On EBAY if I set the amount I'm willing to pay as my Max bid isn't a sniper service doing the same thing? ie - bidding dollar by dollar till a maximum amount set by me is reached. I don't get the difference - Thanks
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This might help:
http://www.auctionsniper.com/products.aspx
http://www.auctionsniper.com/products.aspx
Additional info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping
I read everything. I still don't see the difference. If I know my max amount then I set it on ebay. If someone snipes in at the last second for one dollar more than me then it's not really sniping because my limit was exceeded. It sounds like this is for someone who wants to play the bidding game a little bit. I can see how not letting your handle be visible to other bidders until the last second is helpful...
That's pretty much the advantage. Sniping helps to avoid those pesky bidders that see the high bidder’s bid as some kind of obstacle, so they (those pesky bidders) bid more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more, and more and either end up the high bidder or increase the final price.quote:I can see how not letting your handle be visible to other bidders until the last second is helpful...
CHATTER'S BIDDING PRIMER
A snipe is a last minute bid, generally placed in the last minute or, most commonly, in the closing seconds of an auction. This can be done manually, with you sitting in front of your computer, bidding at the last second, or it can be done via software, such as Auction Sniper. The point is to get a high bid in, giving others little time to respond with a counterbid.
If someone else makes a higher bid earlier in the auction, that person will win, because he bid the highest. That is how auctions work. The point here is that you have no way of knowing what his high bid (proxy bid) really is; you only know that he bid at least enough to be on top. For example, if bidder A bids $42 and bidder B bids $75, while the auction is still going on, you will see bidder B listed as the high bidder at $43, which is one bid increment over the next-highest bid of $42. You know that B bid more than A, but you do not know how much. If the auction ends like that, B will win for the same $43 price and you will never know what his max really was.
Let us say that bidder C comes along and bids $61. Bidder B will still win, but he will be listed as winning for $62, since much more of his proxy bid was used up to keep him as top bidder, by placing him one increment (in this case, a dollar) above the second-highest bidder, C.
Why snipe? Because many people do not bid their max. Trying to get a good price, they tend to bid just enough to become or stay the high bidder. They do not bid what they are REALLY willing to pay until someone else comes along and outbids them; only then will they bid higher. Sometimes this cycle goes back and forth, with two or more bidders (called "nibblers") continually outbidding each other, in an expensive game of one up-manship. But these same nibblers tend to leave their bids alone if no one else outbids them.
That is where snipers come in. Bidder X may have bid $25 on an item, but will go higher if someone outbids him. He may go up to $100 if he feels he has to, in order to win, but leaves his bid at $25, thinking he is somehow getting a better deal. He overlooks the fact that if he bids the $100, he will not pay that amount, unless other bidders push the auction price up that high. So along comes bidder Y, a sniper, who bids $50 in the last seconds and wins for $26! There is no time for bidder X to come back and raise his bid. He is upset, because he knows that he would have been willing to go higher. Additionally, he does not know that bidder Y's max was $50--all he sees is that he lost the auction for one dollar. You see, there is a strong emotional component to bidding, and we snipers try to avoid that as much as possible, because it is not a positive aspect of the bidding process. It is the emotional component that causes people to bid much higher than they had planned.
Does sniping work every time? No. There is no magical was to guarantee a win. But eBay is replete with bidders who nibble and do not observe or analyze their own bidding behaviors, and that is why we snipers tend to win. Heck, many of these bidders do not even HAVE a maximum amount in mind, which is why they continue to bid and rebid; they get caught up in the drama and excitement of the auction as it progresses. Many of these are new eBayers, though you would be shocked at how many veterans act the same way. Consequently, we have a very high success rate--mine approaches 98%, with all of my losses going to higher bidders who were willing to pay more than I was.
The key is to decide the ABSOLUTE max you will pay, set your snipe through AS, and leave it at that. They will take care of the rest. Do not obsess about getting the very last bid in--at three seconds, instead of eight--just decide what the "I will pay this and not a penny more" amount is and stay with it. It is more important that your bid get in at the end, than it is to risk your bid not reaching eBay in time by trying to do one, two or three-second snipes. (If someone else bids that late in the auction--less than fifteen seconds remaining--he is another sniper and was probably going to bid at that point, regardless of whether or not you had bid, so do not get unnerved by that.) This is why it is important to bid your absolute maximum. Most of the time you will find that your max does not get reached and you will get your win at a good price. When you do lose, it will not be because you did not bid your max; you will simply have been outbid—whether by another sniper or by someone who bid much earlier in the auction—but you will know that someone else was willing to pay more.
Most of us tend to use a 5-10 lead time; some members add a few seconds on Sunday evenings (eBay's busiest time) and on any day when an auction ends exactly on a quarter hour (X:00, X:15, X:30, X:45), as these are also very busy times, due to sellers' incentive listings. We also bid unusual amounts, such as $25.83 instead of $25.00 even, as occasionally we end up winning auctions where others bid even dollar amounts or just one cent over the dollar, which is also a fairly common occurrence.
Good luck to all!
A snipe is a last minute bid, generally placed in the last minute or, most commonly, in the closing seconds of an auction. This can be done manually, with you sitting in front of your computer, bidding at the last second, or it can be done via software, such as Auction Sniper. The point is to get a high bid in, giving others little time to respond with a counterbid.
If someone else makes a higher bid earlier in the auction, that person will win, because he bid the highest. That is how auctions work. The point here is that you have no way of knowing what his high bid (proxy bid) really is; you only know that he bid at least enough to be on top. For example, if bidder A bids $42 and bidder B bids $75, while the auction is still going on, you will see bidder B listed as the high bidder at $43, which is one bid increment over the next-highest bid of $42. You know that B bid more than A, but you do not know how much. If the auction ends like that, B will win for the same $43 price and you will never know what his max really was.
Let us say that bidder C comes along and bids $61. Bidder B will still win, but he will be listed as winning for $62, since much more of his proxy bid was used up to keep him as top bidder, by placing him one increment (in this case, a dollar) above the second-highest bidder, C.
Why snipe? Because many people do not bid their max. Trying to get a good price, they tend to bid just enough to become or stay the high bidder. They do not bid what they are REALLY willing to pay until someone else comes along and outbids them; only then will they bid higher. Sometimes this cycle goes back and forth, with two or more bidders (called "nibblers") continually outbidding each other, in an expensive game of one up-manship. But these same nibblers tend to leave their bids alone if no one else outbids them.
That is where snipers come in. Bidder X may have bid $25 on an item, but will go higher if someone outbids him. He may go up to $100 if he feels he has to, in order to win, but leaves his bid at $25, thinking he is somehow getting a better deal. He overlooks the fact that if he bids the $100, he will not pay that amount, unless other bidders push the auction price up that high. So along comes bidder Y, a sniper, who bids $50 in the last seconds and wins for $26! There is no time for bidder X to come back and raise his bid. He is upset, because he knows that he would have been willing to go higher. Additionally, he does not know that bidder Y's max was $50--all he sees is that he lost the auction for one dollar. You see, there is a strong emotional component to bidding, and we snipers try to avoid that as much as possible, because it is not a positive aspect of the bidding process. It is the emotional component that causes people to bid much higher than they had planned.
Does sniping work every time? No. There is no magical was to guarantee a win. But eBay is replete with bidders who nibble and do not observe or analyze their own bidding behaviors, and that is why we snipers tend to win. Heck, many of these bidders do not even HAVE a maximum amount in mind, which is why they continue to bid and rebid; they get caught up in the drama and excitement of the auction as it progresses. Many of these are new eBayers, though you would be shocked at how many veterans act the same way. Consequently, we have a very high success rate--mine approaches 98%, with all of my losses going to higher bidders who were willing to pay more than I was.
The key is to decide the ABSOLUTE max you will pay, set your snipe through AS, and leave it at that. They will take care of the rest. Do not obsess about getting the very last bid in--at three seconds, instead of eight--just decide what the "I will pay this and not a penny more" amount is and stay with it. It is more important that your bid get in at the end, than it is to risk your bid not reaching eBay in time by trying to do one, two or three-second snipes. (If someone else bids that late in the auction--less than fifteen seconds remaining--he is another sniper and was probably going to bid at that point, regardless of whether or not you had bid, so do not get unnerved by that.) This is why it is important to bid your absolute maximum. Most of the time you will find that your max does not get reached and you will get your win at a good price. When you do lose, it will not be because you did not bid your max; you will simply have been outbid—whether by another sniper or by someone who bid much earlier in the auction—but you will know that someone else was willing to pay more.
Most of us tend to use a 5-10 lead time; some members add a few seconds on Sunday evenings (eBay's busiest time) and on any day when an auction ends exactly on a quarter hour (X:00, X:15, X:30, X:45), as these are also very busy times, due to sellers' incentive listings. We also bid unusual amounts, such as $25.83 instead of $25.00 even, as occasionally we end up winning auctions where others bid even dollar amounts or just one cent over the dollar, which is also a fairly common occurrence.
Good luck to all!
Thanks for this big post.
great post chatter!
I fully understand your points but I still don't understand why this site doesn't let me tune my lead time.
I keep using this site just because it was my first sniping site and I got used with some of it's nice features but, lately, I find myself searching for alternative services, just because of this damn 'minimum 6 second lead, no matter what you really want/set'.
Conditional bids would also be nice but, for now, I wouldn't change just for this reason.
so, auctionsniper.com, any chance for *real* user-set lead time?
I fully understand your points but I still don't understand why this site doesn't let me tune my lead time.
I keep using this site just because it was my first sniping site and I got used with some of it's nice features but, lately, I find myself searching for alternative services, just because of this damn 'minimum 6 second lead, no matter what you really want/set'.
Conditional bids would also be nice but, for now, I wouldn't change just for this reason.
so, auctionsniper.com, any chance for *real* user-set lead time?
Slim to none, since this has been requested many times over the years. But really, there's no need to obsess over the number of seconds...anything that late was a planned snipe. 
Perhaps it’s a marketing decision.quote:Originally posted by mihai:
I fully understand your points but I still don't understand why this site doesn't let me tune my lead time.
Yes. It has been requested many times on this forum. It would be a sexy plus. They (as an affiliated service) did at one time provide this, but for some reason it was never “picked up” by the sniping side of the company.quote:Originally posted by mihai:
Conditional bids would also be nice
Now, Chatter. Remember what “they” say about absolutes. There are some very speedy last second manual snipers out there. But, 6 seconds, as Chatter says, would be difficult, but not impossible. A last second nibbler can have the same impact that any nibbler can.quote:Originally posted by Chatter:
anything that late was a planned snipe.
quote:Originally posted by Rick:
Perhaps it’s a marketing decision.
yes, it must be. I tested a few others and they doesn't seem to have any problems with shorter lead times. I also observed that the fees I paid to auctionsniper could have been about 30%+ lower if the lead times were shorter - because of price increase from last-minute nibblers or because, let's say, 50% of the 19:00-21:00 ending auctions failed.
While I can understand a marketing decision just from the figure above I really think this strategy can work only if it doesn't end up alienating users.
Since I'm still here I'm not the one that can talk about this but still...
Yes. It has been requested many times on this forum.[/QUOTE]quote:Originally posted by mihai:
Conditional bids would also be nice
I know, I read the forums. This one looks easier. Conditional bids can only bring more fees, I can't see why is not implemented. The subset implemented - 'bidding groups - if I win this cancel those' just loses fees. The other important subset 'if I win this bid on those too' can only bring more fees.
Of course, with added big red wording 'if something fails is not our fault', for those that like to complain
Thanks guys for your answers.
It’s obvious that AS knows they have a lead-time problem based on the following post from their support staff: https://community.auctionsniper.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3...261005103#9261005103quote:Originally posted by mihai:
I tested a few others and they doesn't seem to have any problems with shorter lead times.
That post IS a bit dated, and as best as I can remember, there hasn’t been any follow-up post announcing the implementation of said “enhancement”. But, regardless, AS must recognize the need to make some kind of adjustment/enhancement.
The last time support (I think it was Sniper Sara B.) commented on this, the reason given was that it would be too complicated for, or that it would confuse, new users. That’s not something I agree with, but then, it’s always easy for me to make value judgments when it has no value on me.quote:Originally posted by mihai:
Conditional bids can only bring more fees, I can't see why is not implemented.
Correction post:quote:Originally posted by Rick:
The last time support (I think it was Sniper Sara B.) commented on this, the reason given was that it would be too complicated for, or that it would confuse, new users.
The reason given by support was that since bid-groups weren’t used all that much, the need for conditional bid-groups was minimal. But the last sentence of my previous post still applies.