Are eBay techies figuring out ways to view Snipes prior to end of auction??

No, they cannot see your snipe. Just because you are outbid by a dollar , you have no idea what their proxy was set at, only that you were outbid by the next needed increment. One of the most important things to do when sniping is to place your snipe at the max you are willing to pay. Then, if you are outbid, not to worry. They paid more than you thought it was worth. Sit back and wait for another one to come along!

Now that I said all that ...I also want to you to our forum!

Hi Mrs.M!

That was a good reply! Much more succinct and clearer than I tend to be!

I've only been on the forum for a week or 2 now. It's interesting to see how many people misunderstand what auction sniping is all about!

They seem to think AS is a magic service that will ALWAYS grant success in all bids! They seem to forget or just not realize that the winners of auctions are the ones that bid the HIGHEST, not who bids the LAST.

Auction sniping (whether done manually, or done automagically by the fine AS service) is simply an auction bidding STRATEGY to avoid revealing a sniping bidder's interest in an item and high bid clues to competitive bidders until it is too late for competing bidders to REBID and beat a snipe bid. If an earlier bidder has a higher MAX bid placed than a sniper's max bid, the sniper is ALWAYS outbid by proxy by the smallest valid increment. Snipers also hope to avoid bidding wars and bidding an item's price up too high.

The concept is so simple, yet seemingly not understood.

Whoops! There I go again being wordy!!

Snipe on!

Jabbergah

Zinc, you misunderstand the eBay bidding system. When you are outbid by $1, that amount is NOT (likely) what the person bid; it is the next bid increment above yours.

In other words, if you are the second highest bidder at $45.44 and the winner bid $100, his final bid will show as $46.44, a dollar above yours. You have no way of knowing his actual maximum.

Having been the frequent loser of many such bids, I have just chalked it up to the "other" person wanting the item more than I did.

Set the absolute highest price you want to pay and use bid groups.

By using bid groups, you can group similar items together and AS will keep sniping on them until you win. Just make sure you create a new "bid group" each time you have a different item you want to bid on. That will ensure your bids get placed.

Happy sniping!

<-M->

Thanks for great replies. I think you are all right, except that I *do* understand the sniping/bidding system----

What I am perplexed about is a little more complicated, though---people are winning by the dollar increment, yes, but there is often such a huge descrepancy between their bid and mine (and previous bids) that it seems suspicious.

Of course if there was a way to detect a snipe on an item, wouldn't it make sense that someone would place a bid at exactly the dollar amount (so that it looked "legitimate")??

Does that make sense? I mean someone clever enough to hack or figure out a way to detect a snipe would have the game figured out, no?


I guess what is happening is that these folks are bidding ***way*** higher than any of us are willing to pay, which is interesting in that:

A) eBay is global and so widely used (by millions of folks) thus increasing the liklihood of similar ideas about prices and value;
B) a lot of bidders are very competitive and for sought-after items have strings of close, but increasing bid amounts.

Basically money must be no object to the ones placing these inflated proxies?

Ironically (and no for nothin') I was almost relieved I *didn't* win the most recent item in question here---I knew it was more than I'd have felt comfortable paying for! So, thank you Mrs. M for reminding me of that!

Cheers!
Happy Shopping!
e

ps. Magic Sniper, thanks for the advice
That was a wonderful suggestion!

I have to admit I feel a little badly about the whole sniping thing (maybe my over-analysis of being outbid is some guilt) but I honestly do it because with a busy toddler, I would never otherwise be able to bid!!

quote:

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I have to admit I feel a little badly about the whole sniping thing (maybe my over-analysis of being outbid is some guilt) but I honestly do it because with a busy toddler, I would never otherwise be able to bid!!

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I can add a big AMEN to that. I have four kids and my wife and I are full-time students while working part-time. If it weren't for eBay or the internet for that matter, I'd have to work for a living!

<-M->

As usual, Mrs. M is right on the target. Research the actual retail value and then place your bid. If you are outbid. well...another gizmo will be along sooner or later.

Hiya Zinc,
If you are truly suspicious of what is going on (and I am sticking with the other guys - you are being outbid by proxy and someone just WANTS that item more than you do).....I would do a little test.....

I would put in a snipe as well as a proxy bid with different final bid amounts. I would make the proxy the high one since you seem to think the snipe software has been hacked and see whether you win or lose. That way - no one will know your high proxy and if someone finds out your snipe amount you should come up trumps. Make sure you dont bid more than you would be happy with though.

All that said - I do seriously believe you are just being proxy outbid. I have had an items sitting at $10 until the last minute and finish at $90 once a sniper has come in and challenged the proxy bidder. More often than not the sniper will win - but yes - there will be buyers out there with more disposable income than you

Good Luck and we hope to see more of you in the forums

Lexie