eBay Sniper Sites

prthd

Ok, I lost an auction tonight because I was putting B-Man to bed. I forgot to bid on it. Fill me in on the Sniper sites, how they work, charges, etc. I lost a damn good auction less than $7.00. No more, no more. Also can someone fill me in on "vcp -vpc" something like that. A pay site that stores auction prices. I think that might be a good investment for me.

rlange5

I use biddingscheduler.com for setting snipes. It is a free site and it has only failed to set a snipe on a few rare occasions.

VCP is vintagecardprices.com. There is a membership to join but it gives you the realized prices from ebay and other major auction houses for most cards. They do have a one day membership that you could try it and see what you think.

Bob

tyweb1

I use esnipe and it has never failed. It does cost a small fee though.

BaltimoreYankee

I recently switched from eSnipe to Gavelsnipe to avoid the fees. Gavelsnipe has worked great for me and is free. (Admittedly, for what I buy, the eSnipe fees are pretty minimal).

kneerat

Hello,

I have used gavelsnipe.com for years and have never had a problem with it.

Carter13

www.hidbid.com is a good sniping service to use.




<< <i>how they work, charges, etc. >>



Basically, they place your bid when there is about five seconds left in the auction, I guess depending on which service or software you use. Some will let you choose how many seconds before the end your bid is placed.

You have to submit your eBay login information so that the service can log in to eBay for you to place your bids.

Just remember that you still have to have the highest bid to win. Actually, you are at a slight disadvantage as compared to earlier eBay bidders that understand to bid their maximum amount. Because, when two bids are the same, or there is not enough difference between them to meet eBay's minimum bid increment, the first bid in wins.

Still, sniping is the way to go. It helps you avoid drawing early attention to an item, "nibbling" bidders that really have no maximum in mind, and the competitive emotional bidders.

It also helps you personally, if you can be one of those emotional bidders yourself. Decide on your absolute maximum bid, schedule a snipe for it, and try to forget about it. If you win, great. If you lose, the winner paid too much as far as you're concerned.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/2006-06-25-physics-of-ebay_x.htm

Anybody bidding on eBay should understand their proxy bidding system (only raises your bid enough to be the current high bid, or until it has been exceeded) and be aware of bid increments:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.htm

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html

http://pages.ebay.de/help/buy/bid-increments.html


Sniping is good for at least a couple other things as well.

If you change your mind and no longer want an item, you can just delete your snipe (as close to five minutes before the end of the auction, depending on the service or software you use) and you're done.

If you had placed a bid on eBay, you would have to file for a bid retraction which sellers and eBay frown upon. Get too many of those and you can be blocked from bidding on any other auctions.

Sniping is a sort of defense against shill bidding. The seller or his buddy would not have enough time to max your bid out and then retract theirs.




<< <i>Also can someone fill me in on "vcp -vpc" something like that. A pay site that stores auction prices.. >>



Terapeak.com gives such information I believe, it looks like it would cost you at least $25 per month.


As far as saving on eBay goes, you could try a search for eBay misspellings from a site like Typojoe.com. Fewer people will see the items, meaning less competition.

You could also set up save searches on a site like ebuyersedge.com so that you are notified when a new match is listed. This is potentially very good for 'Buy It Now's that are priced right.