Ebay auction Sniping Software

[dkn1997]

I have considered getting some of this software and I did a google search.  Is it just me, or does it seem pretty easy to set up a website offering free sniping software and use it to get peoples ebay user id's and passwords?   seemed like that's the first thing they want from you. 

No way I am doing this now, I will just keep waiting by my computer and bid with 3 seconds left like I usually do

[nh_mopar_fan]

I've used www.auctionsniper.com for a couple years with no issues.

[chargerboy69]

I have used E-Snipe for years. It is probably the most popular of all the sniping services out there. I use it all the time. It works great.

http://esnipe08.esnipe.com/

[70charger_boy]

With all the ebay scams going on out there aren't you guys afraid of giving out you're ebay username and password?

[defiance]

Man, sniping would be so easy to fix.  Ebay could put a routine to add 15 minutes to an auction any time a bid was placed and the remaining time were 15 minutes.  boom, problem fixed; people no longer have to wait for the last 10 seconds of an auction to see if it's worth bidding on 

[hemigeno]

From what I have seen, there are two types of sniping programs.  One is a "service" where you have to give them your eBay account information, and they do the sniping for you from their server/PC.  The other type is software that you load onto your PC that does the bidding/sniping from your PC and through your connection.  This last type does not send out your eBay information to anyone (that I know of, although I suppose it is hypothetically possible that there is embedded malware which could send the info to the software writer).

I have used two of the software types.  The first worked great until last spring when eBay updated their site, then it worked less than 50% of the time (which ended up costing me some primo parts I was gunning for).  The last software I bought about 3 months ago works even better than the first one ever did - it's fantastic.  I forget the name of the software (I have it on my PC at my office, since it has a DSL connection vs. dialup here at the house), but I can get it for you tomorrow.

Personally, I was a little squeamish giving my eBay info to a sniping "service".  The software is the way to go in my book, and this latest one I have works flawlessly.  It doesn't do anything for you that you couldn't do for yourself if you wanted to be on-line right at the moment an auction ended.  It's just awfully convenient to plug in a max bid, and forget about it.  I don't bid on that many things, but when I do bid I probably have a 90% success rate.

[BlueSS454]

I snipe it myself with my high speed connection, works every time 

[Neal_J]

E-Snipe, it's golden.  I don't have time to wait and snipe myself.  I prefer the passive approach.

Apologies to anyone who loses to me with less than three seconds to go....

Neal

[BrianShaughnessy]

I got a trail for auctionsniper that I used a few times... otherwise I've just waited till 5 seconds or whatever.    It's useless to bid ahead of time.   
I'd rather just buy new stuff with buy it now and save myself the hassle but I understand how sellers like the hype to get more $.

[Arthu®]

Man, sniping would be so easy to fix.  Ebay could put a routine to add 15 minutes to an auction any time a bid was placed and the remaining time were 15 minutes.  boom, problem fixed; people no longer have to wait for the last 10 seconds of an auction to see if it's worth bidding on 

Wouldn't that just cause the people to bid a couple of seconds before the remaining 15 minutes went in?

Arthur

[hemigeno]

I looked up the name of the software I'm running now that works so well - for me, anyway.  It's called Auction Sentry, and I bought the deluxe version for $25.  Linky:

http://www.auction-sentry.com/

The other software supplier (the one I had used before Auction Sentry) got out of the sniping software business altogether, so there's no reason to bring their name up.


Geno

[defiance]

How's that?  if it extends 15 minutes every time, sniping is pointless.  Worst case scenario, an auction may be extended by an hour or so, so no loss to people who need their stuff sold quickly.  The only reason sniping hasn't been killed is that people like to feel like 'teh l337 h4x0rz' with their mad sniping skillz  

Seriously, though, it would be nice to be able to pull up an auction and actually see what others are willing to pay, make a reasonable decision about whether you want to bid more, and do so - not have to pull it up and try to pull off a snipe at 3 seconds to have a shot at beating the other snipers 

[hemigeno]

Seriously, though, it would be nice to be able to pull up an auction and actually see what others are willing to pay, make a reasonable decision about whether you want to bid more, and do so - not have to pull it up and try to pull off a snipe at 3 seconds to have a shot at beating the other snipers

That logic doesn't hold water.  Even at an "in-person" auction, you still don't know what a person's maximum price is. 

No matter what the timing tactic is, the highest bid wins. 

If you really want to win an auction, put an obnoxiously-high maximum bid in, and you will win.  The only question will be, how high will the other bidders push your winning bid to.  With as many complaints about eBay that I already read about on the various forums, it would be 10x worse if your proposed solution were tried.

eBay has rules, and part of those rules involve deadlines.  When the auction end time comes, the highest bid wins.  That's the rules, and sniping (whether software-driven or done manually) is fair game.  Your proposed solution sounds as if it stems from the sour grapes of losing an auction to someone who sniped it, or driven by a seller's desire to have an all-out bidding war with each auction to maximize sale prices.

I wish in my business (General Contracting) that I had the option of revising my bids to match or beat what my competitors have bid, but it doesn't work that way.  Complaining about it doesn't help any either - believe me, I've tried!

[defiance]

No, it's not losing auctions; if they're willing to go higher, so be it.  As for in-person auctions, as long as the bids are still coming in, the auctioneer keeps it open, so my suggestion brings it closer to that.  Not that bringing it closer to a 'real' auction should be the goal, but since you're making the comparison...  
My problem is that the current setup forces you to wait 'til the last second to *see* if they're willing to go higher.  If sniping were eliminated, there would be no reason for people to 'wait' to bid, so if I'm going to be outbid, it'll probably happen pretty quickly, and I can move on to another auction.  I know prices would go up if that were to happen, and that's fine with me.  And no, I'm not usually a seller, I'm usually a buyer (I've probably sold 8-10 items on ebay, and bought hundreds)... But I'd be willing to pay a bit more if I could expect a less time-sensitive method.
Anyway, I understand the rules, and I'm fine playing by them.  I'm just proposing that a small change to them would make for a better enviroment

[nh_mopar_fan]

Um, huh?

When you go to bid, you're asked for your max bid.

[TruckDriver]

I snipe it myself with my high speed connection, works every time 

[hemigeno]

No, it's not losing auctions; if they're willing to go higher, so be it.  As for in-person auctions, as long as the bids are still coming in, the auctioneer keeps it open, so my suggestion brings it closer to that.  Not that bringing it closer to a 'real' auction should be the goal, but since you're making the comparison...  
My problem is that the current setup forces you to wait 'til the last second to *see* if they're willing to go higher.  If sniping were eliminated, there would be no reason for people to 'wait' to bid, so if I'm going to be outbid, it'll probably happen pretty quickly, and I can move on to another auction.  I know prices would go up if that were to happen, and that's fine with me.  And no, I'm not usually a seller, I'm usually a buyer (I've probably sold 8-10 items on ebay, and bought hundreds)... But I'd be willing to pay a bit more if I could expect a less time-sensitive method.
Anyway, I understand the rules, and I'm fine playing by them.  I'm just proposing that a small change to them would make for a better enviroment

I still don't understand...  If you're willing to go higher, why don't you bid your true maximum price first?  If it wins, great - if not, someone wanted it worse than you did, like you said.  From what it sounds, you want to bid lower than your true maximum, and wait to see if someone bumps you - but with the caveat that you be given time to consider if you want to bid higher. 

If you really wanted to take the last-second bidding flurry out of the mix, have sealed/concealed bid amounts.  I deal with this every day at work, and it makes you consider very seriously what your bid is - both ways (too high or low)!

Personally, I like the system the way it is.  It's sometimes bad that so many other people are interested in the same parts that I'm after, but this is about the only way that I have been able to find some pretty rare parts.  I've been to major swap meets at Carlisle and the 'Nats, and I have bought many times more parts from eBay than at those much-ballyhooed events.  Swap meets are still good places to go, but even there you can get screwed over.  I know lots of guys who were dickering/dealing with a vendor for a part.  They came back later, and the part was gone.  No deadlines like eBay, just the shaft.

eBay is far from perfect, but it does work.


Geno

[hemigeno]

since you're making the comparison...  

I was only pointing out that the ideal auction scenario that you proposed does not hold true in an "in person" auction, so why should it hold true for an on-line auction??

Here's what you described as ideal:

it would be nice to be able to pull up an auction and actually see what others are willing to pay, make a reasonable decision about whether you want to bid more, and do so - not have to pull it up and try to pull off a snipe at 3 seconds to have a shot at beating the other snipers

[emphasis added]

The point I was making is that for an auction to be an auction, you don't ever get to see what another person's true maximum price is until the hammer falls or the bids are opened.  The other bidders can always do a last-second bid, just like you can.  eBay just tells you exactly when the hammer will fall, and you have all the opportunity in the world to throw in the winning bid up until that time. 


Geno

[defiance]

But you bid, if theirs is higher, you're instantly outbid, and you can move on.  With the current system, you bid your max, then you often won't get outbid until 10 seconds before end of auction...  so before you can bid on another item (assuming you're looking for one of something, which I usually am), you have to wait 'til that one ends.  See what I mean?

[hemigeno]

But you bid, if theirs is higher, you're instantly outbid, and you can move on.  With the current system, you bid your max, then you often won't get outbid until 10 seconds before end of auction...  so before you can bid on another item (assuming you're looking for one of something, which I usually am), you have to wait 'til that one ends.  See what I mean?

No, sorry - I just don't get your drift. 

Maybe today is too much like a Monday...  Oh wait, it IS Monday...  That explains it! 

Honestly, I do not find it very often that I am bidding on mutually-exclusive auctions.  Meaning that if I win one auction, I am not interested in another auction.  The repetitive auction items always show up again, so if you don't catch one, you can always catch the next one that ends 30 minutes later...   

In the few such incidents I've had that were even remotely similar to what you are describing, the auctions were spread far enough apart that I was able to see the results of one before ever throwing a bid out on the other.  As long as they both don't end at the exact same time, you should never get burned.

Again, if you don't like to participate in last-second bidding, you don't have to.  All you have to do is bid high enough that no one outbids you.  Oh - and you are missing one DISADVANTAGE to last-second bidding (especially with automated/software applications)...  If you are outbid by just a few dollars or even bid the same maximum amount, there is not enough time to enter a higher bid.  I have had that happen before, so the advantage is not all tilted towards the snipers.

Geez, I never figured that I would turn out to be an eBay apologist...   

[defiance]

No, I definitely take advantage of last-second bidding, it's not hard when you live less than a block from your telco's central office and you're on DSL (we get some *GOOD* speed ).  And yeah, I pay a little less because of it.  I'm just saying I'd be willing to make the sacrifice of higher average prices if I could just bid and expect people to not wait for the last 10 seconds to outbid me (rather than setting reminder alarms on my cell phone and having to jump on a computer at random odd hours to snipe something, as I commonly do now)

I'm sure many people don't agree with me, but there you have it




Actually, about that sour grapes thing - now that I think of it, I *have* been sniped on a really rare part by a few CENTS before...  That ticked me off


Incidentally, as I noted before, it would be **VERY** easy to stop sniping.  You said earlier that would cause problems, though: how so?  I honestly can only think of one 'problem' it would cause, and that is that people would actually start putting in their max bid and being done with it, so sale prices would go up - probably only by a small margin.  What other problems would you expect to see?

[hemigeno]

Incidentally, as I noted before, it would be **VERY** easy to stop sniping.  You said earlier that would cause problems, though: how so?  I honestly can only think of one 'problem' it would cause, and that is that people would actually start putting in their max bid and being done with it, so sale prices would go up - probably only by a small margin.  What other problems would you expect to see?

I don't think I said that there would be problems, apart from the fact that I think that the complaints from members would be much worse than they already are.  At least there is a definitive stop date/time for the auctions now.  I am no lawyer, and I have no idea if there would be any legal ramifications of a potentially indefinite bidding period.

It would have to be easy to modify the sniping software applications to continue monitoring the bid for time extensions.  It still takes two people bidding against one another to keep an auction going under your scenario.  I seriously doubt it would keep automated software applications from being involved. 

For instance, if you are sitting at your keyboard and bidding against my sniping software program, I could set my program to have two maximum prices... one for no last-minute competition, and one for "bidding war" purposes.  The first "max" bid would be entered with 00:15:01 left on the auction, and the second maximum would kick in if you or someone else wanted to "play."   Since the play clock resets to 15 minutes remaining with each bid, the software could keep bidding until I topped your bid by by $0.01 (or some other trivial sum) - up until my second/ultimate maximum price - assuming it is higher than yours.  You would have to be insanely determined to try and stay with an automated program that never sleeps.  Sooner or later, you would tire out, or reach your true maximum price (which you should have entered in the first place) and the software bidder wins. 

If each bidder enters their "true" maximum price, the outcome will eventually be the same - the only question would be how much aggravation you put everyone through in the process.  Hence my reference to potentially markedly higher numbers of complaints.

How's that for a hypothetical scenario that will never, ever happen?

I think what you're really saying is, if people would just be honest and put their "true" maximum prices down instead of being goaded into a bidding war, then you could get immediate feedback and move on.  It just doesn't happen with our innate competitiveness though.

[defiance]

Well, since auctions have a minimum bid increment already, the scenario you described would result in a *HUGE* increase in price, and the buyer would dance quite the happy dance

The only way to bid in tiny increments is by making a significant jump in bids, but correctly 'guess' the current high bidder's max bid. 

For example - item is at $150 with a $5 bid increment.  High bidder has a max bid of $175.  You can bid $175.01 and outbid him.

On the other hand, if the item is at $175, $5 increments, and the high bid is actually at his $175, your bid has to be minimum $180.

In short, you have to add at least the minimum increment to the current bid (not current high bid); once two people are back-and-forthing, each bump adds at least the minimum.

Thus, the scenario you described would drive the price through the roof in relatively no time!


Having said that, I know a lot of people like sniping.  I think it sucks, but I'm in the minority, and even I do it because it's the way the game is set up.  But, as long as people like it, it'll never change.  I'm just saying, if public opinion and ebay's opinion of the situation *did* change it would be easy to implement

[John_Kunkel]

Sniping is not an option for me, I simply bid the maximum price I'm willing to pay and let the ebay proxy bidding handle it for me.

Don't you have to enter the maximum price you're willing top pay when using sniping software? Seems to me like redundancy.

[hemigeno]

Don't you have to enter the maximum price you're willing top pay when using sniping software? Seems to me like redundancy.

Yes, very much so.  That's sorta my point.  Anything else is merely having the opportunity to rethink what your NEW maximum price is, which means your original price wasn't really your maximum after all, was it?

The only way to bid in tiny increments is by making a significant jump in bids, but correctly 'guess' the current high bidder's max bid. 

For example - item is at $150 with a $5 bid increment.  High bidder has a max bid of $175.  You can bid $175.01 and outbid him.

On the other hand, if the item is at $175, $5 increments, and the high bid is actually at his $175, your bid has to be minimum $180.

In short, you have to add at least the minimum increment to the current bid (not current high bid); once two people are back-and-forthing, each bump adds at least the minimum.

Thus, the scenario you described would drive the price through the roof in relatively no time!

Absolutely not true.  You already know this to be the case, or how else would you have been beaten by just a few cents on an earlier auction?  Under normal conditions you are correct, but it would be possible to raise a bid by $0.01 if you wanted to.  This situation is only allowed to happen when a maximum bid is entered between what the next-highest maximum bid, and the next bid increment that you are referring to.  With a play clock that resets every time a bid is entered, an automated software system or a very determined bidder could enter bids in $0.01 increments (if they wanted to) until they "feel out" where your max bid is, and then go one rung on the ladder higher.  The spiralling price scenario you described won't happen unless both participants keep rethinking what their "true" maximum price is.  That isn't a function of sniping, that's a bidding war.

I'm like John Kunkel - I enter a max price and then stick with it.  It just so happens, that if I use the sniping software my maximum price isn't revealed until the last few seconds.  If I get beat (and it still happens), so be it.  I won't get sucked into coming down with a case of auction fever and getting into a bidding war if I can help it.