How do I know if my snipe is going to be exectuted? It says ready in the Status. Does that mean that It will automatically snipe it for me?
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Also, I have begun reading here and noticed a lot of missed snipes. Should I be concerned? Is there anything I should look for to check to make sure I did everything right?
With one possible exception, when your snipe status says "Ready" it means that AS is poised to enter your bid at the pre-set time. The exception occurs with bid groups, and I suggest that you read up on those by clicking on the little "search" icon at the top of this page and checking out the discussions of "bid groups." It's this exception which has caused many -- but not all -- of the comments about snipes not being placed that you've been seeing.
"Does that mean that It will automatically snipe it for me?" - I have more confidence in AS then I do hospitals (I'm not sure that's a complement).
"Also, I have begun reading here and noticed a lot of missed snipes. Should I be concerned?" - Notice that these "missed snipes" complaints come from one-time posts and they frequently occur on Sunday nights. This is prime time.
"Is there anything I should look for to check to make sure I did everything right?" - YES! Unlike the complainers, use a longer lead time. Steve recommends 8 seconds, with 30 seconds during prime time (Sunday's PM).
AS isn't perfect. Nothing is perfect. But it's more perfect than you are.
If you want perfection leave a grossly exaggerated proxy bid 7 days before closing; or leave a modest AS snipe.
COME ON! Check out the complaints. Do the research. The complaints tend to occur in clusters around Sunday nights. Does that sound like a problem that AS is having? This is prime time for 50 million ebay users. Isn't it more likely that ebay is having a problem?
(Steve; Jump in here any time).
Grasshopper
"Also, I have begun reading here and noticed a lot of missed snipes. Should I be concerned?" - Notice that these "missed snipes" complaints come from one-time posts and they frequently occur on Sunday nights. This is prime time.
"Is there anything I should look for to check to make sure I did everything right?" - YES! Unlike the complainers, use a longer lead time. Steve recommends 8 seconds, with 30 seconds during prime time (Sunday's PM).
AS isn't perfect. Nothing is perfect. But it's more perfect than you are.
If you want perfection leave a grossly exaggerated proxy bid 7 days before closing; or leave a modest AS snipe.
COME ON! Check out the complaints. Do the research. The complaints tend to occur in clusters around Sunday nights. Does that sound like a problem that AS is having? This is prime time for 50 million ebay users. Isn't it more likely that ebay is having a problem?
(Steve; Jump in here any time).
Grasshopper
Opps, you jumped in. Glad you did.
Grasshopper
Grasshopper
Thanks for the advice guys! Hope it works!
bear,
Let us know what happens.
Grasshopper
Let us know what happens.
Grasshopper
There was a problem with bid groups last week for about 2 days. It was a bug caused by a pretty extreme event. Afterall it's the first time that particular set of events happened in about 1.5 years of bid groups.
Other than that I think we snipe great, the ones we do miss are nearly always caused by eBay slowness or failures. We do about a zillion things to compensate for that but a small few each day still miss.
On an average good day for eBay we'll hit about 99.9% of all snipes. Which means only 1 in 1000 would be late. Bad days come closer to 99% probably. eBay has been having mainly good days for the past 2 weeks. Sundays are always very busy though on eBay and more often than not lean towards bad days. To give yourself closer to 99.9% odds on a Sunday a longer lead time than 5 seconds is recommended. But not required as we should still get in most bids just fine, but if you wanted to be just a hair safer.
Other than that I think we snipe great, the ones we do miss are nearly always caused by eBay slowness or failures. We do about a zillion things to compensate for that but a small few each day still miss.
On an average good day for eBay we'll hit about 99.9% of all snipes. Which means only 1 in 1000 would be late. Bad days come closer to 99% probably. eBay has been having mainly good days for the past 2 weeks. Sundays are always very busy though on eBay and more often than not lean towards bad days. To give yourself closer to 99.9% odds on a Sunday a longer lead time than 5 seconds is recommended. But not required as we should still get in most bids just fine, but if you wanted to be just a hair safer.
bear,
Two other pieces of advice:
1) Use a free snipe on something very cheap, but not very important. Leave the lowest snipe possible on an item that has other bidders. That way, you have a chance of not being high bidder. This will give you more confidence and you probably won't have to buy anything, and not use up a free snipe. Videos or DVD's are good.
2) Check this forum near the close of your auction. If ebay is having a problem, believe me, you'll see several people going crazy on this forum. The operative phrases are "I'm pissed" or "This sucks". You don't even need to use the search feature as one or both of these phrases will appear in the topic of several posts.
Both of these ideas are unnecessary, because AS is very reliable. But, perhaps they will reduce any anxiety.
Grasshopper
Two other pieces of advice:
1) Use a free snipe on something very cheap, but not very important. Leave the lowest snipe possible on an item that has other bidders. That way, you have a chance of not being high bidder. This will give you more confidence and you probably won't have to buy anything, and not use up a free snipe. Videos or DVD's are good.
2) Check this forum near the close of your auction. If ebay is having a problem, believe me, you'll see several people going crazy on this forum. The operative phrases are "I'm pissed" or "This sucks". You don't even need to use the search feature as one or both of these phrases will appear in the topic of several posts.
Both of these ideas are unnecessary, because AS is very reliable. But, perhaps they will reduce any anxiety.
Grasshopper
Kimberly Baeth's post doesn't warrant being at the top of this forum, especially for a Sunday night.
Mantis
Mantis
Well, lost one due to not bidding higher than someone's proxy. BUT I just won one Yay! It's so cool! It really works!
Just curious, it still says I have 3 free snipes. How long does it take to change the number of snipes?
Thanks for your advice guys. I love AS already!
Just curious, it still says I have 3 free snipes. How long does it take to change the number of snipes?
Thanks for your advice guys. I love AS already!
I won, I won! Thanks AS!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2313218326
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2313218326
The number of free snipes changes right after the close of the auction. But here's the great part: You only get charged, or use up free snipes, if you win (hate that word) the auction. You could place snipes for the rest of your life, and never pay a cent as long as you didn't win (hate that word).
Once you've used up your free snipes, I would strongly recommend giving AS your credit card. You could use Paypal, but since it's a manual process to apply the credit to your AS account, it can take several days. In the mean time, you can't snipe. So, if you just have to use Paypal, do it early (to be safe, give it a week). If you search this forum for "Paypal", you'll see that this issue has caused some hot-heads to become hot.
Giving AS your credit card is safe. If you plan on using this service for any extended period, this is a much easier way to go than using Paypal.
Grasshopper
Once you've used up your free snipes, I would strongly recommend giving AS your credit card. You could use Paypal, but since it's a manual process to apply the credit to your AS account, it can take several days. In the mean time, you can't snipe. So, if you just have to use Paypal, do it early (to be safe, give it a week). If you search this forum for "Paypal", you'll see that this issue has caused some hot-heads to become hot.
Giving AS your credit card is safe. If you plan on using this service for any extended period, this is a much easier way to go than using Paypal.
Grasshopper
Especially living with a Buffalo Bills fan - you're at .500 - not something that you're usually used to 
Myself I'm a Philadelphia fan, so I too am used to long periods without a win
Myself I'm a Philadelphia fan, so I too am used to long periods without a win
LOL how true. How hard to pretend that I am so proud of the team. Poor guy has no one to back him up on the Bills, here in Maryland.
I'm not too into football, but I went to one game and it was pretty entertaining. At least they won.
He's such a sore loser. If they lose he takes it so personally like HE lost and he's mad for the day. It's so funny.
But yeah, I guess that wasn't bad. I lost another too, I had my snipe set at 30secs, and as soon as It sniped, someone else who was apparently obsessed with the auction sniped my bid. Rats. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. I still have two free snipes. Yay!
It's still fun. I am not one of those "hot heads" that will get all upset cuz I didn't win a bid. I understand nothing is perfect! (My husband, for example, would be one of the ones posting 100 nasty posts cuz he lost.)
He was more upset I lost that bear on my first snipe attempt than I was. He don't even like the care bears. Oh well.
Thanks for all your input and advice guys. Have a great day!
I'm not too into football, but I went to one game and it was pretty entertaining. At least they won.
He's such a sore loser. If they lose he takes it so personally like HE lost and he's mad for the day. It's so funny.
But yeah, I guess that wasn't bad. I lost another too, I had my snipe set at 30secs, and as soon as It sniped, someone else who was apparently obsessed with the auction sniped my bid. Rats. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. I still have two free snipes. Yay!
It's still fun. I am not one of those "hot heads" that will get all upset cuz I didn't win a bid. I understand nothing is perfect! (My husband, for example, would be one of the ones posting 100 nasty posts cuz he lost.)
He was more upset I lost that bear on my first snipe attempt than I was. He don't even like the care bears. Oh well.
Thanks for all your input and advice guys. Have a great day!