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Bid Enhancement is an optional tool that can help protect you from losing an auction by just a few dollars. To use Bid Enhancement, after you set your max bid, specify how many additional bid increments above your max bid you would like Auction Sniper to protect. In the event that you are outbid, we will bid again using your Max Bid + the amount you specified for Bid Enhancement (if that number is still competitive).

Important note: Bid Enhancement is free to use but you may end up paying more for the snipe depending on how many additional bid increments you win by.
Update: I had 2 snipes scheduled to fire several hours ago. Of course, being the cheapskate that I am, the bidding went beyond my max snipe, even including the extra bid increments! Roll Eyes

The more I think about it, it seems this feature would only appeal to those users who just cannot decide what their true MAX bid is. I found myself working backwards -- I decide what my max is, then subtract the number of bid increments I set in the bid enhancement feature, and then set my "max bid" for that amount! I don't understand why 1 bid increment is not an option in the bid enhancement. I'm MUCH more likely to use the feature to try to avoid losing an auction by ONE bid increment rather than several.
Generally speaking, the way we thought about it is that just one bid increment over would be what the other person is beating you by. To be able to beat that, you have to use Bid Enhancement for at least two bid increments.

However, would it make it easier to understand if we just called that starting point "1 bid increment" even though it is technically two from your max bid?
Hi Cara!

Thanks for jumping into this discussion! If I understand how this feature works, AS will re-snipe if the first snipe is 2, 3, etc. bid increments (depending on selected setting) lower than the winning bid? i.e. 2 snipes? Or does AS check to see if current winning bid is greater than the max snipe price AND less than the max plus the bid increment setting, and then on the fly adjusts the ONE snipe up to that revised snipe max?

For example: I set my snipe max at $25.25 and bid enhancement at 2 bid increments. Current bid is at $20 at t-6 secs. What does AS do? Does it submit my max at $25.25? Does AS then snipe AGAIN if I'm proxy outbid at $26.25? Or does the bid enhancement feature only come into play to adjust my one and ONLY snipe price upward if (in this case) the current winning bid at t-6 seconds is between $24.26 and $27.25?
Personally, I would like a 1 bid increment adjustment, which to me means my max snipe price would be adjusted upward by one increment ONLY if the current winning bid at snipe time is $24.26 up to my max ($25.25).

If you were to provide some "what-if" example scenarios, and how the bid enhancement feature would work, it would be very helpful.
Hi Jabbergah -

Bid Enhancement places a second bid if your first bid was too low. The number of bid increments is based on your maximum bid, not on the current high bid. We did this for a reason. Look at the following example:

Case 1:
Starting bid: $20
You add your snipe for $30 with a Bid Enhancement of 3 bid increments.
There is a bidding war on your item and the current price is driven up to $80.

If we base the Bid Enhancement bid 3 bid increments above the "current price", your initial snipe of $30 would fail but we would place your second bid (the one controlled by Bid Enhancement) at $83.

Instead we base the Bid Enhancement on your max bid.
Given eBay's bid increment system, if your maximum snipe is too low to make you the high bidder, then one more bid increment will, in most cases, not be enough to place a winning bid. Here are the examples:

Case A:
Your maximum snipe: $25
Current high bid before your snipe: $25.25
This means the minimum bid for this auction will be $26.25
1 bid increment above your maximum snipe would be $26 which is not enough to win.

Case B:
Your maximum snipe: $25
Your snipe is proxy outbid, making the current high bid: $26
The minimum bid for this auction would then be $27
Again, 1 bid increment above your maximum snipe would be $26 which is not enough to win.

Here is the only case where 1 bid increment would be enough to win:
Your maximum snipe: $25
Current high bid before your snipe is also exactly: $25
The minimum bid for this auction will be $26. This is the only situation where 1 bid increment would be enough to place a 2nd bid.

That case is not the norm so we decided in order to give our users the best chance of winning with the least amount of confusion, we do not offer a 1 bid increment option.

This is a little lengthy - but I hope it helps Smile

Thanks!
Cara
Hi Cara!

Thanks for attempting to explain this new AuctionSniper feature that, frankly, I think has quite a few of us confused! Confused

I must admit I'm with FearlessCrusader. If I set a "max" bid that I would like AS to adjust upward by several bid increments, then that "max" wasn't my "TRUE max" at all!

(Before I go any further, I must apologize for the example I presented in my last post. I set my snipe in my hypothetical situation in the vicinty of a bid increment change (from $0.50 to $1.00 at a $25 bid). That was unintentional and only serves to add to the confusion! Roll Eyes SORRY!)

OK, I think you may be mistaken in explaining how the bid increment feature works in your hypothetical case 1. With a max snipe bid set at $30 and bid increment set at 3, I would think AS would place my adjusted snipe at $33. Yet you're suggesting that AS would place a snipe at $83?!? Eek That would be a full 53 bid increments above my snipe price!?! If that's indeed the case, I KNOW I won't be using the feature!! Now I don't think that's the way it works because I've already tried the feature in two auctions. In both auctions, by the end of the auction the winning bid had moved well beyond my max snipe price plus my set added bid increments, and AS did NOT place a bid (which is what I would expect it to do).

Now you went to great lengths to explain why 1 bid increment just doesn't make any sense in the new bid enhancement feature. Yet, I'm not convinced. Actually, I'm even more resolved that ONE bid increment is the ONLY setting that makes any sense, and is the one I'd be likely to use REGULARLY! Let me explain.

I, like all veteran snipers, have learned to carefully determine what our TRUE MAXIMUM bid is to load into the sniper software. This is the price at which I'd be happy to win. If the winning bid exceeds my max, I'll be disappointed I lost the auction, but NOT disappointed that I didn't bid higher amount. If it turns out I AM disappointed that I didn't bid a higher amount, then I didn't really set my TRUE MAX in the first place! If I'm setting my MAX BID correctly, and the bidding goes beyond my MAX, then I DON'T WANT TO WIN! -- NOT at THAT PRICE!

Now here is where the 1 bid increment makes sense. I have on occasion LOST an auction to a bidder for LESS than my set snipe MAX price. My snipe doesn't fire because of the bid increment constraints. Here's an example: I set a snipe at $50. The winning bid when it is time for the snipe to fire stands at $49.01. My snipe won't fire in this case because the next legal bid due to bid increments is $50.01, which exceeds my max snipe amount. In fact, I will lose to ALL the lower bids from $49.01 up to and including my snipe amount of $50.00. IN THIS CASE, I think I'm willing most of the time to exceed my MAX snipe by JUST ONE BID INCREMENT to avoid missing out bidding against that $49.01, $49.24, $49.59 bid and all those other bids less than 1 bid increment lower than my set snipe max.

Actually, now that I think about it and work thru this hypothetical case, I think I can make a strong case for a 1/2 bid increment setting!! I may be willing to give it a go against bids of $49.01 thru $49.50, but I REALLY don't want to bid more than $50.50, which would represent a half a bid increment over my predetermined MAX! Thereby, I would be willing to concede victory to bids $49.51 thru $50. To my way of thinking, bid enhancement settings of 1/2, 1, 1.5 make a whole lot more sense to me than the current 2, 3, 4, etc. Personally, I probably would only ever use either the 1/2 or 1 bid increment settings because in most cases I'm pretty firm on what my predetermined MAXIMUM BID is.

I hope this makes sense and adds to the discussion.

Now I'm still a little unclear about how the current system is setup to work? In the above case with a $50 snipe, if the bid enhancement is set to 2 bid increments what actually happens?
If the pre snipe winning bid is $49.01, what bid does AS place? $50.01? $51.01? $52?
If the pre snipe winning bid is $49.95, what bid does AS place? $50.95? $51.95? $52?
If the pre snipe winning bid is $50.08, what bid does AS place? $51.08? $52?
In all cases, I'm thinking the sniped bid would be $52. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
If the pre snipe winning bid is $48.50, what bid does AS place? $50? $52? or $50 THEN $52 if necessary?

It doesn't make sense to me for AS to be placing more than one snipe -- it feels like nibbling instead of sniping! It also doesn't make sense to me for the feature to even come into play unless the current bid exceeds the preset snipe max bid OR AS is constrained from bidding because of bid increment issues (as described above).
quote:
Originally posted by FearlessCrusader:
I still don't get it. If I understand correctly, Bid Enhancement means that your maximum bid isn't really your maximum bid; your real maximum bid is your "maximum bid" plue certain increments. What's the point? Why not just bid your maximum bid plus the increments to begin with?
Hear Hear!
quote:
Why not just bid your maximum bid plus the increments to begin with?
Why do nibblers like to nibble? Why are there bidding wars? Why do so many bidders place multiple bids?

Perhaps this feature is an attempt to wean wannabe snipers off the nibble-bottle?

One of the, if not THE, most FAQ that's not in the FAQs (always thought it was strange that it was never in the FAQs) is if AS places incremental snipes. This feature could (but as always, one should use this link for reliable information) be a response to market pressures.
In reality, people don't always think of things in the same way. Some may be comfortable and satisfied with their max bid being outbid because they truly wouldn't have paid one dollar more for that item. For others, losing by that dollar would be extremely disappointing even if they thought they had set their bid at their absolute maximum.

We never expected that this feature would suit everyone nor be applicable in every snipe, but we have heard from those who have used it and they liked the result of winning an item they would have lost otherwise.

Whether they "should have" bid in a way that others would have found more suitable is not really important. What is important to us is to make it easy for people to win the items they want.

Thanks!
Cara
Nibblers get a bad rap because they can’t decide what they are willing to pay for an item. They react to what other bidders think the item is worth, instead of deciding on a price that THEY think the item is worth.

Closet-nibbler test:

1) Have you ever increased your AS maximum bid based on the level of bidding?

2) Do you hold off adding your snipe until you see what other bidders are doing?

3) Do you check the ending price on similar auctions to decide on how much you’ll bid?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, you’re a nibbler. You allow others to influence how much you are willing to pay for an item, and then you adjust your snipe accordingly.

And, how many of you end up spending more for something (house, car, boat, clothes, Las Vegas, date, wedding, party, etc.) than you originally planned? Yep, you’re also a nibbler.
quote:
Whether they "should have" bid in a way that others would have found more suitable is not really important. What is important to us is to make it easy for people to win the items they want.

Thanks!
Cara

Hmmm...no questions about specific BE performance that I posed in my last LONG post addressed? I guess this discussion is over, huh?!

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