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6 replies

Losing Snipes

D dianeMember
I put all of my snipes in at a lead time of 1 second. In the beginning of my sniping, it worked great. The snipes were actually coming in at the last second and I was winning the auctions. Now, all of a sudden, the snipes are firing too early -- usually by 11-13 seconds. I'm now losing some of my auctions because it leaves a lead time for someone to outsnipe me. Why has this changed? Yes, I do put in the full amount that I'm willing to pay, but I will lose a snipe by .10 to .20 cents. That's very aggravating! And, no, someone isn't outbidding me on these. They are outsniping me. It even says "bid at the last second". If we can't bid at the last second, shouldn't that wording be changed to "bid in the last 10 seconds"?
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puppyraiserpuppyraiserMember
Hi Diane, and welcome to the forum.

I think this link will answer your questions.

>Click Here<

quote:
I will lose a snipe by .10 to .20 cents. That's very aggravating! And, no, someone isn't outbidding me on these. They are outsniping me.
Are you sure? To lose by 10 to 20 cents the winning bid MUST have been recorded before yours, *OR* there were several bids after yours and the ending price was less than a dollar.

(edit)... Nope you're right it could happen. Don't know what I was thinking. Frown
Last edited by puppyraiser
L lucerne419Member
Help! Something similar happened to me. I had my snipe set for a 5 second lead time. The auction was set to end at 13:02:48. At 13:02:19 the high bid was $45.00 for the item. My snipe went in at 13:02:33 for $52.11. I was the high bidder at that time-But there was 15 seconds left and the previous bidder had time to enter another bid at 13:02:46 and won the item with a bid of $53.11. I'm convinced if my snipe has gone in with a 5 second lead time, the other bidder would not have had time to enter another bid. Can anyone explain this to me? For reference the item number is 2241353498. Thanks!
puppyraiserpuppyraiserMember 
The following table has been reorganized and sorted into date order.  First
bid placed is line #1.  That should make it easier to follow the auction.
Two additional columns have been calculated and added.  They are the current 
bid and high bidder, as displayed on eBay after each bid is placed.        v2.1.08
* = Winning bid. (may be less than actual maximum entered.)
 
                    Max                       Current Winning
 #    Bidder        Bid      Day & Time        Bid  &  Bidder
                   (US $)
  1   goldenbluema  26.83   27-Apr  13:43:37    9.99   goldenbluema 
  2   justnana123   12.00   27-Apr  16:47:17   12.50   goldenbluema 
  3   justnana123   15.00   27-Apr  16:47:27   15.50   goldenbluema 
  4   justnana123   18.00   27-Apr  16:54:35   18.50   goldenbluema 
  5   justnana123   20.00   01-May  13:28:49   20.50   goldenbluema 
  6   goldenbluema  32.43   02-May  07:10:05   27.83   goldenbluema 
  7   justnana123   21.00   02-May  12:29:48   21.50   goldenbluema 
  8   justnana123   22.00   02-May  12:30:00   22.50   goldenbluema 
  9   justnana123   23.00   02-May  12:34:16   23.50   goldenbluema 
 10   justnana123   24.00   02-May  12:34:25   24.50   goldenbluema 
 11   baddogromeo   45.00   02-May  13:02:19   33.43   baddogromeo  
 12   lucerne419    52.11   02-May  13:02:33   46.00   lucerne419   
 13   baddogromeo  *53.11   02-May  13:02:46   53.11   baddogromeo  
        End                 02-May  13:02:48
Yep, looks that way to me. Wonder what baddog's max was. They bid even dollar amounts... $60 ? ?

For an explaination of *why* this happened, click on the link in my first reply above.

... and Welcome to the forum.
R rosetsuMember
It is possible that your winning bidder saw your high bid and placed a new bid in 13 seconds, but I think it is more likely that he was using a double bid technique. He either deliberately placed two successive bids close together near auction end, or used a manual bid to complement an automated bid.

He may have used a double bid because he knew that there was a nibbler in the auction. (Double bids are quite effective against nibblers.)

The $45.00 first bid does not necessarily indicate that his final bid was a whole dollar amount.
region2region2Member
It's my theory (and I think it's a good one!) that if your bid is placed anytime in the last 30 seconds of an eBay auction then no-one can outbid you as a direct response to your bid.

Thus any bid that happens in the last 30 seconds is almost certainly an electronic bid/snipe of some sort and was going to happen anyway.

So don't get all nervous and waste your time trying to get as close to the wire as possible. Instead, try this:
  • Do your homework by looking at the history of similar items
  • Place your max bid (that's the max you want to spend on the item) as an odd amount (123.45 rather than 123.00) with AS
  • set the lead time to 8 seconds (increase a bit for Sunday Evening's (USA time) when it's a bit slow)
  • walk away
If you win - you win. If you lose the it was because someone wanted to spend more than you. And remember, on eBay nothing is rare - it just doesn't come up as often as common items!

R2

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