Auction Sniping Services

[SwiftDeath]

So it's come to my understanding that even though this site is home to some of the greatest ebay sniffer dogs I have ever had the pleasure and misfortune to meet, people still don't use a sniping service

This is only my opinion and not endorsed by CE.org in anyway

As with most things in life, you mileage may vary

So first off:

Potential Benefits to sniping an auction

1. Defense against shill bidding - basically if you bid early, some sellers may try to artificially bid up the auction with fake ebay accounts, setting a snipe makes this somewhat less appealing to sellers in my opinion

2. Time Management - Set a snipe and forget it. Work the system not the other way around. If an auction is ending in australia sunday morning, I ain't staying up for it. I like my sleep

3. Helps to set price limit - I hinted at this in number 1 but basically to set a snipe bid you have to choose your maximum bid from the get go and this alleviates bidding wars. Sure you may lose but it makes you honestly assess how much X and Y are worth to you. Not I was outbid thus I must bid again

Potential Downsides to sniping services

1. Service is using your ebay id/password to bid - security issue for some maybe, have never had a problem across the 4 or so that I've tried. Most are fairly professional

2. Machines are not infallible - servers fail, data gets lost/corrupted but nowadays that is quite rare, never had a single mistake from the 300 - 400 snipe bids I've placed in the last 6 months or so

So months back I went searching for a sniping service due to a mix of shill bidding by sellers and late ending european auctions

I tried maybe 3 services before I found Gixen

www.gixen.com

Benefits of Gixen compared to other sniping services:

1. FREE version that is rather feature-rich- you can snipe to your hearts content, no limits, no fees etc. however there are some advertisements, been using it 6 months or more and don't notice them anymore to be honest

2. 6 USD a year for Premium Version - removes ads, adds redundancy to the sniping, allows control of the timing of the snipe, more complicated group bidding I think

3. Bids in the currency of the auction -fairly standard practice but still useful to know and plan for

Negatives of Gixen compared to other sniping services

1. 3rd Party Ads - The free version has ad bars on the site, never really bothered me

2. Gixen Promotion Screen - For the free version, every time you login you have to click past a buy gixen premium/ help promote gixen page. Again don't notice it anymore

So yeah I highly recommend trying it out for an auction or two personally as it really just works

Basics of how Gixen Functions:

You log in to Gixen using your ebay id/password and use the ebay item number to set up a snipe bid

On the free accounts Gixen snipes anywhere from 4 to 9 seconds before the end of the auction and again I have never had any problems with it

I will try to add my experiences with the other 2 - 3 services I tried before Gixen but will have to refresh my memory as it's been a while

If anyone has experience with Gixen or another sniping service, please feel free to share it and I will try to add it to OP if appropriate

[twistedsymphony]

I've been using auctionsniper.com for years and I don't even place normal bids anymore... if it's not buy it now I'm sniping.

I lose about half the time and a win about half the time but I never overpay and never have to camp out for the end of the auction :beer:

auctionsniper's price seems a bit higher.. you get 3 free snipes to start and after that they charge 1% of the item value if you win... so $1 for a $100 item with a minimum of 25 cents and a max of $10.

One feature I LOVE about Auction sniper is bid groups. Basically you put a bunch of items in a group and it will auto snipe every one of them until lit wins one and then it stops.

So for example say you wanted to buy a Game and there are 15 auctions that all end at different times. You want to get it for a really low price so you setup all 15 auctions as snipes and put them into a bid group.

Auction sniper will snipe the first ending auction and if it loses, then it tries to snipe the 2nd and 3rd and then 4, etc.

as soon as it wins an auction in a group it stops sniping.

I did this when the Wii was first released and was going on eBay for twice retail, I managed to snip one for only $20 over retail using bid groups... there were so many auctions on eBay that I managed to snipe one in the middle of the night that most other people happened to miss.

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Given the price difference Gixen sounds like a better deal, but I have no idea if they offer bid groups like AuctionSniper.

[HIPPEEDUDE]

The only benefit i see in a service such is this is as you said the whole different time zone thing. This is the major hurdle we all face sooner or later. I cant remeber what service i tried but the damn thing never worked right. I might give the gixen thingy a try on something i dont really want & see what happens. If it doesnt work,i will blame you:lmao:

[SwiftDeath]

I've been using auctionsniper.com for years and I don't even place normal bids anymore... if it's not buy it now I'm sniping.

I lose about half the time and a win about half the time but I never overpay and never have to camp out for the end of the auction :beer:

I'm the exact same way

I snipe every auction now just out of how easy it is

Helps me to control what I will and won't pay for things


One feature I LOVE about Auction sniper is bid groups. Basically you put a bunch of items in a group and it will auto snipe every one of them until lit wins one and then it stops.

So for example say you wanted to buy a Game and there are 15 auctions that all end at different times. You want to get it for a really low price so you setup all 15 auctions as snipes and put them into a bid group.

Auction sniper will snipe the first ending auction and if it loses, then it tries to snipe the 2nd and 3rd and then 4, etc.

as soon as it wins an auction in a group it stops sniping.

I did this when the Wii was first released and was going on eBay for twice retail, I managed to snip one for only $20 over retail using bid groups... there were so many auctions on eBay that I managed to snipe one in the middle of the night that most other people happened to miss.

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Given the price difference Gixen sounds like a better deal, but I have no idea if they offer bid groups like AuctionSniper.

Yeah forgot to mention it but Gixen does offer group bidding (aka dutch bidding). I just never use it so forgot about it but it looks reasonably good

You can set up to ten different bidding groups on gixen from the look of it and it's available in the free version as well :D

Not sure if there is a limit to the number of auctions you can have in a single bidding group though

Gixen mirror just adds higher fault tolerance (or lower, I can never remember which is better)

The only benefit i see in a service such is this is as you said the whole different time zone thing. This is the major hurdle we all face sooner or later. I cant remeber what service i tried but the damn thing never worked right. I might give the gixen thingy a try on something i dont really want & see what happens. If it doesnt work,i will blame you:lmao:

Yep it's great for time management

Tbh gixen just works for me but it is very important to realize it won't magically get you through an ebay seller's bidder blocks (i.e. if seller blocks buyers from other countries etc.)

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Yep it's great for time management

Tbh gixen just works for me but it is very important to realize it won't magically get you through an ebay seller's bidder blocks (i.e. if seller blocks buyers from other countries etc.)

Generally before auction end i do a simple test,if you can message the seller you can bid on their item regardless of wether they ship to you or not. People have the general idea if it say no ship to you that you cant bid but,so far this hasnt been the case.

[SwiftDeath]

Generally before auction end i do a simple test,if you can message the seller you can bid on their item regardless of wether they ship to you or not. People have the general idea if it say no ship to you that you cant bid but,so far this hasnt been the case.

Yep never hurts to contact a seller :thumb:

And I usually test the waters too but then still place a snipe lol

If only veteran ebayers shared all their secrets :spiteful:

[KnightOfTruth]

You dirty little sneaks, every last one of you! And here I was thinking that I'm competing against somebody hanging around during the last 30 seconds of the auction, pulling eye-crusties out of the corners of their eyes and chugging energy drinks to stay alert just like me... I call penalty! :protest:

[SwiftDeath]

You dirty little sneaks, every last one of you! And here I was thinking that I'm competing against somebody hanging around during the last 30 seconds of the auction, pulling eye-crusties out of the corners of their eyes and chugging energy drinks to stay alert just like me... I call penalty! :protest:

lol you all know me

If I'm willing to show this strategy, can you imagine what else I must have up my sleeve? ;)

[comaamen86]

no me gusto for me ill let someone else do it then buy it off them for 3 times times the price

[KnightOfTruth]

There's an auction ending down the road sometime that'll be in the wee hours of the morning, if I didn't care about it, I'd probably use it as a dry-run to test this service out, but I think I'll just have to suck it up and pull an all-nighter for this one ;)

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Yep never hurts to contact a seller :thumb:

And I usually test the waters too but then still place a snipe lol

If only veteran ebayers shared all their secrets :spiteful:

Well,heres some tricks for you. Send the seller a message if you really have to ask something important but never ask if they will ship international,can be a bad mistake to ask this. If you dont have to ask anything,just check & check only that you are able to message them,if you can then you know you can bid. If you wish to ask them if they will send international ask when its less than 24 hours till the auction ends. By doing this they seller cant put the reply in the listing & cant alter the listing to suit intenational bids. If your going to ask if they will ship it to you still be wary of the less than 24 hours rule,i have had sellers cancel auctions with less than a few hours to go because the item has had no bids & then relist with international postage. Heap pain in the bum & you can miss out this way. One example AC Penny arcade poster,no bids & seller cancelled 2 hours before auction end then relisted it with international shipping after i asked about it. Bit peeved about that & then i forgot about the relisted item so missed out on it.
Next lesson,always see what else the seller has listed,saves on postage if they have other items your interested in. If they do have other items you want & have already won something ask them if they will do a buy now price on the other item/items you want. It helps to offer to have the buy now price added to the postage of items you have already won so they dont have to pay any fees. I know this may be a big no no but,it helps & does work. If the seller doesnt have anything else you want just ask them if they have something not listed as yet or they may consider selling that you could be interested in or is similar to the item already won. Suprising what shows up asking this.
Lastly,if your bidding & you have decided you top dollar is $100 for example,add on another $11.99 or something stupid like that. The amount of times i have lost something over one cent or just a few dollars is stupid & not worth the agro. In the same token the amount of times i have won something by a few cents or a couple of dollars more than what i was prepared to bid is worth the happiness knowing you have the item & you outbid someone by a mere few cents.
Thats all the secrets i will share for now,so here endeth the lesson,lol:D

[SwiftDeath]

lol I understand where you're coming from but I consider it a little rude to bid on an auction without asking if it doesn't specify shipping to my country

Sellers are also usually a lot nicer about it if you ask first

That being said there are sometimes the post reply problems you mention but rarely the relist with international shipping at least in my experience

Although I suppose you probably deal with a lot of American ebay sellers this way whereas my experiences are mostly with French/Spanish/German sellers

Oh and it is always always good practice to add .93 or whatever to your max bid

NEVER ever bid 100, always bid 100.93 or better yet 101.93

Again gotta work the system and incremental bidding is an important aspect to ebay

[HIPPEEDUDE]

lol I understand where you're coming from but I consider it a little rude to bid on an auction without asking if it doesn't specify shipping to my country

Sellers are also usually a lot nicer about it if you ask first

That being said there are sometimes the post reply problems you mention but rarely the relist with international shipping at least in my experience

Although I suppose you probably deal with a lot of American ebay sellers this way whereas my experiences are mostly with French/Spanish/German sellers

Oh and it is always always good practice to add .93 or whatever to your max bid

NEVER ever bid 100, always bid 100.93 or better yet 101.93

Again gotta work the system and incremental bidding is an important aspect to ebay

I always do ask if they will ship to me but,i just wait until the seller cant revise the listing to suit international shipping & cant add the answer in the listing. If you ask to early they can change the listing or put the reply in the listing & bang goes any chance of you getting it possibly cheaper than you would have.

The $100 was just an example,for me its always something like $102.99 or what have you. All i was saying was if you feel your maximum is one amount add on at least anther $10-$20 just in case. Worst case scenario is you get outbid but dont feel as bad & best case you win it for possibly a few dollars more than your maximum.

Also,always ask for a buy now price if you can,offer to pay them directly through paypal as an incentive. This also works.

Have had sellers from the US,Germany,France & the UK all either cancel the auction then relist with international or agree to a price then sell it cheaper because it was more convenient. I have have only one exception from a UK seller that i bought the Darksiders Xbox console off. They had a buyer closer & was offering more than me but,despite this they still honored the original agreeement that was negotiated.

Sometimes all this never works. I bought something about 2-3 weeks ago in Italy. The seller agreed to ship it to me,advised me of the cost etc & all was happy. I bought the item & havent heard boo since. No correct invoice to pay,no sorry i have changed my mind or anything. Very very frustrating

[twistedsymphony]

You dirty little sneaks, every last one of you! And here I was thinking that I'm competing against somebody hanging around during the last 30 seconds of the auction, pulling eye-crusties out of the corners of their eyes and chugging energy drinks to stay alert just like me... I call penalty! :protest:
Waiting for an auction to end...
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/003451805/584455125_20322722_answer_1_xlarge.png

I used to manually snipe all the time, but I've got better things to do :P

...
Oh and it is always always good practice to add .93 or whatever to your max bid

NEVER ever bid 100, always bid 100.93 or better yet 101.93

THIS... I always add some "change" to the end of my bid amount, this crucial when sniping.

because if you snipe at 100.00 and someone else snipes at 100.01... they win

[Dr_Jengo]

Damn.. now I must bid against machines as well with everyone possibly wanting to use this now.. Curse you Swift!!

Nah.. just kidding, I'm sure it has more benefits to use it. I'm actually considering using it after this happened to me that day..

Was watching an auction.. started off at $0.99 with a BIN price.. Didn't want to BIN so I bid early. Got outbid with a few hours left.. No worries, I'll snipe it manually later I thought..

So with 20 mins left to the auction, I got ready to snipe. It was about 1.40am. Auction ends at about 2.00am. I was sitting on the bed..

1.45am: Ok man, I'm ready..
1.50am: Alright this is it, this auction is mine!
1.52am: Here it goes.. this thing is going down!
.
.
.
.
.
2.25am: Oh crap! I dozed off!!!!!! :pooryou:

To make matters worse, nobody else bid on that auction and it went for a super low price at $3+. Really crappy man. Been looking for those for quite a while and at that price, I really felt like kicking myself.

So yea, that was when I thought to myself I should have used the sniping tool..

[blockbusterboy]

1.50am: Alright this is it, this auction is mine!
1.52am: Here it goes.. this thing is going down!
.
.
.
.
.
2.25am: Oh crap! I dozed off!!!!!! :pooryou:



:rotf: :rotf: :rotf::rotf:

[KnightOfTruth]

So with 20 mins left to the auction, I got ready to snipe. It was about 1.40am. Auction ends at about 2.00am. I was sitting on the bed..

1.45am: Ok man, I'm ready..
1.50am: Alright this is it, this auction is mine!
1.52am: Here it goes.. this thing is going down!
.

2.25am: Oh crap! I dozed off!!!!!! :pooryou:


Nooooooo.... This JUST happened to me last night, I even set an alarm and everything but I set it for 15 minutes before it ended thinking it'd give me time to "wake up"... Unfortunately it gave me time to fall back asleep, missed a great deal on a Halo Reach Press Kit (the briefcase) :'(

[Redmagster]

Superb useful thread full of good hints on winning on eBay.

Even to those who are not members of CE.org...... :facepalm:

So now we'll be up against all the casual lurkers too.... :this:

[Ayiu]

ebay Germany prohibits the use of auction sniping tools :(

[Redmagster]

Have you actually tried it?!?

I saw an auction once that said 'no sniping' interesting I thought... And they're going to police it how??

[Ayiu]

Have you actually tried it?!?

I saw an auction once that said 'no sniping' interesting I thought... And they're going to police it how??

Never tried it but just because I didn't get that tool to work :lol: After that I read in their policy that it is prohibited anyway and that you will risk a lifetime ban.

[Redmagster]

Never tried it but just because I didn't get that tool to work :lol: After that I read in their policy that it is prohibited anyway and that you will risk a lifetime ban.

Wow that's rough!! Especially as overseas bidders can use it... :nono:

[SwiftDeath]

Never tried it but just because I didn't get that tool to work :lol: After that I read in their policy that it is prohibited anyway and that you will risk a lifetime ban.

The only way ebay could enforce that would be logging IP addresses and generating a list of potential sniping addresses

Didn't the Berlin court declare ebays ban illegal?

http://m.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Sniper-Software-doch-legal-85845.html?from-classic=1

Also eBay US allows it

I've used gixen quite a bit on ebay Germany without any issues

Super helpful for time management in those cases

[Redmagster]

Swifty is spot on about one of the benefits of sniping is that it cuts out shill bidding but in that way it can also keep prices down which eBay hates...

Add to that that you don't get the 'I've been outbid so I MUST win' which over inflates prices (how many times have you see an auction end higher than those bidding could get that item on another listing for a buy it now?!?!)

AND that new ebayers must get demoralised when they get outbid at the last second (as I was so many time until I googled to find out why....) and you can see why eBay would not support the practice...

[Redmagster]

The only way ebay could enforce that would be logging IP addresses and generating a list of potential sniping addresses

Didn't the Berlin court declare ebayers ban illegal?

http://m.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Sniper-Software-doch-legal-85845.html?from-classic=1

Also eBay US allows it

I've used gixen quite a bit on ebay Germany without any issues

Super helpful for time management in those cases

Since these snipers bid from your account there is no way (without extreme effort) it can be proved that you didn't just place a vey late bid...

[SwiftDeath]

Since these snipers bid from your account there is no way (without extreme effort) it can be proved that you didn't just place a vey late bid...

While I agree you couldn't prove it 100% you could see where the bid data came from so for instance if ebay collected data on our bid behavior which I'm sure they do they could see where on the Internet out bids are coming from and the sniping behavior

When you aggregate the data across individuals, if quite a few snipers all use the same IP address (or range) to bid you could red flag that as a sniping service and block it

That being said I doubt ebay Germany does that as they like money :spiteful:

So their policy is certainly in place to discourage the practice rather than actually stop it

[Redmagster]

While I agree you couldn't prove it 100% you could see where the bid data came from so for instance if ebay collected data on our bid behavior which I'm sure they do they could see where on the Internet out bids are coming from and the sniping behavior

When you aggregate the data across individuals, if quite a few snipers all use the same IP address (or range) to bid you could red flag that as a sniping service and block it

That being said I doubt ebay Germany does that as they like money :spiteful:

So their policy is certainly in place to discourage the practice rather than actually stop it

That's true enough and eBay does employ some pretty powerful algorithms to monitor for repeated strange behaviours such as repeated cancellations, ended items, 'I haven't received my item yet' reports. I'm quite interested sometimes what they do pick up when you consider the daily activity on any single site...

[Ayiu]

yea, ebay Germany banned automated sniping services completely but it was declared as illegal so they had to revoke it. That's why they made it part of their policy and threat people with bans. Don't know how it works maybe they ban your home address, too?

[Lemur]

I bid $10,000 for items I really want so I win them for sure. No need for sniping :D

[HIPPEEDUDE]

I bid $10,000 for items I really want so I win them for sure. No need for sniping :D

Wow,thats so logically ingenious,i dont think anyone thought of that one before:poke: One small problem,you enter $10,000 on something you really want but some other bidder who really wants it as well enters a bid of $9,000,so you end up paying $9,001 for something worth possibly a few hundred dollars:lmao:

[Lemur]

Wow,thats so logically ingenious,i dont think anyone thought of that one before:poke: One small problem,you enter $10,000 on something you really want but some other bidder who really wants it as well enters a bid of $9,000,so you end up paying $9,001 for something worth possibly a few hundred dollars:lmao:

That's a danger but has not happened at all. But the key is to win it then I can decide if I really wanna pay that price. If you don't win you don't have that option at all. :wave:

[KnightOfTruth]

Ingenious, I should've done that on that Halo press kit, darn! ;)

[twistedsymphony]

I bid $10,000 for items I really want so I win them for sure. No need for sniping :D

unless you've got $10,000 in the bank that could be dangerous, you could get screwed over by shill bids or by someone else employing the same strategy as hippie said.

I can see if you really want something "no matter the cost" but I still wouldn't bid more than I could actually pay.

...unless of course you're actually good for $10K in which case I'd like to point out that I have a good many CEs for sale right now :D

[Brandon Storm]

As a seller; I love you guys.

As a buyer; I hate you.

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Worst case i know of is someone who wasnt going to be around for the auction end,so they bid a stupid number so they knew they would win. Well,good news for them they did win. Bad news for them final sale price $987.85:lmao: See,the problem is if someone gets outbid,more often than not they bid again & again. Sometimes its because they want to win,sometimes its for the sheer hell of it & sometimes they get curious as to how high will the auction go. All it takes is two or three bidders to really want something & the battle has begun. This is why we see stupid prices for things because theres a war on & its damn the cost or casualty of war. Often theres at least one bidder in the war that doesnt want it anymore but they will make sure as hell the other bidder is going to pay stupid money for it.

[SwiftDeath]

Worst case i know of is someone who wasnt going to be around for the auction end,so they bid a stupid number so they knew they would win. Well,good news for them they did win. Bad news for them final sale price $987.85:lmao: See,the problem is if someone gets outbid,more often than not they bid again & again. Sometimes its because they want to win,sometimes its for the sheer hell of it & sometimes they get curious as to how high will the auction go. All it takes is two or three bidders to really want something & the battle has begun. This is why we see stupid prices for things because theres a war on & its damn the cost or casualty of war. Often theres at least one bidder in the war that doesnt want it anymore but they will make sure as hell the other bidder is going to pay stupid money for it.

Right and that's called inflating an auction

Dangerous game though if you end up the highest bidder

This is why I think my third pro (point) for sniping is valid

Placing a snipe forces you to evaluate how much that item is to you

Helps you keep things in perspective better imo

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Right and that's called inflating an auction

Dangerous game though if you end up the highest bidder

This is why I think my third pro (point) for sniping is valid

Placing a snipe forces you to evaluate how much that item is to you

Helps you keep things in perspective better imo

Not really,theres still a possibilty of someone using said snipe service & still entering a silly amount in an effort to win. Still wont work you say,well what if the current highest bidder also put in a stupid amount. You enter your snipe at say $500 believing it wont go near that & your safe but assured of a win. However the current highest bidder unbeknown to you has entered $420 or something like that. Bingo,stupid price payable & item still sold for stupid price. It can & has probably happened more times than anyone realises me thinks. I think its called infinite probability:lmao:

[SwiftDeath]

Not really,theres still a possibilty of someone using said snipe service & still entering a silly amount in an effort to win. Still wont work you say,well what if the current highest bidder also put in a stupid amount. You enter your snipe at say $500 believing it wont go near that & your safe but assured of a win. However the current highest bidder unbeknown to you has entered $420 or something like that. Bingo,stupid price payable & item still sold for stupid price. It can & has probably happened more times than anyone realises me thinks. I think its called infinite probability:lmao:

I suppose this is appropriate

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

[HIPPEEDUDE]

I suppose this is appropriate

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

I raise your Douglas Adam with an Albert Einstein

"Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning."

[SwiftDeath]

I raise your Douglas Adam with an Albert Einstein

"Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning."

Touche good sir ;)

I still say sniping helps control what you're willing to pay if even just by stopping you from getting into a bidding war

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Touche good sir ;)

I still say sniping helps control what you're willing to pay if even just by stopping you from getting into a bidding war

Well,i will admit at times it doesnt control me,lol. If its something i really really want i have two ebay windows open. In one i bid my utmost top dollar i would pay & in the other a stupid amount i would pay if i have to or if i get out bid. I snipe with my top dollar first & if i get out bid,i just snipe with my stupid amount:D Hate loosing an auction over what so far has been a few cents or at most 2 or 3 dollars. Just waiting for the time its really going to bite me on the arse hard:lmao:

[Lemur]

unless you've got $10,000 in the bank that could be dangerous, you could get screwed over by shill bids or by someone else employing the same strategy as hippie said.

I can see if you really want something "no matter the cost" but I still wouldn't bid more than I could actually pay.

...unless of course you're actually good for $10K in which case I'd like to point out that I have a good many CEs for sale right now :D


i) Bid $10,000 -> win at $5,000 -> I think "Do I wanna pay $5,000?" If I'm not willing to pay at least I had the chance to let it go.

ii) Snipe $500 -> item sells to someone else at $520 -> Bang head on wall

In (i) I have the option whether to pay the final price, in (ii) the choice is no longer in my hands.

[SwiftDeath]

i) Bid $10,000 -> win at $5,000 -> I think "Do I wanna pay $5,000?" If I'm not willing to pay at least I had the chance to let it go.

ii) Snipe $500 -> item sells to someone else at $520 -> Bang head on wall

In (i) I have the option whether to pay the final price, in (ii) the choice is no longer in my hands.

Right but with unpaid cases and the like don't you worry you might screw up that ebay account if you don't pay enough? :scratch:

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Right but with unpaid cases and the like don't you worry you might screw up that ebay account if you don't pay enough? :scratch:

Easy fix-have more than one account:D I think its like 4 or 5 times you can cancel for whatever reason then its a ban hammer or something. I think its also recorded down for all to see as well

[Redmagster]

Whenever I lose an auction over what seems like 2 or 3 cents (or pence if you're from the good old UK!!) it does me good to remind myself that the winning bid may well not have been the limit the winner set...

Put it this way - you might have been up against Lemur... :suicide:

So no amount of extra pence would have helped you then....

[SwiftDeath]

Whenever I lose an auction over what seems like 2 or 3 cents (or pence if you're from the good old UK!!) it does me good to remind myself that the winning bid may well not have been the limit the winner set...

Put it this way - you might have been up against Lemur... :suicide:

So no amount of extra pence would have helped you then....

You know what my first thought was when Lemur said his bit?

I wonder if he bids $10000.93

:rotf:

[Redmagster]

You know what my first thought was when Lemur said his bit?

I wonder if he bids $10000.93

:rotf:

:lmao:

Sometimes I like to wait out an auction and bid the good old fashioned way... Bit like washing up when you have a dishwasher - feels like a treat occasionally...!!! Finger twitching over the submit bid button, panicking and changing your max with 10 seconds to go hoping the signal doesn't drop out.... :beg:

[SwiftDeath]

:lmao:

Sometimes I like to wait out an auction and bid the good old fashioned way... Bit like washing up when you have a dishwasher - feels like a treat occasionally...!!! Finger twitching over the submit bid button, panicking and changing your max with 10 seconds to go hoping the signal doesn't drop out.... :beg:

I occassionally watch auctions end assuming it's practical but rarely bid on them myself

Usually let the snipe service do its work

[Redmagster]

I occassionally watch auctions end assuming it's practical but rarely bid on them myself

Usually let the snipe service do its work

Lazy arse.....

[SwiftDeath]

Lazy arse.....

Pretty much

Ebay makes you press like 3 buttons

Way too much work :P

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Whenever I lose an auction over what seems like 2 or 3 cents (or pence if you're from the good old UK!!) it does me good to remind myself that the winning bid may well not have been the limit the winner set...

Put it this way - you might have been up against Lemur... :suicide:

So no amount of extra pence would have helped you then....

The flipside to this is you will also be forever wondering if i did enter those few extra cents would i have won. So unfortuately you have to remind yourself of this as well. Fleabay is like a legalized gambling service,you roll the dice & hope your number comes up. Occassionally it does & occassionally it doesnt but either way the house still wins,lol:D

[Lemur]

Right but with unpaid cases and the like don't you worry you might screw up that ebay account if you don't pay enough? :scratch:

I haven't had any unpaid cases so far. All won at prices I'm willing to pay :thumb:

You know what my first thought was when Lemur said his bit?

I wonder if he bids $10000.93

:rotf:

I bid more than that! :secret:

The flipside to this is you will also be forever wondering if i did enter those few extra cents would i have won. So unfortuately you have to remind yourself of this as well.

That's precisely the shitty feeling I hate. So my method ensures that if I lose the item, it's because I did not want to pay for it. My call. :beach:

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Entering a $10000.93 bid has its logic to a point. Sure you may win the auction but theres a steamroll effect where other sellers see the stupid price it supposedly sold for & then inflate their prices accordingly. Doing this is almost just as bad as bidding on something you have no intention of buying,you just want to see how high it will go if its to high you dont pay or you retract your bid. Either way the next time it or a similar item is listed its done so at at a ridiculous price to match what it "apparently" sold for previously.

[Lemur]

Entering a $10000.93 bid has its logic to a point. Sure you may win the auction but theres a steamroll effect where other sellers see the stupid price it supposedly sold for & then inflate their prices accordingly. Doing this is almost just as bad as bidding on something you have no intention of buying,you just want to see how high it will go if its to high you dont pay or you retract your bid. Either way the next time it or a similar item is listed its done so at at a ridiculous price to match what it "apparently" sold for previously.

I have never had an unpaid item, the auctions ended at reasonable prices I was willing to pay. :v:

As for inflating prices, if nobody buys at those prices they will come down. The high price may even attract more sellers to sell on. Result would still be a general drop in price. The price is only sustained by buyers willing to pay.

[Matt16]

I've never tried one of these before, I must have been living in a cave actually as I didn't know they existed :scratch:

I've added an item to that Gixen that Lord Swift suggested so will see how I do :D

If it doesn't work I'll have to find the Swift fella :jason:

:P

[SwiftDeath]

I've never tried one of these before, I must have been living in a cave actually as I didn't know they existed :scratch:

I've added an item to that Gixen that Lord Swift suggested so will see how I do :D



I was aware of them for quite a while before I started looking for them but assumed they'd be overly expensive and pretty much everyone besides gixen tends to nickel and dime you. 1% of total sale + 5 cents a transaction etc.

Regular gixen is free :D

Mirror (Premium) is $6 a year which is still a great deal although haven't done it yet myself :rotf:


If it doesn't work I'll have to find the Swift fella :jason:

:P

Good luck :sherlock: me ;)

Nah I've never had a problem with gixen that wasn't my own fault

Sometimes I bid too low (but that has its own merits :P), sometimes I fail to check if I can actually bid on it in the first place (i.e. US ebayers can bid etc.)

[LyricalOne]

Often theres at least one bidder in the war that doesnt want it anymore but they will make sure as hell the other bidder is going to pay stupid money for it.

:rotf:

Not gonna lie, I still like the fun of the good old manual snipping, it's the thrill of hunt :snipe:

And I am that bidder who knows won't win the item, but I'll still bid for the hell of making the winner pay more than they bargained for.
I mean there is one way at least that you make sure you don't overbid the top bidder ;)

But with connections messing up at the "right" time and others using sniping, I too have thought about using one (although I haven't yet)

[SwiftDeath]

So a couple of people said they'd try out a sniping service based on this thread

Any thoughts from those who did?

Dislike anything I suggest to be less than helpful :surrender:

[Matt16]

So a couple of people said they'd try out a sniping service based on this thread

Any thoughts from those who did?

Dislike anything I suggest to be less than helpful :surrender:

I only used it for item and that was removed before the auction end so didn't get to see the sniper is action :(

I'll try again on a couple of other things I'm watching

[CanisCanemEdit]

I'm practically an insomniac and when I do sleep, I sleep fairly light. I have always manually sniped my auctions. I knew of these services, but wasn't sure of the reliability.

I have experienced the frustration of trying to buy something and my connection dropping out on me. I tried to bid on an item via my phone while at a theme park and stupid network or interference blocked me. I was so damn pissed off.


Ok, I will try this out and let you know. To echo something mentioned here, if it doesn't work, will have to look for a swift fellow as well. :jason:

[SwiftDeath]

I'm practically an insomniac and when I do sleep, I sleep fairly light. I have always manually sniped my auctions. I knew of these services, but wasn't sure of the reliability.

I have experienced the frustration of trying to buy something and my connection dropping out on me. I tried to bid on an item via my phone while at a theme park and stupid network or interference blocked me. I was so damn pissed off.

Hmmm I'm starting to think I have an unnatural desire for sleep :rotf:

I've never had a problem with gixen in at least 300 - 400 snipes (items I used gixen on)

I like gixen for time management to be honest but also because I'll forget about items otherwise :shrug:


Ok, I will try this out and let you know. To echo something mentioned here, if it doesn't work, will have to look for a swift fellow as well. :jason:

Um just so everyone knows if someone named Deathswiftly comes on here after a long absence from me, he is my twin brother and also has the exact same collection as me :nosleep:

So yeah totally not the same person :poke:

[KnightOfTruth]

Um just so everyone knows if someone named Deathswiftly comes on here after a long absence from me, he is my twin brother and also has the exact same collection as me :nosleep:

So yeah totally not the same person :poke:

:batman: what's that you say? You're NOT Swift? That's funny, cuz you've got the same bottom half of your face and everything - oh well, I guess the scratchy voice isn't the same... so I trust you!

[SwiftDeath]

:batman: what's that you say? You're NOT Swift? That's funny, cuz you've got the same bottom half of your face and everything - oh well, I guess the scratchy voice isn't the same... so I trust you!

Oh no you've found out my true identitiy!!!

Swifty is actually the :batman:


http://t.qkme.me/3su2wh.jpg

[Matt16]

Well I used the sniper and won :D Got a great price on this (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251300112694?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649)

Your Knighthood is here Swifty

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/5650464000/h4B5B79D4/

[SwiftDeath]

Well I used the sniper and won :D Got a great price on this (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251300112694?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649)

Your Knighthood is here Swifty

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/5650464000/h4B5B79D4/

Glad to hear :)

It really is the best option I've found for sniping

I shall uphold my knighthood proudly :D

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbe7cbep9E1qc184to1_500.jpg

[CanisCanemEdit]

I tried it and it didn't work. I'm thinking the bid went past my bid or something, so I didn't get a chance to play.

I'm glad it works.

[SwiftDeath]

I tried it and it didn't work. I'm thinking the bid went past my bid or something, so I didn't get a chance to play.

I'm glad it works.

If you log back into gixen it keeps past bids in the system for around 12 hours or so and will state the reason you didn't win the auction

For me it's because I bid under the current bid when it tries to snipe

[twistedsymphony]

Well I tried Gixen over the weekend, I like that it's free, it placed my bid but I lost the auction.

I was a little disappointed that I never received a notification email about it. Also I noticed that the shortest time span before the auction end is 6 seconds (you can go less on AuctionSniper).

just some comments on the service.

[SwiftDeath]

I don't believe there is any option in gixen that will result in email notifications from gixen (I.E. if you pay for the service)

Also snipe time can be chosen in the paid gixen service (mirror)

Wider choice of snipe time choices (3,6,8,10,12 and 15 seconds).

Not sure why you would choose anything but 3 seconds though

But yeah there are certainly pros and cons to most systems

I've never lost a gixen set bid due to gixen

Always because I'm not willing to bid that high or am not allowed to bid on it

What email notifications does auctionsniper send out anyways?

Warnings of upcoming bids?

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Well,i have bit the bullet & tried it as well on something i wasnt fussed on but didnt win. Realised afterwards about the whole six second thing,which is a little stinky if someone has a three second thingy in place. Still not really sure about it to be honest,i may use it on things that i am not too worried about & if the time is stupid early in the morning,other than that dont know. I like the whole set & forget thing but i always like to see an end of the auction,get a feel for what the other bidders might do,if the other bidders have bid on similar items or the sellers other items. You never know what other bidders will do.

I bid on one auction today,no bids at $20 & 2 min to go then someone bids. At one min to go they bid again,at 30 seconds to go they bid yet again. So at this stage i am thinking poo bum,i am not getting this cheap anymore. I throw a bid in with 4 seconds to go & win at $24.56. I am buggered if i know why the first bidder even bid 3 times just to go to like $24. Gets more stupid,same bidder bid on another item from the same seller,starting price $20 bids 3 times again & i won the item at $21.50. This is the sort of fun you miss out on,the thrill & the rush of being one step ahead with mere seconds to go. Use a snipe its like you walk in & its "oh,did i win that,great". Doing a manual snipe is a thrill ride that can be addictive,lol

[SwiftDeath]

Well,i have bit the bullet & tried it as well on something i wasnt fussed on but didnt win. Realised afterwards about the whole six second thing,which is a little stinky if someone has a three second thingy in place. Still not really sure about it to be honest,i may use it on things that i am not too worried about & if the time is stupid early in the morning,other than that dont know. I like the whole set & forget thing but i always like to see an end of the auction,get a feel for what the other bidders might do,if the other bidders have bid on similar items or the sellers other items. You never know what other bidders will do.

I bid on one auction today,no bids at $20 & 2 min to go then someone bids. At one min to go they bid again,at 30 seconds to go they bid yet again. So at this stage i am thinking poo bum,i am not getting this cheap anymore. I throw a bid in with 4 seconds to go & win at $24.56. I am buggered if i know why the first bidder even bid 3 times just to go to like $24. Gets more stupid,same bidder bid on another item from the same seller,starting price $20 bids 3 times again & i won the item at $21.50. This is the sort of fun you miss out on,the thrill & the rush of being one step ahead with mere seconds to go. Use a snipe its like you walk in & its "oh,did i win that,great". Doing a manual snipe is a thrill ride that can be addictive,lol

To be honest it really doesn't matter if it's 3 or 6 seconds

Manual snipers can bid closer to the end I guess but at the end of the day it's all about your maximum bid

I really dislike bidding more than I want to on something

So rarely feel bad about what I spend because of sniping

I suppose at the end of the day it's about what you prefer

I dislike watching the end of an auction as being outbid will likely make me bid more than my maximum amount etc.

[twistedsymphony]

I don't believe there is any option in gixen that will result in email notifications from gixen (I.E. if you pay for the service)

...

What email notifications does auctionsniper send out anyways?

Warnings of upcoming bids?

There are a number of different notifications that you can choose to received

the one that I care about is: if the auction price goes above your snipe amount before it's over.

if this happens DAYS or HOURS before the snipe it gives you a chance to reconsider how much you want to snipe for.

if this happens in the last few seconds of the snipe such that your snipe never gets placed (because it's too low) then it's nice to have that end of auction confirmation... since you wont be getting one from eBay since no bid was ever placed.

[SwiftDeath]

There are a number of different notifications that you can choose to received

the one that I care about is: if the auction price goes above your snipe amount before it's over.

if this happens DAYS or HOURS before the snipe it gives you a chance to reconsider how much you want to snipe for.

if this happens in the last few seconds of the snipe such that your snipe never gets placed (because it's too low) then it's nice to have that end of auction confirmation... since you wont be getting one from eBay since no bid was ever placed.

I can see the usefulness in that

Doesn't bother me that much but I guess I snipe without looking back???

I certainly don't win everything I want though

[twistedsymphony]

yeah it's not a huge deal... but a lot of times I place snips for stuff that doesn't end for another whole week. Then I end up forgetting about it :lol:

[HIPPEEDUDE]

Well,i now officially give thanks for the mention of this service. I am now a convert & have subscribed to Gixen after i accidently discovered a nice little loophole by using the service to bid on items. Lets see if anyone else can figure out the loophole,lol:D

[SwiftDeath]

Well,i now officially give thanks for the mention of this service. I am now a convert & have subscribed to Gixen after i accidently discovered a nice little loophole by using the service to bid on items. Lets see if anyone else can figure out the loophole,lol:D

Good to hear but now I feel foolish for not knowing the loophole it provides :scratch:

Hmm somehow lets you through some buyer restrictions maybe?

Probably not that as I'm still restricted by any restriction imposed by normal buyer blocks

[LowlyAssassin]

Oh loopholes

Short of winning the auction at a lower price then other people actually bid
I can't see anything useful in any way
As I can already bid on any item from any destination thanks to Google maps

[LowlyAssassin]

Loophole as follows
Maybe
If you place a legit bid of 5000 or a huge amount to make you the highest bidder (through normal eBay)

Retract your bid saying you typed in the wrong amount

Then put your price your willing to bid into gixen
You will guaranteed win even if someone bids more

Oh if only that where true

[Redmagster]

Well,i now officially give thanks for the mention of this service. I am now a convert & have subscribed to Gixen after i accidently discovered a nice little loophole by using the service to bid on items. Lets see if anyone else can figure out the loophole,lol:D

Does it have anything to do with other bidders??

[nipperkipper]

Well,i now officially give thanks for the mention of this service. I am now a convert & have subscribed to Gixen after i accidently discovered a nice little loophole by using the service to bid on items. Lets see if anyone else can figure out the loophole,lol:D

Maybe allowing you to bid on US items that say no international shipping? i'm intrigued

[LowlyAssassin]

Making.othee peolles snipes on same auction fail