid of £10 is placed. Because of how eBay works, DiGs bid of £5 is beaten by my bid of £10, but the bid of £5.50 is all that is placed.

I win the auction for £5.50 because DiG hasn't had a chance to see my bid and respond to it.

I'm happy because I've won the auction at less than I was prepared to pay. Muban is happy because her item has suddenly had an increased bid at the last moment. DiG is annoyed because I outbid him in the last few seconds.

I think that explains it.

Right now the serious stuff - What were you auctioning that I just won for £5.50, Mubs?

K.
 
You know that is the first time someone has actually explained it that it made sense. I'd still be interested in seeing how it works if two people have the software though ;)
Feek said:
Right now the serious stuff - What were you auctioning that I just won for £5.50, Mubs?
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OOooo um let me have a think about that :)
 
Muban said:
I'd still be interested in seeing how it works if two people have the software though ;)
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It's down to whichever bid goes on last for the highest. If two people set the same maximum bid then it's purely down to the luck of the draw as to which bid hits the server at which time.

I imagine the chances of two people using the same sniping service on the same auction and setting bids the same are very slim though.

I tend to set my maximum as a slightly unusual figure, not a nice round figure such as £9.41 to minimise the chance of duplicating the previous maximum bid.

Vanilla said:
His virginity
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How could someone else be selling that (even if it existed)? :p
K.
 
http://www.ezsniper.com (it was very tempting to post a referrer link and get three free snipes for everyone who signs up but that's not allowed on here), it's not software it's an online service. I'd not be happy running something on my own PC because it then relies on your PC being on at the end of the auction and you having a good connection. Any kind of network/internet lag and you'd risk the chance of missing the end of the auction.

Because they place the bid for you, you have to give them your account name and password which some people will not like, but a bid can't be placed without it.

I've used them for years with no problems at all.

/edit - Forgot to mention the cost. It's a percentage of your winning bid, I can't remember the exact figure but it's very cheap.

K.
 
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