What went wrong here?

You lost because your bid of 140 was below the next bid increment. Look on eBay's Help for Bid Increments and you'll see this:

Current Price      Bid Increment 
$ 0.01 - $ 0.99           $ 0.05 
$ 1.00 - $ 4.99           $ 0.25 
$ 5.00 - $ 24.99          $ 0.50 
$ 25.00 - $ 99.99         $ 1.00 
$ 100.00 - $ 249.99       $ 2.50 
$ 250.00 - $ 499.99       $ 5.00 
$ 500.00 - $ 999.99      $ 10.00 
$ 1000.00 - $ 2499.99    $ 25.00 
$ 2500.00 - $ 4999.99    $ 50.00 
$ 5000.00 and up        $ 100.00 

So, you needed to win by bidding $2.50 higher than the last bid - you didn't quite achieve this!

nb. Under eBay's proxy bidding rules it's possible to win by 1 cent/pence. (read up on proxy bidding on eBay's Help pages) but this didn't apply here.

What happened here was imustwin2 had bid 135.79 and this was beaten by wisc1dave in the last minute with a bid 1 increment higher of 138.29. The next possible bid would have been 140.79 which, unfortunately, was a little more than your snipe was set up to be...

Suggestion 1: when a snipe fails for this reason, could AS let the unsuccessful sniper know the next possible increment?

You obviously haven't been reading the forums or you might have noticed that it is recommended that you set up a snipe with a few odd pence/cents (ie. 303.33 rather than 303 or 300) as most people bid whole numbers when setting up proxy bids - this allows you an even greater chance of winning!

Suggestion 2: when a snipe is placed for a round number, could AS let the sniper know that it is recommended to use odd cents/pence?

R2

Well I going to bid on another item, same product, however this one does not end until 7 hours from now.. I take it $140.83 is good enough then what I bidded before.

My pleasure.

Yep - that's a better bid/snipe although 150.55 would be even better - you just have to decide what's the most you want to spend (remember P&P as well).

And remember, it's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest - AS just helps prevent bidding wars!

Good luck

R2 (not an AS employee but a punter just like you!)

Well we will see what happens. I might pick up on the sellers own typo.. Mislabled the product, but i'm not saying anything!

W00t I won!

But then again I was the only bidder as well :P

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5774093307&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

Congrats!! Just goes to show what we always preach here is right. If one goes too high, wait, another one will come along at the right price!

haha yeah, now just trying to work this thing out with the seller, I don't know if it's some pre made up thing or what but I already sent my payment to him, like 5 min after I won, and about 30 min ago I get 3 emails, one telling me I was the high bidder, another that I had won and need to send the payment in ASAP, and one from ebay again saying that I had won.

Automatic email - happens all the time.

Yes, those are automatic messages so ignore them if you have paid.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Lewis:
I won!

But then again I was the only bidder as well

Not quite the same victory without competition.

quote:

W00t I won!

But then again I was the only bidder as well :P

It was a GREAT victory...because you were patient! ...and you saved $$

quote:

Originally posted by Serenity:
It was a GREAT victory...because you were patient!

Patience wasn't the cause - it was bid increments. Luck, yes.

heh I had set my max bid at $140.87 I think it was.. I was watching the clock go down, refreshing every 5 min until I got to 4 Min and I just waited, then when it got to 0Sec it went -1,-2,-3,-4,-5 then so I refeshed and it said I won!


So those are Auto Notify thing then?

I've always paid my stuff on ebay No more then 5 Min after I won

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Lewis:
So those are Auto Notify thing then?

Yep.

How did you hear about AS?

A person on irc told me about it after i told them I was on ebay looking for some items.

This is my first time.. All the items I got on ebay before were always buy it now.

So this is my first bid on ebay.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Lewis:
A person on irc told me about it after i told them I was on ebay looking for some items.

Did you happen to put them up for some referral snipes? If yes, did they get them?

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Lewis:
So this is my first bid on ebay.

You don’t waste any time.

no, but is it possible that I can still add them?

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Lewis:
no, but is it possible that I can still add them?

I don't know of any easy way. Maybe someone else will have a better way than having to file a support case.

Congrats!

R2,

Those are both pretty good suggestions. Our Tips Sheet has the information about bid increments, specifically:

DON’T USE ROUND NUMBERS.
By tossing in odd dollars or cents, you can throw off the bid increment and you might win an item you would otherwise have lost. Why is this important to you when you're sniping? Isn't a snipe the last bid? Because there might be another sniper on the item, or you might hit a manual sniper who just gets very lucky on getting his bid in after you. Or you might even exceed another savvy bidder trying this tactic by a few dollars or cents.

Regarding people not meeting the eBay bid increment, we discuss this on our Tips Sheet and also on our status page (there is a link from the status on the 'My Snipes' page after this occurs), specifically:

Bid Below Increment - Your snipe could not be placed because your maximum bid was below the next bid increment for the item. Read about eBay's bid increment rules here.

So great suggestions, but we are already doing most of that. One thing we are looking at is possibly detecting if a customer bids in round numbers repeatedly. If so, we then may contact them to inform them of the benefit of adding a few cents here and there.

If we do this, I will reward you with a few free snipes.

As always, thank you for your contribution to the forum,
Bill

* Anyone can e-mail suggestions to ideas@auctionsniper.com. If we use your idea, we will give you free snipes.

I think any feedback a (new) sniper can get at the point of placing his/her snipe would be great, especially if it minimised their need to come to the forum to ask FAQs...

Suggestion: put up a box with helpful suggestions at the time of snipe (eg. don't bid round numbers) with a Check this box [_] to not see this message again message controlled by cookies or whatever works technically...

R2

maybe i'm jumping the gun here... but how long should I wait until he takes my payment?

I've been waiting sent a few emails, he has no Neg. feedback I'm so used to doing Buy it now, and about 30 Min after I won the seller emailed me and got the payment.

This person seems a bit slow.

You can wait a week without too much of a problem - not everyone sits at their PC every minute of every day. You paid by PayPal so you're protected (a bit) - just be patient and, maybe, send a reminder after 3 or 4 days if nothing heard!

R2

Mike,

You’re not getting a case of sniper’s guilt, are you?

Also, what’s your InstaMail setting? (>>My Snipes >>Modify Account >>scroll down to InstaMail).

Many times I win items, pay for them right away through Paypal, and never, ever get a notice from the seller. No big deal. Just not great business! The items have always been sent to me.

Seller emailed me this morning saying they would ship it out on Sat.

Lets see thats what 3 days from now...

I'm so used to people doing it like next day.. but everyone has their reasons.