could somebody at AS pls have a look at the lead time versus actual time? specially in europe (i have checked with snipes in germany, france and the UK) i usually had lead time set at 2 seconds only, and all snipes were done 5-7 seconds before auction end.

somehow the european and US EBAY clocks might not have been synchronized well over the past two years (europe running about 5 seconds late).

but now, last few weeks, even though my lead is still set a 2 seconds, all snipes are done actual well over 30 seconds before (last one today 50 seconds!) which is REALLY too long.

anybody else noticed that or similar?

greetings - heinz -

Heinz - AS adjusts the lead time depending on server/network speeds - they can be particularly slow on Sundays, hence AS's adjustment.

No need to set your snipe to 2 seconds (I use 8) as it's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest. As long as you snipe in the last 30 seconds or so, no-one has time to react to your bid. Setting it to 2 seconds risks the snipe not being placed at all!

R2

having had it a two seconds actually placed the snipe (in europe) always 5-10 seconds before the end, and n e v e r - e v e r missed a snipe.

when i go for items in the USA, 2 seconds really is too risky, so i use 8, which usually placed the bid 5-12 seconds before the end.

but 40 or 50 seconds, as mentioned, is really too much, because that leaves enough time to even place a bid (or two) manually, and easily.

greetings - heinz -

fair point - let's see what Sara has to say about that.

R2

All of eBays servers are in San Jose, California. Even eBay Tim-buk-tu's severs are in San Jose.

quote:

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Originally posted by Sniper Sara B.:
All of eBays servers are in San Jose, California. Even eBay Tim-buk-tu's severs are in San Jose.

---

Thats handy to know, considering Tim-buk-tu isnt too far from me

i set a snipe for 2 seconds today on eBay US, and it was placed with an 8 second time. I lost the auction because someone else placed a bid on the same item, and it was placed 3 second before the auction closed. My bid amount was almost $30 more than the previous bid on a $170 item. Do I need to set my snipes for silly high prices or what?

has anyone touched on the subject of two AS users trying to snipe the same item? this is a service we pay for, I think AS should take the earlier placed snipe, regardless of time or bid.

If someone placed a bid after you and won, then did they bid more? If you will give us your auction #, Puppy will probably run a table for you and show you exactly what happened.

And, welcome to our forum!!

Twizz

I'd be happy to print the auction for you, but you already seem to realize (almost) what happened. What was the current price after your bid? I doubt very much the winner bid in response to yours. I guess it's possible, but not likely.

The winners bid was probably planned well in advance, just like yours was. What if someone bid 5 seconds before you did with a max $25 above current price. Would they be making the same claim about you winning because their bid was place to early?

Re multiple bids on the same auction... I have to agree with AS policy. To be fair, any snipe placed before auction end should be accepted (just like at ebay). Otherwise, we would all have to be at our computers every hour of the day.

Not much comfort, but at least you know the winner paid to much. It's very rare that a similar or identical item doesn't show up again soon.

Luck to ya, and WELCOME.

This time difference is becoming more of a problem. for example. I had a bid on, and when I viewed the page right at the end of the auction, it showed I had won. When I refreshed the page, it actually showed a different winner!!! Yes I know, it can't be done, but I know what I saw. Also, I had another snipe running with 8 seconds to go and it went off 45 seconds before. I sent an email to AS asking for an explanation about the second incident and got told to go somewhere else and got insulted for my trouble. I didn't know AS support were so aggressive. My question is, how can we rely on sniper if it wo't do as it's claimed ie snipe the auction in the last few seconds, when we have to start adding 30 secs etc to our snipes? May as well do it manually anyway. Afterall, that is what the service is supposed to be about and that is what we pay the premium for isn't it?

If you get a weird message or what-have-you, try this trick to record a screen dump:

1. With the message on the screen, press CTRL- and Print Screen (the print screen button is to the right of F12 on this keyboard).
This puts a print of your screen into the clipboard. Try ALT and Print Screen for just the current (focused) window.

2. Open WORD or MSPAINT or your favourite image handler and paste in the screen dump you just captured.

3. Using FTP or Photobucket or what-have-you, stick the image up onto the web and link to it from your post, then everyone can see the strange message.

Bit late now, I know, but worth a try!

R2

Hey Bob's Dad - please post a transcript of the response by AS Support here for all to see - sadly it sounds a bit familiar...

R2

Yeah, the one time I dealt with AS 'support', it was like I was dealing with an obstreperous teenager, probably because that's exactly what he was!

I digress. There's a theoretical reason to extend your lead times a bit. If two snipe bidders place identical bids, the first one wins, so you might as well be the first one at (say) ten seconds, rather than the second one at (say) two seconds. This should also work to protect you against incomplete bid increments, which are treated effectively as equal bids.

Suppose an item goes into the last minute with a highest proxy bid of $50. You have a programmed snipe of $75.01 at 10sec, so the price goes to $51. Joe Blow also has a programmed snipe of $75.99 , but his is set to go at 5sec. When his bid's placed, the price goes to $75. You still win, even though your bid was $0.98 lower than his. But if Joe Blow had set his snipe for 15sec instead of 5sec, he would have won.

Nobody on the planet has a fast enough connection to respond to an automated snipe bid placed any time in the last 20sec of an auction. Within limitations, there is an advantage to placing your bid first.

Oops. In your scenario, Joe wins for $75.99

Bid increments are counted from the current price, not someones max and highest recorded bid always wins. (earliest incase of a tie)

Same scenario, except high proxy bid is $74.50 with a current price of $50.

• You snipe for $75.01. You're now in the lead and $75.01 is the current price.
• You win because Joe's bid is rejected by eBay as being below the minimum bid of $76.01, but you never know Joe tried to bid. His bid never gets recorded at eBay.