AS sniped too early

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Most of us use 8 seconds for a lead time during normal times and add a few seconds when it is normally busy. You might want to read FAQ about it. AS samples the traffic and if they sense that 2 seconds is not enough time to be accepted, they will adjust it for you. That is, IMO, way to close. I have NEVER lost an auction that I sniped at 8 seconds unless I simply didn't bid enough for it to be placed. It would be next to impossible for someone to manually place a bid after 8 seconds I believe.

Thanks for your help, I'll read up on the FAQ about it. I thought I could simply place a snipe whenever I wanted. I read many times in eBays community, that some snipers have even won items by sniping when there is just 1 second or zero seconds left, they still manage to get theyre snipe in.
Ive found that I can manually get a bid in myself with 2 seconds left, buy opening up 2 pages for the same auction on screen, put your bid in, continue to the submnit bid page.
Then on the other page on screen, continuously click refresh under the 1 minuite mark.
Then when its down to 10 seconds, immediately click submit bod on the other, it manages to get the bid in with 2 - 4 seconds left.
But obviously, this is no good when auctions are in the early hours of the morning or at work.

..and you're wasting your life when AS does it for you. And you're forgetting, it's not the last bid that wins but the highest bid that wins! Sniping just prevents bidding wars.

R2

quote:

Originally posted by Dr McCoy:
Then on the other page on screen, continuously click refresh under the 1 minuite mark.
Then when its down to 10 seconds, immediately click submit bod on the other, it manages to get the bid in with 2 - 4 seconds left.
But obviously, this is no good when auctions are in the early hours of the morning or at work.

Sounds like you were already planning on placing a snipe. I think most snipes are planned in advance, and aren’t retaliating to someone else’s snipe (I said “most”). If other snipes are planned in advance, then 10 seconds or 2 seconds won’t make any difference, other than letting you sleep in a later, or not pissing off your boss.

2 seconds is cutting it a little too close.

quote:

Originally posted by Serenity: It would be next to impossible for someone to manually place a bid after 8 seconds I believe.

<<<<< That is not accurate. When I used to snipe manually I would snipe no later than 2 seconds before auction close, at any time of day, vis a broadband connection and never, ever overshot the ending. And that was with a stopwatch and a mouse, and synchronized timing with ebay's clock. That was a few years ago but it was (and is) entirely possible. The vast majority of ebay users persist in bidding manually. Those who snipe manually will sit there at the end of the auction and watch the bids come in, refreshing their screens, and ready to bid. They can enter a snipe one or two seconds out and get it in, no problem. Try it. it works. It makes no sense whatsoever to do that, but people, in general, do not act in a sensible manner when it comes to bidding (and perhaps most other things, too). it would make more sense for people to determine their maximums and use the proxy system. But they don't. They want to win and part of the fun of it for them is the bidding process. And so, facing this illogical competition, if a bid is entered more than 3 or 4 seconds ahead of the end of the auction, these competitors have the wide open opportunity to act on impulse and out bid you. And they do. Importantly, had they NOT seen your bid come in so early, they might NOT have had the incentive to enter another bid, and you would have won. 8 seconds is far too long in advance of the end of the auction. That is not a snipe- that is a bid.

Kildes.

quote:

That was a few years ago but it was (and is) entirely possible.

You need to try it again. And please do 1000 snipes at 7pm on a Sunday. Then get back to me.

It's impossible for a bidder to see a bid come in anywhere after about 10-15 seconds, increase their bid and then go through eBays 2 confirmations pages in that amount of time. Then add in the randomness of peak bidding times and you're going to miss 5-10% of your snipes.

We're experts we guage probably a dozen differnet things and bids during the peaks are adjusted real time right before they are sent to make sure they have a very high chance of making it in. Since we are placing hundreds or more bids per hour we have a much better guage on how things are going than a manual sniper will have.

It's better to ensure the bid is placed than to place it at the exact lead time entered and have it be late. Then they'd be here yelling at us for not placing it earlier since we knew eBay was busy.

In any event I'll offer 3 free snipes to anyone who digs through your bid history and finds a snipe where you would have won but an early snipe caused a loss to a past proxy bidder rebidding. Heck even that doesnt prove much. They could sit around and snipe just like anyone else. The odds of them seeing your bid, then bidding higher is just super unlikely. They can't even see your true max so how do they even know how much higher to bid? Anyways, happy hunting to all. 3 free snipes to the first replies with item #'s and explanations. The final judge will be me, but I'll go easy and even let anyone who wants cast their vote in this thread.

I agree with Sara! I once tried to place a manual bid at 45 seconds and it didn't make it in on time! Two seconds..I don't think so, sorry.

This is the best I could find:
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=6158082351
Grant it, Kildes didn’t lose this auction only because of apdl53cq, but apdl53cq was able to place two snipes after Kildes’ 18-seconds snipe. I realize that one was only a second after Kildes’, but apdl53cq’s second snipe sure does look like it’s retaliatory, unless some sniping software/service supports multiple placing snipes (which would still be retaliatory). There’s the possibility that apdl53cp could have been using multiple services.

It’s not all that difficult to place manual snipes within the last couple of seconds and be successful “most” of the time. It just seems that they always end during dinner.

(CMA post)

It would be kind of funny if that snipe in the bid history supplied above was a manual snipe.

quote:

It's impossible for a bidder to see a bid come in anywhere after about 10-15 seconds, increase their bid and then go through eBays 2 confirmations pages in that amount of time. Then add in the randomness of peak bidding times and you're going to miss 5-10% of your snipes.

BULL! I do it all the time! In 15 seconds I can bid and usually re-bid. And no one ids talking about placing "1000 bids" manually on a Sunday night. That was a foolish and sarcastic response to a legitimate question.
AS works pretty well but it screws up a lot also.

letitflyantiques,

You seem to be in a vindictive mood this AM. This is the third (and counting) complaint you’ve left on somewhat dated threads.

I think the following statement you left on another thread this morning pretty much sums up your position:

quote:

Originally posted by letitflyantiques:
I am moving on to other services.

Nah, not vindictive, don't care enough. probably just bored. I have to admit, that despite all issues, AS does beat sitting up all night waiting for a foreign auction to end.

Check out the following auction which I lost tonight due to AS placing the bid too early.

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=3971520630

my username = gutzalpus

auction ended 20:00:00 PDT. I had AS set to place my bid 5 seconds early and it placed the bid 29 seconds early instead. As a result, I was outbid and lost the auction.

I'm looking forward to the 3 free snipes...

#6763618729 auction that also ended at 20:00:00 tonight -- I had lead time set to 11 seconds (usually use 7 seconds) due to AS advice. The snipe went in at 30 seconds -- which gave one bidder a chance to bid TWICE after me. Yes, I got the notebook, but it cost me $100 more than it should have! Plus, I now get to pay AS $10 for the snipe. I've used this service many times in the past and it always placed the bid when I asked. If I would have known that AS would put a snipe in early, I definitely would have manually sniped. If I submit a bid with about 35 seconds left on eBay sale, it will register with about 6 or 7 seconds left. Sure wish I would have done that this time. Should have 3 free snipes coming, but honestly, don't know that I'd ever use them if this is a regular occurance!

Please can someone tell me how I can place a bid 30 seconds from the end in response to bids by gutzalpus and ues? Guys, those bids were 99.9% already set up as automatic snipes (you're not the only snipers out there!) There is an oft-quoted saying on this forum: it's the highest bid that wins, not the last...

I wouldn't hold your breath for those free snipes.

R2

Once again,

you all must have slow machines and crappy coonections. I place bids all the tim in the last few seconds and rarely miss it. Of course I am ready to place the bid in the closing seconds . Even if I hit something at 15 or 18 seconds, I usually can get another bid in. Not always.
And please Sara, don't ask about your silly analogy of placing 1000 bidson a saturday night. It is a foolish and meaningless comment.

I am only saying that with my 2 year old Dell and roadrunnr, I can certainly place a bid in the last 5 or 7 seconds. I have AS set at 2 seconds and can sometimes squeeze in a bid for those time my bid is placed at 15 0r 20 seconds instead.

Steve

Since the member whose post appears directly above mine has clearly been disappointed with AS from the start and has complained incessantly all along, then clearly he should go off and find himself another service, rather than beating the proverbial dead horse.

Honest, the following were all posted by the same person. Without mentioning any names, it’s the member whose post appears directly above mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
Since the member whose post appears directly above mine has clearly been disappointed with AS from the start and has complained incessantly all along, then clearly he should go off and find himself another service, rather than beating the proverbial dead horse.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
Remember when your mother or grandmother told you, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"? She was right.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
The best response would have been "Our business folks took a look at the private messaging function and opted to remove this feature from our forum package, since it really was not used that much, or at least not enough to justify having it. Sorry. "

You would have given an accurate and informative response. Had any arguments started after that, you would have had the high ground, since all you did was accurately report what decisions were made by AS management. You could then have stayed out of the fray. Glib responses do not accomplish that, nor do they reflect well on the employee who makes them.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
No offense intended, but you do seem a bit high strung. A little therapy may be in order, along with a modified title for this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
Such melodramatic insights. Honestly, you sound a tad too emotional to be a sniper.

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
Not a good customer service response, Miss Sara. You know better than that.

P.S. (Good news; Bad news) Big pictures no longer make the threads difficult to read.

Dear chatter,

Actually I have been using AS almost since its inception and have generally been real pleased. I really doubt if there are many people here that have placed more snipes than me. I have done 1000's under my various and former ID's.
I simply posted one tme that my snipes seem to have been erased a couple of times in March. I have also stated that I can miracuously place bids in the final seconds of an auction which some here find impossible. I don't see that as incessant complaining.
This forum is for questions, praise, observations and complaints. If that bothers you< I suggest youtake your silly graphics and go away.

SGM

Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath for the free snipes as I didn't expect any follow-through with that offer.

It's extremely easy to place a manual snipe with less than 10 seconds left. Just synchronize your watch/clock with ebay's, get the bid to the confirmation screen and click the final submit button when it gets under 10 seconds. I used to do this all the time before I found out about auctionsniper.

Looks like I'll have to start doing it that way again if AS is going to be placing snipes with 30 seconds left in the auction.

quote:

It's extremely easy to place a manual snipe with less than 10 seconds left.

ug, not at 7pm, or 7:30pm or 6:45pm. or any other time eBay hiccups. How about you place 1000 at each of those times for the next year. Then when 5% of them miss come back and tell us what the hell we're supposed to do.

a.) place them normally and have 5% lose, and users come here yelling and screaming

or

b.) let our computers montitor things and adjust and hit 99.5%+ hit, and then still have people come in here and complain they got placed early. Sure another 5-10% of people won, maybe even you, that owtherwise woulda been crying but people don't understand that. They placed xyz manual snipe at who knows what times and they worked. Thus every snipe they would ever place would certainly 100% work.

In other words, heads we lose, tails we lose. We just prefer to have fewer people crying.

Of course one of us has placed maybe a 200 bids, and one of us has placed thousands of times that many. Which of those do you think knows when and how snipes can and can't make it on time?

Lol, I'm not sure why I even bother replying. I think I'm going to go hide under that rock I was hiding under for a month or two a little while back. It was nice and cozy and sanity prevailed there.

Well said Sara (praise from me for once - note!)

There are two main points here:
1. Everybody agrees that Sniping works and gets goods cheaper because, unlike an early bid, it doesn't encourage "nibbling"

2. AS frees you from your computer.

Nobody has ever guaranteed (certainly not AS) that you won't be outsniped! If your max is enough & AS places it correctly, then you have got what you have paid for.

Ah you cry, too early - moan, moan, moan.
Frankly, that's your tough luck for not bidding enough!

The contract with AS says they will bid for you. They are the professionals handling, as Sara rightly says, thousands & thousands of bids. In the end if you hire an expert, however much you don't like the medicine, you have to trust that they know what they are doing.

95% of my AS bids are placed within the closing seconds. The other 5% are important to me, but I would rather have AS get their bid in early if they judge traffic conditions to be bad, rather than miss the auction's conclusion. (After all, you must leave for work early because you know that roadworks may hold you up?)

Now turning to my second point. The overwhelming advantages (and it negates completely the odd few snipes missed) is the ability to get on with your life. Rushing back to place your bid on the computer encourages dangerous driving, raises the hostility level of your friends and loved ones and is generally detrimental to your mental health. eBay is a kind of addiction and rushing back at every opportunity and getting out of bed at 3am to place a manual snipe in the closing seconds of an auction is not rational behaviour.

Futhermore, if AS is correct about traffic at these times (and I believe them) you only have a small chance of bettering their performance, all at the expense of convincing your friends & family you are some kind of fruit cake!

So get a life - let AS and their computers take the strain!

-+
hello,

I think most users would agree that sniping is the only way to go.

The snipes boing placed earlier than expected seems to be the biggest issue with most users.

Perhaps AS should simply send an occasional email explaining why this happens and make it clear that it happens when people sign up. And before someome jumps in, AS may very well send or sent in the past such explanantions. I usually don't read my eBay/AS/paypal emails as you never know which one is real.

I looked back on some of my recent snipes. Most were placed in my 2 second setting, though several went in earlier, one much earlier and I could have bid again had I been watching.

Sara - you need not respond, stay under the rock or wherever you threatened to go.

Steve

I'm not complaining so much as just trying to find out what was the reason for the early snipe. Based on the responses I now understand the reason, and I appreciate the response.

Thanks.

(see, that's why you bother replying.