is when Auction Sniper doesn't snipe when it's supposed to.

I've been a member for about 8 months now and with a busy schedule I don't have time to "dog" the auctions myself. I count on Auction Sniper to do it for me.

For the 8th time now I've had Auction Sniper NOT place a bid on time. In fact in all 8 auctions I later got a notice from AS stating that "my bid was too late"

It's really ticking me off because in at least 6 of them I would have been a high bidder (providing a proxy bid wasn't higher) It really burns me because last night I lost something that I really needed because the Sniper didn't hit it until 2200 hours when the thing closed at 1900 hours.

Sorry just venting...

ltblue,

First off, WELCOME to the forum!

I empathize with your disappointment. You may be entitled to some free snipes. I am curious, however, at what the percentage may be. You have 8 failed snipes out of how many snipes total? Have you experimented at all with adjusting your lead time (making it longer)?

Hang in there!

Jabbergah                                                    

I would guess 8 out of about 30 total.

It doesn't seem to be a matter of lead time because it just doesn't hit it. In this last case the lead time was 4 seconds but the sniper didn't hit it until 3 hours later.

Between 6:50 and 8:00 yesterday evening they had some problems and the snipes may not have gone through. Sara posted about it in the news and updates column. AS will give you free snipes for the ones you missed. You can get them by going to http://www.auctionsniper.com/freeSnipes.aspx.

Smiley central, I think can only be used in email!

and welcome to our A S forum!

I've posted a "Help" question and have gotten my first reply there. In my case the snipe was set for 5 seconds and the snipe went in over a minute before the auction ended. This allowed a manual sniper to bid just over mine and yes, it was a new bidder, so it was not a previously placed bid unless it too was an auto snip from here or another co.

The reply that I received "Sorry you missed it.
We do this if eBay servers are running slow. We monitor how long it is taking them to accept bids. If they are running slowly we put in the bids that much in advance. If their servers then speed back up your bid goes in early."

Well this rather refutes the FAQ advise:

"#64. What is the ideal lead time to use for a snipe?

Lead time is the number of seconds from the end of an auction that you would like AuctionSniper to bid for you. We recommend lead times between 5 and 10 seconds, although we've seen times as low as 2 and 3 seconds work just fine. Currently, Auction Sniper successfully places 99.9% of all snipes with 5 second lead times.

We don't recommend anything less than 5 seconds Although we send the snipe on time, during peak times an eBay server may not process it in time. This is not the fault of eBay or us; internet traffic is just heavier at certain times. And during peak periods, you might consider adding 2-4
seconds more since their servers seem to be taking quite a hit during that time (5-10 p.m. PST), and on weekends. "

Well adding seconds seems redundant if the system is going to add a minute or more without one knowing it! Is the 99% track record based on such unannounced adjustments? It leaves one with no standard of just "how" to operate.

I've certainly had many wins in the short time I've been using AuctionSniper and like not getting all worked up doing the manual sniping, but if something is really important, I no longer feel that I can trust "the system" either and that perhaps when possible I need to do both if it's important.

Other observations, experiences or advise would be welcomed.

Do

Hi Doc

>CLICK HERE<   >and HERE<   >and HERE<   >and especially HERE<

The above links show what happens when bids are NOT placed early enough. All the above happened the same evening (and there were many more). In fact the first post in THIS topic is for the same thing.

I know what you mean about bidding early, I really do, but better to bid to early, than not at all because of a Not In Time. I just remember being glad I wasn't Sara that night.

I very much agree with you about the FAQ's though. They need to change/fix them to reflect what really happens, or delete them.

When I made this suggestion,to up date facts so when we answer someone we are not way off base if we refer to facts, this was the response from A S :

quote:

---

Saras answer works. However, 30 seconds is much safer and a more generic answer
without having to get complicated and explain that how long the auctions have to be
apart is based on the lead time of your snipe as well as how far apart the 2 end times
of the items are. See I'm gettng tounge tied now too.

The people in the message boards are advanced users and can handle understanding the
more comlicated response, and can thus use it to snipe more effectively than they could
with just our generic reply.

---

Hey Doc,
I havent read the FAQ's and dont intend to unless I am seriously bored one nite or have nothing else to do (not likely), I am also a *learn-as-I-do* not a *learn-as-I-read* type of person. Then again, I know I am this kinda person and tend not to come running blaming the program I am using when I dont bother to read the instructions. Waffle, waffle waffle....Anyways....

On my little AS wish list is a Yes/No - tickable option that says something like "I allow Auction Sniper to adjust my lead time if it detects a lag in eBay's response time" its a mandatory field to be completed. Underneath it would have a disclaimer blah blah blah. This has been mentioned on here before and I think its a bloody good idea.

Other than that, I think the FAQ's SHOULD reflect what AS ACTUALLY do - not what they would like to do in a perfect ebay world.

I cant complain, I have been using AS a while now and have had 1 snipe go MIA - that wasnt a *not in time*.

Lexie

Doc the other bidders max bid could have been $100 more than yours. Impossible to say really what their max was.

If we adjusted your snipe to 1 minute it must have been 6 or 7pm on a Sunday. You are lucky your bid was accepted. Many people are not as fortunate even when we adjust their snipes to 30+ seconds because eBay slows down so much.

Sara: Why are they slow? Is it millions of bids being processed? ... mory

eBay allows sellers to schedule their end times.

Sellers all set 6pm 7pm 7:30pm 8pm on Sunday, etc. Thus hundreds of thousands of auctions all end on the exact same second. Thus millions of bids and page refreshes are all done in the seconds leading up to those times. Probably 100x their normal for any other second. Maybe even more than 100x.

How about a Server-Speed-o-Meter on AS?

R2

[I]I am writing about the same problem! I would say about 75% of my snipes DOES NOT go through. I've tried from 8 seconds lead time to 2. The problem with the 8 second one is that someone ALWAYS outbid me so I had to do the 2 second one.
Like right now for example, I just got home from work and REALLY wanted this item. It was at $20.50 I sniped it at $25.00...when I got home to check the auction ended at $20.50 and the reason was NOT IN TIME! This isn't the first time and I am sure that it won't be the last...I've put money into the sniping account through paypal. I doubt if I can trust to use this website again. Another time I wanted this North Face jacket and sniped it at $50.00....it ended at $25.01..talk about pushing your buttons huh?

Mash, I got to tell you , I have never lost because a snipe was not placed nor been outsniped at 8 seconds!! I'll post what I use and all I can say is it works for me.
Also,

quote:

---

My personal choice is to use 8 seconds during normal times! On Sunday, during primetime, PST, PM between 5 and 8:30, I add 15 seconds. On the hour, half, and quarter hour, I add 10 seconds. These are very busy traffic times for Ebay. It works for me! Remember to bid your max as the highest bid wins! Happy Sniping!!

---

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mrs.M,

762 wins--only two snipes were never placed ("not in time").

A snipe not placed in time is a very different creature from being outbid.

Hiya Mashi,
I have had 2 snipes not go through because of Not In Time. Its really annoying and on items that I reallllllly reallllly want (like one that is ending in a few hours), I will make sure I am here for it. I hate to admit that I dont trust AS to place snipes on items that dont come along everyday.

I know they ARE reliable, but once you have been bitten, its hard to trust.

That said, I use AS for over 95% of my bidding.