Favorite/Best Auction Hacks

ErdTerd7

Whether it be Ebay, EBTH, or one of the prestigious auction houses like Stack's/Heritage... What skills, superstitions, or practices do you swear by to get the deal done?

WilliamF

Itchy trigger finger....
sorry but I'm not going to give you my secrets for winning coins at good prices, I may be crazy but I ain't stupid

IkesT

Have the highest bid.

PerryHall

Some here have mentioned using free apps to snipe coins when bidding on eBay auctions. I always do it manually when I snipe but it would be interesting to hear what sniping apps forum members use and how reliable and effective they are.

Zoins

@IkesT said:
Have the highest bid.

A winning strategy!

ms71

I always sniped manually & settled on the best timing as four seconds to go. I haven't bought a coin on ebay in several years though.

Jzyskowski1

I’m a proud manuel sniper with lousy internet, 2 mbs ( on a good day) extremely rural, iPhone 7+ and arthritic hands 😁.
Persistents and as mentioned being good about 3-4 seconds away from closing. Lots of practice and getting a feel for where the bid is heading, helps, but even then, jumping higher than the next guy is going to be part skill and part luck. 😉🙀🦫

amwldcoin

When I know I'm going to have to pay too much, many times I will bid early and strong and hit the tier where the bid increments double upon the next bid.

PerryHall

@Jzyskowski1 said:
I’m a proud manuel sniper with lousy internet, 2 mbs ( on a good day) extremely rural, iPhone 7+ and arthritic hands 😁.
Persistents and as mentioned being good about 3-4 seconds away from closing. Lots of practice and getting a feel for where the bid is heading, helps, but even then, jumping higher than the next guy is going to be part skill and part luck. 😉🙀🦫

When sniping on eBay, is it really necessary to cut it so close? I usually place my final bid with 15 seconds to go before the auction closes. I doubt anyone can respond in time to my bid.

ricko

Manual sniper on ebay.... and I used 5 seconds to place a nuclear bid.... Always won that way. Cheers, RickO

DelawareDoons

@PerryHall said:
Some here have mentioned using free apps to snipe coins when bidding on eBay auctions. I always do it manually when I snipe but it would be interesting to hear what sniping apps forum members use and how reliable and effective they are.

Gixen is the one I know a few dealers use.

DelawareDoons

@PerryHall said:

@Jzyskowski1 said:
I’m a proud manuel sniper with lousy internet, 2 mbs ( on a good day) extremely rural, iPhone 7+ and arthritic hands 😁.
Persistents and as mentioned being good about 3-4 seconds away from closing. Lots of practice and getting a feel for where the bid is heading, helps, but even then, jumping higher than the next guy is going to be part skill and part luck. 😉🙀🦫

When sniping on eBay, is it really necessary to cut it so close? I usually place my final bid with 15 seconds to go before the auction closes. I doubt anyone can respond in time to my bid.

I bid with 2 seconds left on eBay. You're really underestimating the speed of a good internet connection.

WilliamF

@PerryHall said:
When sniping on eBay, is it really necessary to cut it so close? I usually place my final bid with 15 seconds to go before the auction closes. I doubt anyone can respond in time to my bid.

It is definitely necessary in my experience, I used to go at 5 seconds but had too many stolen out from under me with that so now I don't place my bid before 2-3 seconds, I've only had 2 bidders that were able to put a higher one in after me with so little time, it's a little nerve wracking watching the seconds go down to 3 and you still don't have your bid in but that's what makes it fun!

PerryHall

@WilliamF said:
It is definitely necessary in my experience, I used to go at 5 seconds but had too many stolen out from under me with that so now I don't place my bid before 2-3 seconds, I've only had 2 bidders that were able to put a higher one in after me with so little time, it's a little nerve wracking watching the seconds go down to 3 and you still don't have your bid in but that's what makes it fun!

Is it possible that the higher bid that came in after your 2 second snipe bid was a bid from someone who placed a maximum bid several hours or days earlier?

WilliamF

@PerryHall said:

@WilliamF said:
It is definitely necessary in my experience, I used to go at 5 seconds but had too many stolen out from under me with that so now I don't place my bid before 2-3 seconds, I've only had 2 bidders that were able to put a higher one in after me with so little time, it's a little nerve wracking watching the seconds go down to 3 and you still don't have your bid in but that's what makes it fun!

Is it possible that the higher bid that came in after your 2 second snipe bid was a bid from someone who placed a maximum bid several hours or days earlier?

Yes, that happens all the time but what I'm talking about is when I place my bid at the 3 second mark and I am the high bidder briefly and then a higher bid comes in and tops mine at the last second (literally), it's only happened that way a couple times and (while I don't like losing the coin) I have nothing but respect for those bidders who can squeak in at under 2 seconds.

mtn_scout

While I don't have the time or money to do it a lot, I've gotten a lot of good deals on Heritage, Stacks, etc auctions by watching them live. Granted I've bought a lot that I wasn't necessarily tuning in for that day but overall that is how I've scored my deals.

amwldcoin

@PerryHall said:

@Jzyskowski1 said:
I’m a proud manuel sniper with lousy internet, 2 mbs ( on a good day) extremely rural, iPhone 7+ and arthritic hands 😁.
Persistents and as mentioned being good about 3-4 seconds away from closing. Lots of practice and getting a feel for where the bid is heading, helps, but even then, jumping higher than the next guy is going to be part skill and part luck. 😉🙀🦫

When sniping on eBay, is it really necessary to cut it so close? I usually place my final bid with 15 seconds to go before the auction closes. I doubt anyone can respond in time to my bid.

I've been able to get a quick last second bid in when I bid with 6 seconds left on the clock. Have to use ebay's suggested bid to do it.

nags

@amwldcoin said:
When I know I'm going to have to pay too much, many times I will bid early and strong and hit the tier where the bid increments double upon the next bid.

I do this as well. Also, when a coins has a fairly established value, get to that value first. Let the other guy overpay by an increment.

retirednow

My one lesson learned and caution ,,, if you plan to bid live using the internet at Heritage/Stack and maybe Legends is to be aware of the proxy bid that the lot may be holding as these bids do not register until the lot opens up for live bidding. There appears to be a TIME DELAY for it to register on the screen.

A few years back I hit the bid button too quickly. The lot I thought had an attractive book when it opened on my screen was actually starting much higher to account for the proxy bids. It took a few seconds for the the screen to reflect those proxy bids ... so when I hit that bid button it was logging in at a much higher level to account for those proxy bids that drove the starting book value way up , and I mean several increments higher.

So the the 4000 $ piece I saw on my screen and thought I was starting to bid at $4200 was actually starting at $6500 so my bid logged in at the next increment of $7000. a 3K difference. Oops - but someone did bid live above me and won the piece. I was planning to go as high as 5K but not the $7000 level.

amwldcoin

@WilliamF said:

@PerryHall said:

@WilliamF said:
It is definitely necessary in my experience, I used to go at 5 seconds but had too many stolen out from under me with that so now I don't place my bid before 2-3 seconds, I've only had 2 bidders that were able to put a higher one in after me with so little time, it's a little nerve wracking watching the seconds go down to 3 and you still don't have your bid in but that's what makes it fun!

Is it possible that the higher bid that came in after your 2 second snipe bid was a bid from someone who placed a maximum bid several hours or days earlier?

Yes, that happens all the time but what I'm talking about is when I place my bid at the 3 second mark and I am the high bidder briefly and then a higher bid comes in and tops mine at the last second (literally), it's only happened that way a couple times and (while I don't like losing the coin) I have nothing but respect for those bidders who can squeak in at under 2 seconds.

I doubt that is a retaliatory bid to yours. Probably a snipe program or a bidder that waited a second longer than you.

winesteven

I think this information can be helpful:

1. With eBay, whether you place your snipe manually or with snipe software, or with 2 seconds to go, 5 seconds, or 15 seconds, it doesn’t matter. With sniping at the end, with transmission time etc., whoever placed the highest bid will likely get the coin (unless two bids are within one increment of each other, then the EARLIER placed snipe will get it!). Others will not have time to see your current bid (not your max bid), and then have time to place a new higher bid. I place my snipes with 12 seconds to go, asI don’t want to risk a hiccup of slower transmission time, and then lose out as a result of the bid not getting placed.
2. With GC, I do the same thing. Those that place their max bids early can still win the coin, but I believe they may have then ended up paying more than they otherwise would have, since others then have plenty of time to nibble away at that max bid. Not so when you place your max bid at the very end.
3. I don’t mind sharing secrets/strategies to help others on this forum. My terminology may not be correct, but with Heritage, the best kept secret is the ability to place your max bid in what they call Live Bid (or something like that), about a week before the lot goes on the block. Unlike a Proxy bid, which is activated immediately once placed, your max bid placed on Live Bid does not become active until the time the coin goes on the block. You have an EASY ability to raise, lower, or cancel that max bid up until the time the coin actually goes on the block. This way, when the coin does go on the block, you can be doing something else - dining at a restaurant, a movie, etc.

Steve