Hi folks, new here, but using auction sniper for well over 5 years. I lost a VERY good pipe that I wanted... and it went WELL below what I was willing to pay. Contacted AuctionSniper... no response. I'm currently looking for another sniping site. Any suggestions?
I fail to understand the anger directed at Auction Sniper - the problem is with eBay not auction sniper.
lol, not exactly.
Ebay is trying to stop snipes to make more money, which is greedy, but what a big company does. Snipe companies are there to provide a service for the customer who doesn't want to end up in a bidding war with over inflated prices. It's a service they decided to provide (which we pay for) If their service is outdated then they need to update it, or at least be honest about it!!
Ebay is trying to stop snipes to make more money, which is greedy, but what a big company does. Snipe companies are there to provide a service for the customer who doesn't want to end up in a bidding war with over inflated prices. It's a service they decided to provide (which we pay for) If their service is outdated then they need to update it, or at least be honest about it!!
I called the idiots at eBay and they first informed me that sniping is against eBay policy, and then told me that it is ok, but the error messages for account verification are not from eBay, but from the siping tool itself, and that they have been getting a lot of calls about it.
Lost another auction due to account verification! I've had it! This is unconscionable! It has gone on too long and Each company blames the other and both the bidder and seller get screwed! I'm looking into alternatives. Auction sniper...this could be the death of you if you don't do something! After all the years I have relied on you, you do nothing to help me...shameful!
quote:Originally posted by StevieCL:
Lost another auction due to account verification! I've had it! This is unconscionable! It has gone on too long and Each company blames the other and both the bidder and seller get screwed! I'm looking into alternatives. Auction sniper...this could be the death of you if you don't do something! After all the years I have relied on you, you do nothing to help me...shameful!
This has spread to other sniper services as well is the problem. its not JUST Auction Sniper, though they appear to be the first, and their customer service lousy
quote:Originally posted by cpushack:quote:Originally posted by StevieCL:
Lost another auction due to account verification! I've had it! This is unconscionable! It has gone on too long and Each company blames the other and both the bidder and seller get screwed! I'm looking into alternatives. Auction sniper...this could be the death of you if you don't do something! After all the years I have relied on you, you do nothing to help me...shameful!
This has spread to other sniper services as well is the problem. its not JUST Auction Sniper, though they appear to be the first, and their customer service lousy
Well it will not end up doing either company any good...if people cannot be available to bid and sniper sites don't work, those people won't get the bid in...how does that benefit the companys?
quote:Originally posted by StevieCL:quote:Originally posted by cpushack:quote:Originally posted by StevieCL:
Lost another auction due to account verification! I've had it! This is unconscionable! It has gone on too long and Each company blames the other and both the bidder and seller get screwed! I'm looking into alternatives. Auction sniper...this could be the death of you if you don't do something! After all the years I have relied on you, you do nothing to help me...shameful!
This has spread to other sniper services as well is the problem. its not JUST Auction Sniper, though they appear to be the first, and their customer service lousy
Well it will not end up doing either company any good...if people cannot be available to bid and sniper sites don't work, those people won't get the bid in...how does that benefit the companys?
eBay wants more money, (new activist board is VERY focused on boosting short term profits) Sniping decreases the end price of some auctions (as it prevents bidding wars).
eBay wants you to bid early and bid often, so that they can make a bit more on fees, at the expense of pissing off some buyers.
Just lost an auction 5 minutes ago. Item was one-of-a-kind that I've never seen before. Please fix this!
Selling on ebay sucks now and now you can't bid with sniping...so why bother?
If eBay tries to say they are NOT the cause they are lying. There is no time to answer the verification question unless you are sniping in person with more than a minute to go - in which case there is no snipe. The problem is caused by eBay - their new management team has changed a lot of things to get more money with less work. They started by taking apart trust and safety. They disbanded the watch committees that were stopping fraudulent auctions. Since then they have been retrenching more and more. Blame eBay - they made a change that no amount of programming by a sniping company can respond to. It takes a living person to reply to the security question with answers customers never give to the sniping services.
Add me to the list of those who have lost now 4 auctions due to "eBay Requires Account Verification." I tried changing username and password to no avail. FOr a while the "Check Staus" under "My Snipes, "Account" was saying that it could not verify my account. However, this morning and now it is saying my account is verified and all auctions should be placed properly. However, I just lost another one due to this same issue. It is starting to get very annoying. Auction Sniper help is of no help. I too have been a member for years, but if this continues, I will look for another program.
If it is eBay wanting more money, then they are kidding themselves. I lost 4 auctions that I would have won if Auction Sniper had placed my bids. eBay, Auction Sniper, and the seller would have all made more money, and I would have been happy to get my items. Now I am pissed along with the rest of you.
You are actually incorrect about eBay losing money but eliminating snipes. I completed a two part experiment recently (since I started writing in here). I placed 100 bids on low value coins. They were placed at two levels - one just UNDER retail - the other at full retail plus 10%. I expected that I would lose the low bids but win some or most of the over retail bids. However, I lost all but one.
Try it yourself - if you place a bid on an item when it appears - someone will chip away at your number until they find and exceed that bid. If there were no snipes - eBay would definitely increase their commissions and we would lose our savings.
So it is my belief that placing a bid that matches your snipe amount will cause you to lose the auction or pay the snipe amount in EVERY case. (The only exception are "buy" snipes where you bid a huge amount and there you will just pay a lot over retail.)
Try it yourself - if you place a bid on an item when it appears - someone will chip away at your number until they find and exceed that bid. If there were no snipes - eBay would definitely increase their commissions and we would lose our savings.
So it is my belief that placing a bid that matches your snipe amount will cause you to lose the auction or pay the snipe amount in EVERY case. (The only exception are "buy" snipes where you bid a huge amount and there you will just pay a lot over retail.)
@swamperbob
The problem with your analysis is that you're assuming (or you're assuming that eBay is assuming) that as an alternative to sniping, we will all either manually snipe, or bid as you have. I for one will not. If I can't have a bot snipe for me, I simply will not bid, and instead will confine myself to BIN listings. And if other people feel the way I do, eBay definitely will lose money, as will their sellers.
The problem with your analysis is that you're assuming (or you're assuming that eBay is assuming) that as an alternative to sniping, we will all either manually snipe, or bid as you have. I for one will not. If I can't have a bot snipe for me, I simply will not bid, and instead will confine myself to BIN listings. And if other people feel the way I do, eBay definitely will lose money, as will their sellers.
Hello Community -
We have been looking into this issue and working towards a solution. Most recently, we have made some further adjustments on our end in this last week which were working towards a solution and have since seen significant indications that this work has brought improved results.
We are aware that the issue has not been resolved entirely - there are still instances of captcha's and other verifications occurring, however, significant progress has been made in this area and we continue to devote our resources toward a resolution.
I will update this thread again as more information becomes available.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
- Craig
We have been looking into this issue and working towards a solution. Most recently, we have made some further adjustments on our end in this last week which were working towards a solution and have since seen significant indications that this work has brought improved results.
We are aware that the issue has not been resolved entirely - there are still instances of captcha's and other verifications occurring, however, significant progress has been made in this area and we continue to devote our resources toward a resolution.
I will update this thread again as more information becomes available.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
- Craig
Having worked for eBay, I can only indicate that eBay has studied every angle for the potential of profit generation and they would not be making a move against the snipers unless they see a clear profit as a result.
They (eBay) studied the Coin Community Watch Group right out of existence as a result one of their studies.
I do know from discussions with others at eBay that "new" bidders were also seen as a profit area - retention of old bidders was a lower priority.
Also, which came as a surprise to me, the more technical bidding areas like coins and collectibles were seen as only marginal profit sources compared to other more market driven auctions (clothes jewels watches). At one point when they were being pressed by the ANA and politicians, eBay legal seriously considered ceasing auctions of coins because they were not worth it. They instead began the 6 year experiment with the Coin Watch Committee which tracked and eliminated fraud in the coins area. We terminated hundreds of frauds a week and the bottom line was a $1,000,000 loss on the eBay bottom line. Right after that new was published the committee was disbanded.
So I believe my assumptions fit the facts well. This is an orchestrated and very intentional move by eBay.
The only thing eBay actually fears is a law suit. This anti-competitive aspect of their behavior could be the basis for a class action law suit.
They (eBay) studied the Coin Community Watch Group right out of existence as a result one of their studies.
I do know from discussions with others at eBay that "new" bidders were also seen as a profit area - retention of old bidders was a lower priority.
Also, which came as a surprise to me, the more technical bidding areas like coins and collectibles were seen as only marginal profit sources compared to other more market driven auctions (clothes jewels watches). At one point when they were being pressed by the ANA and politicians, eBay legal seriously considered ceasing auctions of coins because they were not worth it. They instead began the 6 year experiment with the Coin Watch Committee which tracked and eliminated fraud in the coins area. We terminated hundreds of frauds a week and the bottom line was a $1,000,000 loss on the eBay bottom line. Right after that new was published the committee was disbanded.
So I believe my assumptions fit the facts well. This is an orchestrated and very intentional move by eBay.
The only thing eBay actually fears is a law suit. This anti-competitive aspect of their behavior could be the basis for a class action law suit.
Swamperbob - I'm sure you're right that eBay has looked at this and decided that there is money to be made by eliminating sniping. Of course I don't agree, but mine is a focus group of one. If they believe that there's more money in newbie bidders at the expense of the tried-and-true, then this move makes sense, as new users are confused and frustrated when a sniper takes an auction away from them. It is analogous to Microsoft completely changing the Office interface to attract new users, at the expense of all of us who now have to learn a new user interface. It's sad, because I will end up more or less abandoning eBay. Your bidding experiment (and thanks for that, by the way) proved what we all know anecdotally: sniping is essential.
Your notion of a class action suit is intriguing. I've never been asked for verification; I suspect eBay would have a hard time explaining why they seem to require it only of sniper bots, or why they don't allow bots in the first place. Hopefully AS is pursuing this strategem.
Your notion of a class action suit is intriguing. I've never been asked for verification; I suspect eBay would have a hard time explaining why they seem to require it only of sniper bots, or why they don't allow bots in the first place. Hopefully AS is pursuing this strategem.
I used to use AS quite a bit to get the items I was bidding on from eBay but I took some time off 'cause I was spending WAY too much money.
So, now I've started to bid on items again on eBay and low and behold, I've discovered that AS doesn't appear to work with eBay anymore: I received the same frustrating message that all of you have regarding "account verification" and have missed several auctions today because of it.
I've read through this forum and I'm of the belief that this issue is being generated by eBay on purpose.
I placed a manual bid on an item that I did not want the chance of losing and found it quite interesting that, after I confirmed my bid, I was presented with a "ad" to download the "eBay app" to stay on top of the auction and be able to rebid at a moment's notice.
I think eBay is trying to block out the snipping bots and force people to use the eBay app instead. Since most people have smart phones now, I can see eBay justifying this behavior by claiming that with the app, bidders can be involved in the auction process even when they're not in front of their computers. While claiming to give bidders "more access" this move, in my opinion, is to drive up final bid prices as many have speculated in this forum.
I would be interested in what a lawyer would have to say about a class action suit as, I suppose from a business aspect, that eBay is not required to allow 3rd party software to interact with their website regardless of what the user wants.
I think the whole topic would be new territory to explore from a legal and net neutrality point of view.
So, now I've started to bid on items again on eBay and low and behold, I've discovered that AS doesn't appear to work with eBay anymore: I received the same frustrating message that all of you have regarding "account verification" and have missed several auctions today because of it.
I've read through this forum and I'm of the belief that this issue is being generated by eBay on purpose.
I placed a manual bid on an item that I did not want the chance of losing and found it quite interesting that, after I confirmed my bid, I was presented with a "ad" to download the "eBay app" to stay on top of the auction and be able to rebid at a moment's notice.
I think eBay is trying to block out the snipping bots and force people to use the eBay app instead. Since most people have smart phones now, I can see eBay justifying this behavior by claiming that with the app, bidders can be involved in the auction process even when they're not in front of their computers. While claiming to give bidders "more access" this move, in my opinion, is to drive up final bid prices as many have speculated in this forum.
I would be interested in what a lawyer would have to say about a class action suit as, I suppose from a business aspect, that eBay is not required to allow 3rd party software to interact with their website regardless of what the user wants.
I think the whole topic would be new territory to explore from a legal and net neutrality point of view.
I've received this issue twice in the last few days and am unable to verify via the account area in auction sniper.
On both failures I had the response message from ebay is below.
I assume it's the same for the verify button although I have no way to know.
When I logged out and back in to ebay on my computer, I got the same message. On selecting the phone option, it confirmed my number then called me straight away with a code to enter.
I'm guessing that ebay keeps a list of computers that log into the account and that auction sniper servers that have not accessed it before are getting this issue.
I know that it may not be fixable in the last few seconds of an auction but using the verify account button it could select the phone or email option and have a way to enter the code into auction sniper for it to pass on. It may need to be done multiple times to get all the servers to access ebay but if that needs to be done for my AS account to work, then it needs to be done.
On both failures I had the response message from ebay is below.
quote:Choose how you'd like to receive your confirmation code
We'll send a message to the option you select.
By Phone (voice or text)
By Email
I assume it's the same for the verify button although I have no way to know.
When I logged out and back in to ebay on my computer, I got the same message. On selecting the phone option, it confirmed my number then called me straight away with a code to enter.
I'm guessing that ebay keeps a list of computers that log into the account and that auction sniper servers that have not accessed it before are getting this issue.
I know that it may not be fixable in the last few seconds of an auction but using the verify account button it could select the phone or email option and have a way to enter the code into auction sniper for it to pass on. It may need to be done multiple times to get all the servers to access ebay but if that needs to be done for my AS account to work, then it needs to be done.
quote:Originally posted by FedUp:
Look guys, clearly eBay is trying to defeat Snipe sites. This is a new reality. They probably developed some sort of rule-based code routine that checks IPs, time to auction end, and other fingerprints that differentiate a human user from a third party program. I believe a major parameter is a user's session length compared to when they place the snipe bid. Meaning that in that split second after the AS program logs in, it places a bid. Also the lead time for the bid may be being detected too. 4-5 seconds before auction end is clearly a marker for a Snipe bot so that also may trigger the verification. Maybe the user's history of bidding at the last minute is a factor.
I suppose eBay wants us all in front of the screen in the last 10 minutes of an auction to maximize the hammer price and consequently their profits. I know that automatic snipers and that whole are really not part of their business model, meaning they want to maximize eyes on the screen, also to drive up ad revenue, no. of clicks, add-on buys, etc. They've got teams of developers and analysts whose only purpose is to defeat Snipe sites and increase human clicks and page views. Most if not all online retailers or other sites that deal with the customer to get their online $ hate third-party automatic programs and bots which take the place of a human interaction with their site. The only good bot is *their* bot, as to what is allowed. eBay makes their money from humans who spend time on their site. Maximizing the time a customer is on eBay is not what a third party agent does so that's why now, as Snipe sites get a bigger share of the winning bids, they've declared war on us. And your bottom dollar that eBay has made sure that verification is never triggered when a human user bids, even at the last minute. So the assertion from AS that eBay does this from time to time is a lame excuse. I'd like to be treated a little more intelligently by AS Support, thank you.
So here's the deal. Auction Sniper knows very well this is an anti-snipe weapon. The fact is that it could be a business killer for them and it has been happening for some time tells me that they're either clueless or powerless to do something about it. By now they would have reasonably developed a counter fix to the verification check. I'm getting really fed up with the AS support, being unfriendly, clueless, and ineffective. This may well be their final straw.
Here's what I'm going to do in the short term.
For auctions of items that I definitely want to win no matter what, I will bid manually.
I have increased the lead time on one of my upcoming snipes up to 8 or 10 seconds, just to test if that makes a difference.
I am also going to log in and stay logged in to eBay within 15 minutes (min avg cookie session time) of auction end.
I am also going to start sniping with another AS account just to see if eBay is going after the hard core habitual offenders.
In the long term or sooner, if eBay continues this BS and AS doesn't find a fix, if the above ideas don't work, I'll drop AS like a ton of bricks and walk.
I'll let you know.
In any case the best solution hands down is a downloaded snipe program that we can install on our own PCs which snipes for us from the IP with which we logged in and stay logged through auction end. Letting a third party do this for us always was never a guarantee of getting the winning bid, thus with a high degree of risk because we're delegating to a third party agent. Now it seems that those chickens have come to roost.
This reminds me of those heady days of the Wild West Web of the mid to late 90s when search engines were constantly fighting web coders that modified web site pages to get higher search result placement. Most of you weren't even born yet (joke). It became so bad that search sites were even blocking the worst offending web sites and even server IPs from displayed results. There were young men and women "hired guns" ("search engine gurus") who represented that they had cracked the search engine's code and could achieve amazing results for web site business owners. Major money was spent, many late night hours burned. Some of the more astute guys even got sued by the search sites. No, really.
Anyway.., AS needs to fess up and come clean to their customers about what they know and don't know. Everything. I surmise that might not be very much and that's why they're playing the same old unprofessional, lame broken record to us: "It's eBay's fault".
This situation could very well completely change the AS business model to one that may fail the company unless they develop a solution quickly. Folks are not going to keep losing items with AS. Very soon we'll walk.
Thoughts?
-FU
This has happened to me also - twice now. First error message was 'Ebay requires account verification' and today it was 'Sign-in blocked by eBay security image'
I've sent a message to support - but I'm not hopeful. looks like AS days are numbered.
Are there any other snipers that are reliable or have a way of working around this?
I've sent a message to support - but I'm not hopeful. looks like AS days are numbered.
Are there any other snipers that are reliable or have a way of working around this?
Every time AS tries to come up with a work around to allow snipes to get through eBay changes their requirements. Sound familiar. I still believe the problem is entirely due to actions by eBay NOT AS.
Swamperbob that is complete rubbish. There are other snipers that have successfully navigated around the issues. I use -- -- now that has placed every one of my bids successfully - oh and it's completely free! Bye Auction Sniper.
Yet again I have been let down by both Auction Sniper and Ebay, having just lost out on an important bid, where I should potentially have been the winner. My maximum bid for the item was £31.80 but the item sold for £16.50 (a loss of £15.30 to the seller). On this occasion the email that I received from Auction Sniper just said "Did not win", no explanation. Obviously my bid was not placed. I had earlier placed a manual bid for £15.80, hoping that my maximum bid through Auction Sniper of £31.80 would be accepted. As there seems to be no sign of any resolution to this problem, I will no longer rely on Auction Sniper or use their 'services', and will be forced to place all my bids manually, which is a bit of a pain having to be available and watch the bidding towards the end of bidding time. So, goodbye Auction Sniper - let me know if you ever succeed in placing bids with Ebay, which I doubt. Yours highly dissatisfied, Brian.
Brian A - read my other posts. I am in the UK and have had all the same issues with Auction Sniper. I have contacted them several times - and quite honestly they don't seem to give a damn. All they do is roll out scripted responses and don;t appear to be working on a solution.
So I looked for alternatives. I'm really pleased to say -- -- is working! It has placed all my bids successfully. What is more it is completely free! Wish I had found it earlier :-//
I have been with Auction Sniper for years - and have given them every opportunity to get it sorted before trying elsewhere. Bye bye Auction Sniper!
So I looked for alternatives. I'm really pleased to say -- -- is working! It has placed all my bids successfully. What is more it is completely free! Wish I had found it earlier :-//
I have been with Auction Sniper for years - and have given them every opportunity to get it sorted before trying elsewhere. Bye bye Auction Sniper!
I have also experience the same problem yesterday losing 7 items due to AS not being able to place bids
everyone my snipe bid would have been above the winning bids
The AS reports simply say ''bid did not win''
well AS we know that because you where not able to place the bid for me
everyone my snipe bid would have been above the winning bids
The AS reports simply say ''bid did not win''
well AS we know that because you where not able to place the bid for me
Hi Guys
I have today been using AS without any problems, snipes have been placed with some items being won with them.
This problems seems to be occurring on a Sundays when peak usage is accurring.
Does anyone know of any pattern to occurances?
Do we have to stop using AS on a sundays??
Can anyone recall having this problem on any other days of the week?
I have today been using AS without any problems, snipes have been placed with some items being won with them.
This problems seems to be occurring on a Sundays when peak usage is accurring.
Does anyone know of any pattern to occurances?
Do we have to stop using AS on a sundays??
Can anyone recall having this problem on any other days of the week?
quote:Originally posted by machineage:
...I'm really pleased to say -- -- is working! It has placed all my bids successfully. What is more it is completely free! Wish I had found it earlier :-//
I find it regrettable that machineage's post was edited to remove the 'other' sniping website that seems to work just fine. The website is: goofbid.com and others can read more about it in his thread entitled Alternatives to AS that work…
Hi adwade,
As you can see on the Goofbid site they also struggled with the same problems Auction Sniper faced back in August with ebay account verification and captcha blocking.
https://www.goofbid.com/blog/update-p4465/
Auction Sniper has been working well for a while now and we have mobile apps that make it even easier to snipe, you should give them a try.
-Stephanie
As you can see on the Goofbid site they also struggled with the same problems Auction Sniper faced back in August with ebay account verification and captcha blocking.
https://www.goofbid.com/blog/update-p4465/
Auction Sniper has been working well for a while now and we have mobile apps that make it even easier to snipe, you should give them a try.
-Stephanie
WOW! I am pleased to see so many people finally getting onto this chat thread to share your own experiences RE: "Ebay Requires Account Verification" missed snipes. When I started this conversation .. ages ago .. everyone was pretty darn clueless as to what the problem was, what it meant, why it was happening, etc.
It took many messages and phone calls from me to EBay to find out what "third party sniping" really was (heck, I signed up initially on Auction Sniper because a friend told me I no longer had to sit in front of the computer, glued to my chair, for hours at a time just to bid on items I wanted for a collection ... and the first 3 snipes were free, and then I was addicted); and why, it seems, that EBay has a "random" smack down on us for using third party sniping services.
To those of you who are leaving names of other third party sniping services/sites, well, good for you for attempting. Obviously, "Auction Sniper" is going to remove that info as soon as they find it, because you are using THEIR CHAT BOARDS to solicit business for another sniping service! OK, so you cannot blame them for that. BUT, there is some very serious disconnect with the folks (or is this site run by just one person??) at Auction Sniper because they are so slow to react, return messages, keep up-to-date, etc. It feels as if there truly is just one computer nerd behind this site!
It boils down to this (in my opinion): PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO BID, FURIOUSLY, IN THE FINAL SECONDS OF AN AUCTION, BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO LOSE WHAT IT IS THEY ARE BIDDING ON, for whatever reason. The higher the price, the higher EBay's cut. When you using a third party sniping service, you put in the highest amount of money you are willing to part with, and walk away. When you revisit EBay, or your Auction Sniper account, you will see later whether you won or lost the item(s) bid on.
The market for just about everything being sold on EBay right now is down. Prices are low. Folks are pulling back severely on spending because the economy continues to free-fall, school has begun again, the holidays are coming, and people are being laid off into the thousands in agriculture, construction, oil (ESPECIALLY OIL), retail (anyone noticed the number of businesses closing around the U.S.?), vehicles, on and on. I'm watching items sell in my category of collectible dolls (Barbie, in particular), for such low prices right now, it makes me want to cry, because the downwards trend has hit our household particularly hard ... husband lost his job last March, Unemployment benefits have expired, and we've gone from making $8500 per month, to $1631 (my sole retirement benefit). The only thing we're sure of right now, is that I have enough money to cover our mortgage ... everything else has been pared back, shut down, or shut off!
Sooooo, while I understand why the frustration is high for everyone when losing items because of this push-pull fiasco we've been unfortunate to find ourselves in, while using Auction Sniper to make our bids for us, EBay is (sadly, but I can understand why ...) blaming a robo-system of denying bids because the world is pulling back its money. We, the little people, are what they NEED -- MUST HAVE -- sitting at our computers, driving prices up in the last seconds to snatch the collectibles (or ? whatever it is you want/need), to get the biggest piece of the pie possible! Third party sniping services do NOT help in that effort.
I've looked at this from every angle; sent the messages/waited on the replies; asked around; looked at other sniping services; and finally, made the personal phone calls to EBay to hear what they had to say. You can bet, I got the "canned answer" I expected. Blame it on last minute traffic, more popular days of the week (Sundays seem to be the toughest), etc. I did a spreadsheet that included Auction Sniper users from my Barbie circle, 18 people in all, for the last five months. (Yes, I loved Statistics courses in college ... most people HATE those classes because polling can never be an exact science. But, I was good at it, so I did my own survey. )
I found that it is RANDOM. Their "robo/computer" (no "real" person involved, so they say) is to blame, and there's nothing that can be done about it?
BARF up the true story.
It is NOT on the highest traffic times, or days. So, EBay lied to me.
Do I believe they have a way of shutting down third party sniping services, here and there, so that it is completely believable that it has everything to do with their ("computer systems'") inability to verify our user names/info while using a third party sniping service, when asking to place our bids just seconds before auctions end?
YES. I believe they certainly CAN program their computers to do so ... leaving third party sniping services to leave us messages that our accounts could NOT be verified by EBay, instead of giving us successful auction wins.
Do I think Auction Sniper folks are able to do anything about it? NO. How could they, possibly? I mean, in the end, couldn't EBay block third party sniping -- in total -- if they want to? Of course they can! I think they will!
Maybe then the lawyers (they would most certainly hire) from these third party sniping companies might actually attempt to sue EBay for shutting down their bread-and-butter, put-food-on-the-table websites.
All of the info I've given here is from my own third party sniping losses, phone calls, messages back and forth, and talking with others, and don't forget ... my own unscientific poll. Do with the information what you will.
I suggest -- if you want, what you want on EBay, that you go back to sitting in front of your computer, with price in mind and do your own sniping in the last few seconds if you really want what you want. It's not the fault of the third party sniping services. It is EBay's fault. KING EBAY, all hail the KING.
Not only am I looking for another sniping service -- but only because the folks at Auction Sniper just don't seem to care, or are so understaffed that by the time that someone gets our messages, the time to reply/take care of the problem has already passed (since we are all obviously adept at reading each others' comments, on their own site).
And, I most definitely would LOVE TO FIND ANOTHER MARKET FOR BUYING AND SELLING ITEMS. EBay is about the money. I've been buying/selling on EBay since 1999, and they have become so anti-seller that it's beyond pathetic!
WITHOUT SELLERS, THERE IS NO EBAY! They cannot seem to be able to get that through their thick skulls while they continue to clamp down upon us harder than ever before! I will probably always buy from their site ... but I wish, oooh, how do I wish, there was another site as popular. They'd have my business in a nano-second.
Again, I'm glad to see that more people are looking for answers, here, amongst the chatty, for the "EBay Requires Account Verification" problem (amongst about five "reasons" given for Auction Sniper not making our bids for us, successfully). Keep sharing. And, SIT AT YOUR COMPUTER TO MAKE THOSE LAST SECOND BIDS! Don't give money to Auction Sniper if they're not going to offer decent customer service, and if you want what you want, then do the last minute thing YOURSELF, to get it! That way you no longer live in a frustrating mode ... it's just not worth the aggravation, because there is NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT! THAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE!
Good luck, and hugs to all! Kat
)
It took many messages and phone calls from me to EBay to find out what "third party sniping" really was (heck, I signed up initially on Auction Sniper because a friend told me I no longer had to sit in front of the computer, glued to my chair, for hours at a time just to bid on items I wanted for a collection ... and the first 3 snipes were free, and then I was addicted); and why, it seems, that EBay has a "random" smack down on us for using third party sniping services.
To those of you who are leaving names of other third party sniping services/sites, well, good for you for attempting. Obviously, "Auction Sniper" is going to remove that info as soon as they find it, because you are using THEIR CHAT BOARDS to solicit business for another sniping service! OK, so you cannot blame them for that. BUT, there is some very serious disconnect with the folks (or is this site run by just one person??) at Auction Sniper because they are so slow to react, return messages, keep up-to-date, etc. It feels as if there truly is just one computer nerd behind this site!
It boils down to this (in my opinion): PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO BID, FURIOUSLY, IN THE FINAL SECONDS OF AN AUCTION, BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO LOSE WHAT IT IS THEY ARE BIDDING ON, for whatever reason. The higher the price, the higher EBay's cut. When you using a third party sniping service, you put in the highest amount of money you are willing to part with, and walk away. When you revisit EBay, or your Auction Sniper account, you will see later whether you won or lost the item(s) bid on.
The market for just about everything being sold on EBay right now is down. Prices are low. Folks are pulling back severely on spending because the economy continues to free-fall, school has begun again, the holidays are coming, and people are being laid off into the thousands in agriculture, construction, oil (ESPECIALLY OIL), retail (anyone noticed the number of businesses closing around the U.S.?), vehicles, on and on. I'm watching items sell in my category of collectible dolls (Barbie, in particular), for such low prices right now, it makes me want to cry, because the downwards trend has hit our household particularly hard ... husband lost his job last March, Unemployment benefits have expired, and we've gone from making $8500 per month, to $1631 (my sole retirement benefit). The only thing we're sure of right now, is that I have enough money to cover our mortgage ... everything else has been pared back, shut down, or shut off!
Sooooo, while I understand why the frustration is high for everyone when losing items because of this push-pull fiasco we've been unfortunate to find ourselves in, while using Auction Sniper to make our bids for us, EBay is (sadly, but I can understand why ...) blaming a robo-system of denying bids because the world is pulling back its money. We, the little people, are what they NEED -- MUST HAVE -- sitting at our computers, driving prices up in the last seconds to snatch the collectibles (or ? whatever it is you want/need), to get the biggest piece of the pie possible! Third party sniping services do NOT help in that effort.
I've looked at this from every angle; sent the messages/waited on the replies; asked around; looked at other sniping services; and finally, made the personal phone calls to EBay to hear what they had to say. You can bet, I got the "canned answer" I expected. Blame it on last minute traffic, more popular days of the week (Sundays seem to be the toughest), etc. I did a spreadsheet that included Auction Sniper users from my Barbie circle, 18 people in all, for the last five months. (Yes, I loved Statistics courses in college ... most people HATE those classes because polling can never be an exact science. But, I was good at it, so I did my own survey. )
I found that it is RANDOM. Their "robo/computer" (no "real" person involved, so they say) is to blame, and there's nothing that can be done about it?
BARF up the true story.
It is NOT on the highest traffic times, or days. So, EBay lied to me.
Do I believe they have a way of shutting down third party sniping services, here and there, so that it is completely believable that it has everything to do with their ("computer systems'") inability to verify our user names/info while using a third party sniping service, when asking to place our bids just seconds before auctions end?
YES. I believe they certainly CAN program their computers to do so ... leaving third party sniping services to leave us messages that our accounts could NOT be verified by EBay, instead of giving us successful auction wins.
Do I think Auction Sniper folks are able to do anything about it? NO. How could they, possibly? I mean, in the end, couldn't EBay block third party sniping -- in total -- if they want to? Of course they can! I think they will!
Maybe then the lawyers (they would most certainly hire) from these third party sniping companies might actually attempt to sue EBay for shutting down their bread-and-butter, put-food-on-the-table websites.
All of the info I've given here is from my own third party sniping losses, phone calls, messages back and forth, and talking with others, and don't forget ... my own unscientific poll. Do with the information what you will.
I suggest -- if you want, what you want on EBay, that you go back to sitting in front of your computer, with price in mind and do your own sniping in the last few seconds if you really want what you want. It's not the fault of the third party sniping services. It is EBay's fault. KING EBAY, all hail the KING.
Not only am I looking for another sniping service -- but only because the folks at Auction Sniper just don't seem to care, or are so understaffed that by the time that someone gets our messages, the time to reply/take care of the problem has already passed (since we are all obviously adept at reading each others' comments, on their own site).
And, I most definitely would LOVE TO FIND ANOTHER MARKET FOR BUYING AND SELLING ITEMS. EBay is about the money. I've been buying/selling on EBay since 1999, and they have become so anti-seller that it's beyond pathetic!
WITHOUT SELLERS, THERE IS NO EBAY! They cannot seem to be able to get that through their thick skulls while they continue to clamp down upon us harder than ever before! I will probably always buy from their site ... but I wish, oooh, how do I wish, there was another site as popular. They'd have my business in a nano-second.
Again, I'm glad to see that more people are looking for answers, here, amongst the chatty, for the "EBay Requires Account Verification" problem (amongst about five "reasons" given for Auction Sniper not making our bids for us, successfully). Keep sharing. And, SIT AT YOUR COMPUTER TO MAKE THOSE LAST SECOND BIDS! Don't give money to Auction Sniper if they're not going to offer decent customer service, and if you want what you want, then do the last minute thing YOURSELF, to get it! That way you no longer live in a frustrating mode ... it's just not worth the aggravation, because there is NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT! THAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE!
Good luck, and hugs to all! Kat
)
Hi Kat,
It's true that all sniping services are at the mercy of eBay to some degree, but we have been working hard on our service to achieve the best results. Over the past few months we've made significant progress on "Ebay Requires Account Verification" as well as many other areas. I hope you've been seeing much better results in your sniping these past several weeks.
That said, the past two weeks and especially the past few days have been particularly difficult on the eBay front. They've had a number of system issues which have affected buyers and sellers in several ways. This can also be seen on independent sites such as Down Detector. This resulted in some lost snipes last week but we've put additional safeguards in place and have managed to work around the issues since then.
Regards,
Todd
It's true that all sniping services are at the mercy of eBay to some degree, but we have been working hard on our service to achieve the best results. Over the past few months we've made significant progress on "Ebay Requires Account Verification" as well as many other areas. I hope you've been seeing much better results in your sniping these past several weeks.
That said, the past two weeks and especially the past few days have been particularly difficult on the eBay front. They've had a number of system issues which have affected buyers and sellers in several ways. This can also be seen on independent sites such as Down Detector. This resulted in some lost snipes last week but we've put additional safeguards in place and have managed to work around the issues since then.
Regards,
Todd
Hi - sorry but that is rubbish with regards other snipers. I spoke to eBay myself regarding the issue. They were quite clear they had no intention of blocking snipers - in the main because it would drive shoppers elsewhere.
I had a sequence of failed snipes using AS - with the occasional odd one or two being placed. It got to a 90% fail rate - i.e. totally unreliable. IMMEDIATELY I switched to the other sniper (which by the way is completely free) every single one of my (over 100 now) bids was placed successfully. I reiterate: NOT ONE SINGLE FAILED BID PLACEMENT.
So I don't buy it is an across the board problem for all sniping companies. It most definitely is a problem for AS though.
There customer service is woeful and when I did get a reply it was just a scripted response with no answers to the questions posed. They did little to nothing to sort the problem out - and you have to pay for their service when the sniper I use is free and so far 100% proficient.
I would never go back to them now - I mean why would I?
I had a sequence of failed snipes using AS - with the occasional odd one or two being placed. It got to a 90% fail rate - i.e. totally unreliable. IMMEDIATELY I switched to the other sniper (which by the way is completely free) every single one of my (over 100 now) bids was placed successfully. I reiterate: NOT ONE SINGLE FAILED BID PLACEMENT.
So I don't buy it is an across the board problem for all sniping companies. It most definitely is a problem for AS though.
There customer service is woeful and when I did get a reply it was just a scripted response with no answers to the questions posed. They did little to nothing to sort the problem out - and you have to pay for their service when the sniper I use is free and so far 100% proficient.
I would never go back to them now - I mean why would I?
Hi machineage,
Back in the July/August timeframe we were seeing failures, especially on peak Sunday evening hours and especially in the UK -- nowhere near the percentage you quote, but still too high. After all, we want our users to win as many snipes as possible!
Since that time we have added to our team and renewed our focus, with several improvements in place already and more to come. Our results now are looking quite good, dramatically better than the past results you describe, even while facing new errors on the eBay side this past week.
Snipe on!
Regards,
Todd
** EDIT ** I did some research to better understand what sort of troubles you had encountered, but our database shows only two verification failures for your account within hundreds of snipes over the years. The errors were both in mid August, when we were experiencing the most troubles. Does that sound correct, or are there other accounts that I missed?
Back in the July/August timeframe we were seeing failures, especially on peak Sunday evening hours and especially in the UK -- nowhere near the percentage you quote, but still too high. After all, we want our users to win as many snipes as possible!
Since that time we have added to our team and renewed our focus, with several improvements in place already and more to come. Our results now are looking quite good, dramatically better than the past results you describe, even while facing new errors on the eBay side this past week.
Snipe on!
Regards,
Todd
** EDIT ** I did some research to better understand what sort of troubles you had encountered, but our database shows only two verification failures for your account within hundreds of snipes over the years. The errors were both in mid August, when we were experiencing the most troubles. Does that sound correct, or are there other accounts that I missed?
quote:posted November 04, 2015 10:46 AM Hide Post
Hi machineage,
Back in the July/August timeframe we were seeing failures, especially on peak Sunday evening hours and especially in the UK -- nowhere near the percentage you quote, but still too high. After all, we want our users to win as many snipes as possible!
Since that time we have added to our team and renewed our focus, with several improvements in place already and more to come. Our results now are looking quite good, dramatically better than the past results you describe, even while facing new errors on the eBay side this past week.
Snipe on!
Regards,
Todd
** EDIT ** I did some research to better understand what sort of troubles you had encountered, but our database shows only two verification failures for your account within hundreds of snipes over the years. The errors were both in mid August, when we were experiencing the most troubles. Does that sound correct, or are there other accounts that I missed?
I hate to say virtually the same thing twice, but it seemed rotten having the false-reassurance as the very last post in this thread that makes people think you've fixed anything when clearly you have not.
Less frustrating, and possibly more effective than using Auction Sniper, is to simply to write all of your snipes down and then feed them through a paper shredder.
Hi lastditcheffort,
Seems you are having troubles and are frustrated, if you provide us with further information we'd be happy to assist you.
This thread relates to our system (like many other sniping tools) having problems with ebay's security features that resulted in account verifications or captcha blocking when we tried to place snipes on your behalf. This problem has not existed since August.
I reviewed your account and it appears that your Auction Sniper user/password don't match that of your ebay credentials. It is required that they match otherwise we are not able to place snipes on your behalf.
If you are having other issues please let us know. Otherwise simply updating your sniper credentials to match ebay should fix your issues.
-Stephanie
Seems you are having troubles and are frustrated, if you provide us with further information we'd be happy to assist you.
This thread relates to our system (like many other sniping tools) having problems with ebay's security features that resulted in account verifications or captcha blocking when we tried to place snipes on your behalf. This problem has not existed since August.
I reviewed your account and it appears that your Auction Sniper user/password don't match that of your ebay credentials. It is required that they match otherwise we are not able to place snipes on your behalf.
If you are having other issues please let us know. Otherwise simply updating your sniper credentials to match ebay should fix your issues.
-Stephanie
I just wanted to add my voice to the situation about account verification. I still don't understand why the requirement for verification isn't a part of the process you go through when you set up a snipe. Why in the world does AS give the appearance that it's working when it's not? I lost a rare item that went for cheap because the seller set it up to end in the middle of the night. So upsetting!
Hi ichiricki,
We have not experienced issues with account verification since August. When it was a problem for us there were two types of validations eBay would throw at us… the first and most common was captcha blocking. If you are not familiar, captcha block is where you are shown digits and/or alpha characters in an image and asked to enter them in a field in order to continue. This was not something we could anticipate or guess, therefore we could not make it part of the process when setting up a snipe. The second issue was user account verification… If we were placing bids from the same single IP address for all of our customers we could have solved this issue pretty easily, however, because our system is highly redundant using one of hundreds of possible IP addresses to place bids on your behalf the problem was not easily worked around.
Not sure what you mean when you say AS gives the appearance that it’s working when it’s not. If our customers max bid is high enough we win 90% of the time. I feel this is a pretty good win percentage but still we are always trying to improve it. We charge 1% of the auction price (up to $9.99) but only if you win the auction, otherwise we get nothing… we want nothing more then for you to win auctions.
I reviewed your account and see you’ve won 22 items using AS and lost 10, the reason for 9 of your losses were because you did not bid enough and the last one indicates it was blocked by the seller which I believe means the seller closed the auction before it ended. I do not see that user verification or captcha block ever impacted you.
-Stephanie
We have not experienced issues with account verification since August. When it was a problem for us there were two types of validations eBay would throw at us… the first and most common was captcha blocking. If you are not familiar, captcha block is where you are shown digits and/or alpha characters in an image and asked to enter them in a field in order to continue. This was not something we could anticipate or guess, therefore we could not make it part of the process when setting up a snipe. The second issue was user account verification… If we were placing bids from the same single IP address for all of our customers we could have solved this issue pretty easily, however, because our system is highly redundant using one of hundreds of possible IP addresses to place bids on your behalf the problem was not easily worked around.
Not sure what you mean when you say AS gives the appearance that it’s working when it’s not. If our customers max bid is high enough we win 90% of the time. I feel this is a pretty good win percentage but still we are always trying to improve it. We charge 1% of the auction price (up to $9.99) but only if you win the auction, otherwise we get nothing… we want nothing more then for you to win auctions.
I reviewed your account and see you’ve won 22 items using AS and lost 10, the reason for 9 of your losses were because you did not bid enough and the last one indicates it was blocked by the seller which I believe means the seller closed the auction before it ended. I do not see that user verification or captcha block ever impacted you.
-Stephanie
Hi ichiricki,
I apologize and stand corrected. I missed your most recent snipe that appears to have failed due to captcha block on your eBay account. We also determined that your Auction Sniper password does not match with your eBay password.
In order to correct this two things need to happen. First you'll need to update your password for AS to match your eBay password. Second you'll need to login to eBay and clear the captcha block. Once these two things are done you'll be able to place snipes.
Again, I apologize for your troubles. We've credited your account with free snipes as a result.
-Stephanie
I apologize and stand corrected. I missed your most recent snipe that appears to have failed due to captcha block on your eBay account. We also determined that your Auction Sniper password does not match with your eBay password.
In order to correct this two things need to happen. First you'll need to update your password for AS to match your eBay password. Second you'll need to login to eBay and clear the captcha block. Once these two things are done you'll be able to place snipes.
Again, I apologize for your troubles. We've credited your account with free snipes as a result.
-Stephanie
What good are free snipes if they are as unreliable as they currently are?
Hi ginettag12p,
I responded to your other post here:
http://community.auctionsniper...5608021/m/7657028976
-Stephanie
I responded to your other post here:
http://community.auctionsniper...5608021/m/7657028976
-Stephanie
So how do I validate my ebay acct. when I sign in it doesn't ask for anything
Hi Mike@home,
As you may have noticed, this is a case where eBay is asking for manual verification in order to log in from our servers. Since they aren't requiring this verification from other locations, there is nothing you can do directly. I'll follow up now with a private message so we can pursue a solution together.
Regards,
Todd
As you may have noticed, this is a case where eBay is asking for manual verification in order to log in from our servers. Since they aren't requiring this verification from other locations, there is nothing you can do directly. I'll follow up now with a private message so we can pursue a solution together.
Regards,
Todd