No Snipe Placed

If your snipe doesn't get placed it's probably due to one of the following: a) You reused a bid group folder; b) You used a low lead time (less than 8 seconds); c) You tried to place a snipe during high usage on ebay (Sunday PM & auctions that end exactly on the quarter hour (hh:00:00, hh:15:00, hh:30:00, hh:45:00); d) ebay experienced a "hiccup". RARELY are missed snipes due to a problem that AS is experiencing, but when it is AS' problem they are very good about letting everyone know by posting to this forum.

If none of the above applies, please provide auction #, lead time and bid amount (bid amount not critical).

Alan, if you read some of the background in the Forum archives you'll learn that Sundays are the very busiest days of the week for eBay, and that Sunday evenings are the busiest time of the busiest day. If you schedule a Sunday evening snipe to go in with, let's say, 5 seconds remaining in the auction you have an almost zero chance of getting your bid recognized by eBay before the auction closes. I have little doubt that this is what caused your bid not to be placed. To verify, please provide the item number and Rick and/or I will check it out.

Item number was 2178524477 and ending time was 19:00:00 PDT. It was probably due to short lead time on Sunday. I will increase the bid time next time.
Alan

Alan,

Sunday evening and ending on the exact hour - has to be the worst. Think about 20 to 30 second lead time for something like that.

On Sunday evening auctions the members recommend 15 to 30 seconds, and for quarter hour ending auctions AS recommends 20 to 25 seconds.

You could always send an email to ask the seller if he's going to relist it. The down side of that is that if he was already planning on doing that, without your email he might have a lower starting price on the auction.

In another thread posted today, it says AS adjusts their snipe time according to how busy ebay is. Does this really happen and if so, why didn't my snipe time get adjusted?
Also, why didn't the confirming email say something to the effect of couldn't place bid or something? It just said "Ready".
Alan

It does adjust the time. It goes thru great effort to do that, and most of the times it's successful. There's just sometimes when it can't, so that why we all get together on this forum and suggest longer lead times for certain times on ebay, so that AS can do a better job.

During non-critical times, 5 seconds is a very safe lead time.

Alan,

This question was asked on another topic:
Would it not be possible for the software to recognise these overload times and automatically compensate?


Sara from AS support left this response:
We do, and it still isnt enough. And how far in advance is too far? We get almost as many complaints from people right here in this exact forum complaining that we bid 20-30 seconds before such auctions ended.

As I've said many times here it's a lose/lose situation for us. Snipe too early and people arent happy, snipe too late and the snipe doesnt make it, and people arent happy. We do our very best to not bid too early, but not so late as to miss a snipe. Most of the time we succeed. We are doing a ton of snipes like these, most work out. We're constantly trying to make improvements in this area, and I'm sure eBay will sooner or later notice the lower # of bids at these times also and do something on that end too.

In any event we always offer free snipes for any snipe we miss reguardless of whether it was our fault. Here is the url:
http://www.auctionsniper.com/freesnipes.aspx

Since Sara's the expert, hopefully her explanation is better than mine.

Another way of looking at it is to compare the estimate of how much lag time is needed without being excessive to the practice of medicine: one part science, one part art. As Sara put it, it's a no-win situation for AS, particularly when you consider that a snipe not placed means no possibility of money in AS's pocket from that auction, and less money for AS in the future because of the free snipes given out as consolation. It's not as though they're doing something bad on purpose.

Personally I’m not sure I want AS adjusting my snipe times. I realize that AS isn't eBay and can only attempt to access their system to place bids for me. It is my responsibility to understand all the players in the "game" and adjust my tactics accordingly. It gives those of us who study the system an advantage.

I realize for AS, however, most people seem to think they can just control eBay systems and do whatever they want, whenever they want. I guess the AS approach is better for their average customer base. I guess sniping isn’t just for the geeks anymore. AS has made it too easy

quote:

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Originally posted by RhinoBoy:
AS has made it too easy.

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Your so right, and I definitely don't miss the difficult times of manual sniping. It's "too easy" to spend money on ebay using AS.

easy to have a 'snipe wizard' check box to enable a default AS adjustment as they see fit on the fly, or suggested adjustment dependant upon the time and date of auction close?

Or a manual option for the purists?

quote:

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Originally posted by sniperhippo:
easy to have a 'snipe wizard' check box to enable a default AS adjustment as they see fit on the fly

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The following were two posts left by forum members:

"However, I find no loss in having this feature for those that want to control the snipe time. It could be activated with a checkbox selection that disclaims any performance guarantee. Basically, I want to be able to ensure that a bid DOES NOT get placed more ten or so seconds from the end. ... I would like that lead control feature or some type of limiting control for a sniping service (like Do Not Snipe More Than xx number of seconds prior)." - tjway

"That kind of a check box option seems like a great solution, Sara. It could be a perfect compromise: dealing pretty well with the occasional complaints you receive about AS placing bids too early, as well as letting the current system continue to work well for those of us who are more concerned that each of our bids be definitely placed before the end of an auction. Could it work for AS as well?" - Maxine


This was posted by Sniper Sara B. (AS support) on 4/09/03 at 3:27 PM:
another box would clutter the interface, and be unclear to new users as to why it's needed.

in addition most people would just check it, then get totally pissed when their snipe got to eBay late. Through no fault of ours.

Believe me. Most snipes of less than 5 seconds do not make it on time in auctions where our system bids early. Checking that box would just end up with us missing upwards of 200 snipes a day and we'd have another 200 people in here complaining each night.

Hope that helps.

Well, as a software developer I know this kind of answer. However, I don't agree with this dismissal. Clutter the interface is always an issue. If clutter free was the highest goal you would have a pretty interface and no customers. Obviously you want both.

I think the 5 second issue is only an issue because there is so much talk about getting a bid into eBay in 5 seconds. Great marketing but false marketing if your are adjusting the bid times. No one would have this discussion if a reasonable minimum time is chosen. I never really believed I could cut it that close.

I’m not opposed to monitoring eBay’s performance and adjusting times as long as it is a good technology and very reliable. If it isn’t, the user has to decide how much risk to take.

Of course, this could be taken one step further. Why should I enter anything but 0 seconds if AS is deciding how early to bid for me?

Just a competing view. I’m not trying to argue. I’m VERY pleased with AS. Since I’m strategic bidder, I like to know what’s going on. I’m content with the way things are. I figure I can be a more effective bidder if I know how my bidding tool (power tool?) works.