NO LONGER TRUST AUCTIONSNIPER

One incident in 15 years, and you no longer trust the application... How's your personal relationships? Few and far between I bet.

That ridiculous statement aside; I think you'll find there will be a legitimate reason beyond AuctionSniper's control for you not winning the auction.

Experienced this myself for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Turns out sellers can pre-block certain aspects for a buyer, such as unresolved disputes, negative feedback, your location and a number of other things. They can also block you completely, but only if they know your name / ID first. However, they cannot block sniping. What you have most likely encountered is a seller who has blocked you completely (after the fact), if they suspected you have used a snipe on a previous auction and they simply disagree with it. Ask yourself; have you bought something from them before? Did you use a snipe to buy it? Most likely, I think.

In fact eBay themselves claim not to have a mechanism in place that can block sniping, nor do they wish to, as it actually works for the seller, and thus works for eBay.

You can read more via the link provided, however here is the meat of the argument:

There is currently no way a seller can block a Zero feedback bidder who snipes.
Under current eBay rules, a seller can pre-set blocks on any bidder who has a feedback score of -1 or less or who has a certain number of unpaid item strikes, etc. Aside from very specific rules and parameters, a seller cannot pre-block other bidders, therefore all bidders who are not pre-blocked by parameters set by the seller can bid.

If you jump in and bid early the seller will have plenty of time to scrutinize you and block your bids if he feels threatened by you. If you bid only as a sniper, no seller can block you merely because he thinks he might not like to deal with you.

http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Sni...0000002606004/g.html

Anyway, happy sniping.

Painfull

I have just been screwed out of hundreds of dollars worth of bidding activity,90% which I believe I would have won since the winning bids were far below my auction sniper snipes that were not placed. This happened two weeks ago on two of my bids and again last week on four of my bids.(It could have been more bids not placed but my sniped were below the bid increment).Basically 1 out of 10 of my snipes are going through. I decided to try sniping through my other Ebay account thinking that maybe it was just a problem with my one Ebay account..WRONG! Last night I just lost another auction that WAS FAR BELOW MY NOT PLACED SNIPE!I really wish I could depend on Auction Sniper but I am sorry to say I can no longer do that due to Ebay. I HAVE BEEN A MEMBER SINCE THE 1990's. I believe Ebay is intentionally doing this to stop auction sniper from doing business as a third party.

I just spoke with a very high up supervisor at Ebay. This is an intentional act by them to shut down third party computer bidders. They want you to use their proxy system and make bidding fairer to all bidders. This is good for sellers but not snipers. I have experienced a big drop in my auction sales as a seller due to auction sniper bidders not being able to leave bids on my auctions last month. I informed Ebay that if they are going to continue this new policy of blocking outside computer bids through verification captchas then they need to make a public announcement for they are currently hurting their sellers who are losing bids and pissing off bidders who can't place them. This sucks, sorry Auction Sniper. Thank you for 20 years of bidding for me.

Painfull, you are painfully behind the front line of this issue .... The personal attack besides, I know all about bidding and tipping my hand ... that is why I have almost exclusively used SA for the last 15 years .... but if the service is no longer reliable, it is of NO USE at all, since one never knows when to risk it or not. Maybe your auction bids are not important to you, and it doesn't matter if they succeed or not to you, but most people who use eBay want to have a chance to bid, one way or another, that is reliable.

Painfull, you are also ignorant of the blocking process .... which operates with snipes as well as regular bids. I have over 1100 transactions on eBay, a modest score of course, but still, that is 15 years of experience with it. Thanks anyway for your sophomoric lecture.

Ok, you may have been a member of eBay since 1990, but not Auction Sniper. The Auctiva company was only founded in 2001, and Auction Sniper was not their first product.

So make a formal complaint. They have some of the best customer relations in the business. They will help you resolve the issue, which may even be on your side of the system, not theirs. Have you considered that?

Good luck.

P.

quote:

Originally posted by Ruthshobby:
I just spoke with a very high up supervisor at Ebay.

And his name is?

Anyway guys. I just had a quick chat with Mohit (eBay support only - I'm not going to talk this s#!t up unnecessarily), and here is our conversation:

ebay Live help
Chat

painfull9:
Clarification of allowed sniping practices via 3rd party applications.

Mohit :
Welcome to eBay Australia Live Chat! My name is Mohit. May I start by asking your full name OR May I know your name please?

painfull9 :
painful9

painfull9 :
I would just like to clarify if eBay can / does block sniping bids that are actioned / placed by 3rd party applications such as auctionsniper.com

Mohit :
AS I understand you want to cancel or retrract the bid you have on the Item?

painfull9 :
Excuse me?

painfull9 :
Please read the topic of this chat, and my question above. I believe you have me confused with someone else.

Mohit :
We sometimes refer to last-minute bidding as "sniping."� We don't recommend sniping, but we also don't prohibit it.� Every listing on the site has an exact ending time, and many bidders place their bids at the very last minute in an attempt to win the item.

Mohit :
There are 3rd party programs that some members use to place a last-minute bid automatically.� However, we don't recommend any of these sniping programs since they are not official eBay tools.

Mohit :
Last-minute bidding�is not the surest way to bid. If there's a delay with the�your Internet connection or local network, or if�you have misjudged the end time of the listing,�your bid may end up being submitted too late to be accepted.

painfull9 :
Thank you Mohit for the Copy and Paste from the FAQ. I am asking you if eBay can block a snipe? I understand all of the rhetoric in the FAQ. I would like to know what actually happens? What policy and procedure does eBay employ? Is eBay blocking sites like AuctionSniper.com?

Mohit :
I am sorry about this, I would like to Inform you we do not block this is the third party , The Issue might be from the third party bidding tools as We don't provide support for issues that come up with third party bidding tools.� You'll need to contact the company you got the tool from.

Mohit :
There might be buyer requirements on the listing. If you don't meet them, your bid won't go through.�I suggest you check the site

Mohit :
Contact the seller if you still need more information.

painfull9 :
Ok, thank you. That's all for now. Goodbye Mohit.

This is the standard support fare .... very predictable, and reinforces the general consensus that eBay is undermining the auction sniper process with added requirements.

Unless AS can come up with a method of answering this added layer of complexity, and soon, they will be sidelined. I know I will not risk any more auctions to their sniping until an announcement comes stating they have definitely solved this problem, even if it begins with eBay.

Painful, where did you get the year 1990 which you mention in a previous post, as my originating year with eBay ? I don't think eBay was even founded until years later. Do the math, - the 15 years I mention would begin around 2000, which is nearly 2001, .... so your entire post there is meaningless.

I would guess that I began using AuctionSniper within the first year of my using eBay. Sniping is the best way to win auctions, as it worked consistently and reliably in the past. It might not be their own fault it is no longer reliable, but that is the reality.

This forum is THE complaint format .... AuctionSniper is painfully aware of their problem, as many other users have complained here as well. It is of course NOT on my side ....
Your postings themselves have a pasted flavor to them, standard lame support replies.

Ruthshobby's comment is what I was replying to there. Sorry for the confusion. Three way conversations are always fun They made reference to being a member since the 1990's following a statement about AS, so I could only assume that was the membership they were referring to. Ruthshobby also mentioned speaking to a 'very high up supervisor at Ebay'. Well maybe they have. I just find their statements all too 'convenient' to fuel the discussion into one that is more leaned than it already is.

I get it. You have seen what you believe is evidence of eBay being able to block snipes, and are willing to persecute them on your observations alone. Well, I'm not.

I personally HAVE experienced this myself! <- PLEASE READ, AS YOU SEEM TO HAVE MISSED THIS IN MY EARLIER POST.

However, I am, you might say, more skeptical of the theory you are offering, and possibly just a little more rational - or simply willing to suspend my disbelief if you like. I personally don't believe eBay can or do block snipes YET, and I'm willing to observe, or be presented with more evidence before I decide FOR MYSELF what is happening.

I only offered my thoughts / feelings when I saw how bitter you were about it. And you should consider that I came here by searching for answers to this very situation myself. Granted my approach was pointed, sorry about that, I just got the felling that you had not even considered other reasonable explanations, that you were 'jumping on the bandwagon' to dig and defame AS as a product / service.

I'll look around. Maybe someone can offer some evidence that convinces me. But for now I see no reason or evidence on their part for eBay to block 3rd party snipping applications.

Re. comments by Painful .....


my "personal relationships" ... "persecute" .... "bitter" ..... "defame" ....

By your own admission, you are easily confused, and with these characterizations, you show your own flair for drama and exaggeration.

Read again the statements by AuctionSniper's own representative, in these support discussion threads. AuctionSniper itself has already defined the problem, and states that it is unable ( until further notice ) to work around the eBay measures.

To clear the fog in your head, just read it for yourself, what they both say, AuctionSniper and eBay, and it is no great mystery what is happening. And then read again the NUMEROUS statements from other members who have had their auction snipe bids fail to be placed.