There's a seller who - in about 1 1/2 days - has ten auctions closing for the same item. I want to get either one or two of these items. So I was thinking that I could add all ten of his auctions to a Bid Group and then when I won one (or two, whichever I end up specifying), it'd cancel the other snipes and I'd get what I wanted. However...

...his auctions close at (almost) exactly the same time. Like, to the second. So, how would the Bid Group cope with this? I assume the Bid Group is designed to work with auctions that close at different times, so it has time to recognise when the specified number of auctions has been won, and then cancels the other snipes. Since all the auctions close at exactly the same time, the Bid Group wouldn't have time to be able to recognise I'd won one of the auctions before they all closed, and would proceed to bid on all of the auctions, right? I might end up winning all ten, which I don't want to do. How can I get this to work out?

A quick answer from someone would be extremely appreciated, since his auctions close in a day and a half. Thanks.

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James

James, it's possible to arrange your snipes so the software enters bids sequentially by setting the bid times a few seconds apart. Start with the last item listed on eBay (that's the first one listed by the seller, and it'll go down first, if only by a nanosecond) and set up a bid that will be placed maybe two minutes before auction closing time. Set up another bid on the next-to-last item that will be placed at one minute, 45 seconds before closing. Then set up more bids at 15-second intervals starting at one minute. I don't think you'll need to enter bids on all ten to get just two items. If you win the first two, you'll have 45 seconds to cancel the rest of your bids by checking all the remaining ones you scheduled and doing a bulk delete. But practically speaking, if you don't leave enough time to cancel there's the chance you'll win all of the items you set up bids for. How are your reflexes

Okay, I follow your logic Steve, but here's my problem.

I place the first two bids at 2 minutes and 1m 45sec. Then I place the other bids at 15 second intervals after the 1 minute mark. I get that. But if all these auctions close at precisely the same time, I have no way of telling that I've won the first two auctions until all of them have closed. I won't have time to cancel the other bids, no matter how I set it up. Unless you're saying that I should cancel all the other bids with about 2 seconds left, but that's extremely risky. The only thing I can think of to do is pick the two auctions I want to bid on and hope I win them. There's no other way of doing it.

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James

James, you'll get some indication on the first two bids as to whether or not you're the high bidder at that point. Whether your bids will hold up for the next two minutes or so is another matter entirely. How popular do these items seem to be? Have all of them attracted one or more bids?

But you're right...you'd be better off choosing two and concentrating on them alone. Do the items have counters on them? If so you might be able to get some idea of which two by picking the two with the fewest "hits" on their counters. Good luck

Hello,

Our Bid Group features takes this problem account. Items must end atleast 30 seconds apart from each other in order to be placed into a Bid Group. This is a safety measure so that our system can quickly determine if you have won an auction, and cancel the rest in time.

Adam R.
Auction Sniper Support

Steve,

Yes, these items are hot right now. There's a lot of demand for them (and you'll appreciate me not disclosing what the item is, since the less people that know about it the more chance I have of winning ) That's why I think the safest thing for me to do is to pick the two I think I'm most likely to win. I also agree that it's a good idea if I take a look at the hits counter before deciding. I hadn't thought of that, thanks. I'm slowly working out the techniques and tactics of a good sniper. I'll let you know if I get my hot item.

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James