Proxy Bidding vs. AS Sniping

Think of sniping as a one time, at the last moment proxy bid. That is exactly what it is. So, as with any proxy bid, the highest wins. Thus, you always want to set your snipe at the max you want to pay. Ebay will use only the amount above the last bid needed to win.(if you have sniped high enough) One advantage of sniping is avoiding bidding wars, of course.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mrs.M:
Think of sniping as a one time, at the last moment proxy bid. That is exactly what it is. So, as with any proxy bid, the highest wins. Thus, you always want to set your snipe at the max you want to pay. Ebay will use only the amount above the last bid needed to win.(if you have sniped high enough) One advantage of sniping is avoiding bidding wars, of course.

MRS.m looks like u been around awhhile it keeps the number of prox bids down to a minimum and u being the last bid saves 1 possible more bid higher. f u do this sort of for a living you dont show your hand to your competitors unil all the cards ae turned over

---

I agree completely with the above. I was bidding against someone else for an item that I really wanted. Had I used AS, I could have gotten it for MUCH less (though it was still a bargain).

The item was new and worth $250 (shoes). The starting bid was $50. I put in a max proxy bid of $75. Another bidder wanted the same item and bid up by small increments until she reached my proxy amount. She became the winning bidder at that point. I increased my proxy to $100. She did the same thing and got the price up to $105. At that point, I noted that she was bidding in very small increments and that she probably did not have a very large proxy bid. It was the frustration of that auction that caused me to sign up for auction sniper. I used my very first snipe to set a maximum bid of $125. I won the item for $112. A good price, but I could have paid well less if I had used AS from the start.

A followup to the story. The same seller had another pair of shoes that I wanted. You guessed it. The very same bidder put in a bid at the starting price of $50. I set my snipe for $100 in case a less predictable bidder got involved. I got the shoes for $56. No bidding war.

I am sure it does not always work perfectly like that, but AS has made life much easier for me. I am a believer.

Linda

I'll go out on a limb and say most (instead of many), simply refuse to follow eBay's own advice... Bid the max you are willing to pay. They want to squeak into the lead and then stop bidding. They think this will somehow save them money.

Actually, I guess it *does* save them money because they rarely win important auctions.

L11, WELCOME to the forum.

Thanks, Puppy!

Linda

quote:

---

I'll go out on a limb and say most (instead of many), simply refuse to follow eBay's own advice... Bid the max you are willing to pay. They want to squeak into the lead and then stop bidding.

---

That might be a good thing. Auctions could get to be a bit pricey if everyone bid their max amount.

I will confess missing the “fun” of the proxy bidding days, as it had a certain entertainment value.

One phase I’m not nostalgic about is the manual sniping days.

I prefer auction sniper because I realized with time that if there are no bids on an auction and I bid on it, let's say a day before then ends, someone will try to take it away from me (thinking if it's a deal for me it's a deal for them) and then the price really goes up (thanks to 1$ fighters, you know the kind of two people who fight a buck at the time for something I will snipe anyways), but if there are no bid and I snipe it I get is for the lowest price mark. I really saved lots of money since I snipe. Ebay is a very strange place on earth.

Nice story, L11! Good illustrations how AS can help one win auctions and save money, too.

Welcome to the forum, too!

Thank you

quote:

---

Originally posted by DSW:
MRS.m looks like u been around awhhile it keeps the number of prox bids down to a minimum and u being the last bid saves 1 possible more bid higher. f u do this sort of for a living you dont show your hand to your competitors unil all the cards ae turned over

---

You need a new keyboard - yours is missing out half the letters!

Interesting concept Marika, the one problem I see with not bidding at all on a "Really Good Deal" is that the seller can realize that fact and cancel the auction if no bids exist... Seen it happen may times when I was waiting to bid, list it for $20, then one of their buddies tells them that whatever it is is worth $300 and the cancel and relist for much more... My 2 cents...

Info on cancelling auction:
>> Click here <<

"A followup to the story. The same seller had another pair of shoes that I wanted. You guessed it. The very same bidder put in a bid at the starting price of $50. I set my snipe for $100 in case a less predictable bidder got involved. I got the shoes for $56. No bidding war."
I don't get it: If you set your snipe at $100, how did you win the item for $56? I thought that AS would wait until near-closing and then enter your $100 bid.

No, when you place a snipe, you are actually placing a one time, placed at the last possible moment, proxy bid. AS sends the amount you placed to Ebay and they use just enough to out bid the highest bidder(if you sniped enough).
And, congrats on your win!

OK...now I get it!
If I place a snipe, and the bidding goes above the amount I entered, will I be notified?
And Thanks!

You are supposed to be notified. I usually go in once in a while and click "update prices" on the My Snipes Page. However, the best thing to do is to snipe for the max amount you want to pay. If the auction goes over that amount, someone probably bid too much. And, as you can see, another one will come along at the price you want to pay!

Here are a list of the messages and what they mean.

http://www.auctionsniper.com/snipestatus.aspx

This is the outbid notification schedule from the FAQs:
31. How come I’m outbid but my snipe doesn’t know it yet?

We check if you are outbid in certain waves. This is a HUGE bandwidth waster and costs us money, so we do it the most economical way we can:

If the item ends within 30 min, we may check 10 every min
If the item ends in an hour, we may check every 20 min
If the item ends in a day, we may check every 12 hours
If the item ends in 7 days, we may not check yet.

… and remember, always determine and bid the max amount you are willing to pay – even if you have to increase that amount several times. After all, that’s why AS allows us to update the snipe amount (some of us are more flexible and like to change our minds). But, all the maximizing and determining must end 3 minutes before close of auction, cuz (more from FAQs) ...

9. When can I add, modify, or cancel a snipe?

You can add, modify, or cancel a snipe as long as there is at least 3 minutes left until the auction ends. When the auction is about to end, you may notice that a lock will replace the Cancel and Modify links. In the event that you have not refreshed the page, and the Cancel and Modify links still exist for a snipe that is ending in less than 3 minutes, any changes made will be disregarded. For reliability and performance, our bidding system prepares snipes three minutes in advance and so you must make your changes before this time.

2 down – 70 to go.

This is where learning to use the Bid Group Folders really pays off.
There are instructions on how to set them up.
Then you just round up all the same gizmos into the folder. You bid them at the max you are willing to pay. Then when you win one it will be at the price you want. You may lose a lot of the auctions in the process, but when you win, it will be at your price and not some inflated price.
I have been doing that, and loving it.
I just won an item for 30.59 that has been going for 36-46. Am I a happy camper? You bet I am.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rick:
Info on cancelling auction:
https://community.auctionsniper.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=84260069&f=985608021&m=407104366&r=407104366#407104366

---

This is SUPPOSED to be in place but I had a seller do this very thing (cancel auctions with no bidder)literally 4 hrs before an auction ended with 2 of his auctions I was watching -- and one had a bid!
I could find no way of contacting Ebay immediately (3 a.m. Fri morning) and I needed the tickets he was selling for a football game 2 days later....
It cost ~$35 more because he changed auctions to "Buy it Now" & jacked the prices, but I still got 'em for less than face value.
(And the Bucs CREAMED the Falcons that day if anyone's into that sort of thing -- I'm not, but my bf is...)

But on the whole I agree about not bidding at all (if there aren't any other bids) & just sniping at the end.
Noticed there seems to be a dearth of either really inexperienced (& not-so-smart) ebay-newbies or practiced shills on there lately raising prices to ridiculous levels at the beginnings of auctions in tiny increments.
(I generally know how to tell the shills, but not always....)
thanks for all the cool guidance folks.
Cheers,
dawn

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dzigrrl:
(And the Bucs CREAMED the Falcons that day if anyone's into that sort of thing -- I'm not, but my bf is...)

---

My wife watches cookery programmes