Please recommend a lead time?

You look to be well informed, so don’t think I can be of much recommendation-help.

9 seconds is good. As you’ve probably already know, AS will pad the lead time if it “thinks” ebay is running slow. Now, according to AS support, only 1 out of 10,000 snipes doesn’t get placed, so unless you’re a VERY unlucky person, you won’t have any problem.

AS may place your bid early, but it’s very unlikely to be early enough for a manual sniper to react. There are some that say that on “must have” items, it’s best to place a proxy bid to insure 100% confidence that the bid is placed, but the risk is so small and the potential of someone upping the price is so great, that I think letting AS place your bid will obtain the best result.

You’re snipe time is fine, you’ve padded you bid a bit, you’ve selected an “odd” amount – looks like your all set.


Happy auction result!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:
You look to be well informed, so don’t think I can be of much recommendation-help.

9 seconds is good. As you’ve probably already know, AS will pad the lead time if it “thinks” ebay is running slow. Now, according to AS support, only 1 out of 10,000 snipes doesn’t get placed, so unless you’re a VERY unlucky person, you won’t have any problem.

AS may place your bid early, but it’s very unlikely to be early enough for a manual sniper to react. There are some that say that on “must have” items, it’s best to place a proxy bid to insure 100% confidence that the bid is placed, but the risk is so small and the potential of someone upping the price is so great, that I think letting AS place your bid will obtain the best result.

You’re snipe time is fine, you’ve padded you bid a bit, you’ve selected an “odd” amount – looks like your all set.


Happy auction result!

Thank you very much. It's good to hear that my research has paid off, but since this is something I consider "must have" I wanted to double-check with the AS gurus.

And thank you for the well-action results.

It's common opinion that using AS for 'must-haves' is dodgy, it's not infallible so, unless you're not around at Auction close, then be prepared with a manual snipe.

R2

There’s a SLIGHT risk (1 in 10,000) in using AS, but with all the “stuff” they have there’s less of a risk with AS then with placing a manual snipe.

The only way to insure a bid gets placed is to place a proxy bid well in advance of the close of the auction. But, the big problem with that is that it opens your bid up to nibblers and increases the chance of a bidding war, both of which can either cause you to lose the auction or raise the price. AND, on “must have” items, since by their nature they’re probably rare and potentially a “must have” for others, there’s typically a greater chance that a early proxy bid will result in a much higher closing price.


So, here’s your choices:
1. Early proxy bid = Security that your bid gets placed at a fairly good chance that you’ll pay more.
2. Auction Sniper = Slight, very slight, risk that your bid doesn’t get place but a much greater chance of paying less.


Summary:
If money is no object, and winning is EVERYTHING, then early proxy bid is the way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:
Summary:
If money is no object, and winning is EVERYTHING, then early proxy bid is the way to go.

CORRECTION:
If money is no object, and winning is EVERYTHING, then a huge early proxy bid is the way to go. Just hope that no one else is doing the same thing.

madre,

How did you fare in the auction and did you snipe and if you sniped did you go with AS or did you do a hand-job?