Need some general advice...quick!

essentialMember

I am hoping to win an item tonight which finishes at exactly 10pm. I have read lots of topics on the forum, and taking everything into consideration have decided on an 18 second lead time, does this sound right for something ending on the hour on a Tuesday night?

This is a one-off item, and I need to win it. Can I login at eBay and enter a manual bid (of a similar, or same amount) within the last minute, incase my snipe misses out? I don't think I can outbid myself, but is there any problems with me being logged in, and auction sniper logging in for me at the same time? Surely it would just be the equivalent of bidding twice? I just want to be doubly sure I get the item.

Thanks!

7/27/042:18 AM

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snipersarabAuctionSniper Support

5 seconds should be safe at 10pm pacific time. 10pm eastern would be 7pm west coast and then I'd use 15 seconds.

You can also bid manually, it wont increase your price except in one rare case and even then by at most a fraction of 1 bid increment, which usually means 25 cents up to $1 or so. Even on a car it would be like $25 I think and as I said it doesnt happen often. So the general answer is that you cant out bid youself, so go for it.

7/27/043:11 AM

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essentialMember

Thanks for confirming that. I'm in the Uk and it finishes at 22:00 UK time, or 14:00 PDT...so 5 seconds? Do I go by the time on the US or Uk site?

7/27/043:30 AM

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puppyraiserMember

Use US site time when figuring high traffic times. Your 5 seconds should be good for a weekday at 2pm. I usually use 7-8 seconds except Saturday and Sunday evenings. Don't be over concerned about getting the last bid in. Remember its the highest bid that wins, not the last.

trivia... Its been stated by those that should know, ebay.uk is really in California. Same with all the other sites.

... and Welcome to the forum.

7/27/044:13 AM

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essentialMember

Thanks a lot for all the advice..I think I'll go for 8 seconds. I know it is the highest bid that wins, but I have a suspicion that there will be a few bidders with huge budgets looking for this item, and because the item has no bids so far I'd prefer to get my max bid at the last second to make it harder for the other bidders to beat. Of course if they push it above my limit before the last few minute I'll just have to cancel my snipe, but I suspect they all think they can pick it off cheaply...we'll see.

Thanks again...

7/27/044:37 AM

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puppyraiserMember

I've been there.

Good Luck! ...Let us know how it works?

Let me re-phrase something I said...
Any bids entered after yours were probably planed well in advance (just like yours is). Just because they were entered later, doesn't necessarily mean they were in response to your bid.

7/27/046:05 AM

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essentialMember

Well I won the item...a beautiful watercolour. I don't know if my bid was placed early, because the opposing bidder almost had time to outbid me, but I won in the end.

I have to especially thank auction sniper because I was unable to reach ebay for the duration of tonight due to my shitty internet connection, and the only way I was able to bid was the snipe, which thankfully won. I would not have this item if it wasn't for auction sniper, and in my 3 years on ebay this is the first item I have truly had my heart set on.

I do have to admit that when I managed to log in to ebay, clicking "Items Won" was a very tense moment!

Thanks again for all the advice.

7/27/043:21 PM

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