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E-Bay Bid Strategy?

icydog

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I put in bid increments. That way if someone bids higher than my maximum bid, and they then have the highest bid, then the sniping service will bid up to my max bid increment. This is done of course in the correct increments for that auction, so if the auction calls for $50 increments it will unbid by $50.
 

bjones9942

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I also use a sniping service - bidnip.com. I used to use Auctionsniper, but they have severe and recurring timing issues that they always blame on ebay (it's not ebay). I have a 10 second window. I determine the max I want to bid, set it and forget it until I receive the status email at the end of the auction (congratulations, you've won ... or You were outbid!) :)

I must say that I do enjoy the addition of the 'Make an Offer' option. I use it with success frequently.
 

JSparling

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Make sure you bid once before SnipeSwipe

I tried to grab a quick and cheap unit tonight on EBay. Fortunately I didn't particulary care either way if I won or not. I put a low number in SwipeSnipe and if that amount won it for me then great. If not great, too!

What I learned was SwipeSnipe didn't work because I had never bid on the item. EBay only allows those last second bids - like the type that SnipeSwipe does - if you have at least 1 prior bid during regular bidding hours.

The winning bid was less than my max bid so I thought I won. But then realized what happened. It also means I would have won for my max price if I had bid earlier. Oh well. As I said, I could have gone either way. I think it's a good lesson because next time I might have actually had more emotion/hope invested in the auction item and would have been pissed if a dumb mistake cost me the win. :mad:
 

Saintsfanfl

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I put in bid increments. That way if someone bids higher than my maximum bid, and they then have the highest bid, then the sniping service will bid up to my max bid increment. This is done of course in the correct increments for that auction, so if the auction calls for $50 increments it will unbid by $50.

Everyone bids in increments. Ebay does bid increments automatically, no matter how much you bid. You can bid a million bucks manually or with a snipe service and ebay will still limit your bid to the increment.

Having the snipe service rebid in increments actually causes you to bid against yourself and increases the amount you ultimately pay on average. It defeats the purpose of the snipe. But then again, I am not sure it is any different then a straight snipe unless the service is doing it while giving time to the other bidder. If this is the case then the service is completely useless.
 
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csxjohn

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I tried to grab a quick and cheap unit tonight on EBay. Fortunately I didn't particulary care either way if I won or not. I put a low number in SwipeSnipe and if that amount won it for me then great. If not great, too!

What I learned was SwipeSnipe didn't work because I had never bid on the item. EBay only allows those last second bids - like the type that SnipeSwipe does - if you have at least 1 prior bid during regular bidding hours.

The winning bid was less than my max bid so I thought I won. But then realized what happened. It also means I would have won for my max price if I had bid earlier. Oh well. As I said, I could have gone either way. I think it's a good lesson because next time I might have actually had more emotion/hope invested in the auction item and would have been pissed if a dumb mistake cost me the win. :mad:

I'm not familiar with SwipeSnipe but I suspect something else happened to your bid to cause it to not register.

eBay doesn't care when you bid and even though they say to put in your maximum bid, they want you to bid often and high.

I use Esnipe for everything I buy on eBay and have never lost an auction because the bid wasn't accepted

Now if eBay changed their rules very recently I may be wrong but I have a hard time believing eBay won't take my higher bid at the end of an auction
 

csxjohn

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...
The winning bid was less than my max bid so I thought I won. But then realized what happened. It also means I would have won for my max price if I had bid earlier....:

Could this be what happened? Was your bid high enough to get to the next increment?

"Q . My bid was higher than the final selling price, but my bid doesn't even show up in the bid history. Why?

A. eBay's bidding system involves preset bid increments. When the price of an item is in a certain range, your bid must be higher than the current bid by the bid increment amount. Here's an example: The current price of an item is $3.77. According to eBay's chart of bid increments, the item is in the $1.00-$4.99 range, having a bid increment of $0.25. Your bid must be at least the current price ($3.77) plus the bid increment ($0.25). $4.02 is the minimum that you could bid."
 

JSparling

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I'm not familiar with SwipeSnipe but I suspect something else happened to your bid to cause it to not register.

eBay doesn't care when you bid and even though they say to put in your maximum bid, they want you to bid often and high.

I use Esnipe for everything I buy on eBay and have never lost an auction because the bid wasn't accepted

Now if eBay changed their rules very recently I may be wrong but I have a hard time believing eBay won't take my higher bid at the end of an auction

I think this was the problem - see paste from EBay below. I had not bid on the item before and I'm guessing - since SwipeSnipe bids with something like 3 seconds left - that SwipeSnipe has to use the 1-click mechanism otherwise they couldn't get the bid in and registered before the auction ended.

Here is what I copied from the EBay bidding "rules" -

Using 1-click bidding

To help you avoid being outbid, we offer 1-click bidding during the final 60 minutes of a listing. When you use 1-click bidding, we automatically raise your bid by one increment. To use 1-click bidding, you need to be signed in to eBay and have at least one previous bid on the item.
 

Saintsfanfl

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I think this was the problem - see paste from EBay below. I had not bid on the item before and I'm guessing - since SwipeSnipe bids with something like 3 seconds left - that SwipeSnipe has to use the 1-click mechanism otherwise they couldn't get the bid in and registered before the auction ended.

Here is what I copied from the EBay bidding "rules" -

Using 1-click bidding

To help you avoid being outbid, we offer 1-click bidding during the final 60 minutes of a listing. When you use 1-click bidding, we automatically raise your bid by one increment. To use 1-click bidding, you need to be signed in to eBay and have at least one previous bid on the item.

The 1-click feature is not a requirement. It is just a bid tool within ebay. A snipe service wouldn't be using the 1-click feature.
 

Ron98GT

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I tried to grab a quick and cheap unit tonight on EBay. Fortunately I didn't particulary care either way if I won or not. I put a low number in SwipeSnipe and if that amount won it for me then great. If not great, too!

What I learned was SwipeSnipe didn't work because I had never bid on the item. EBay only allows those last second bids - like the type that SnipeSwipe does - if you have at least 1 prior bid during regular bidding hours.

The winning bid was less than my max bid so I thought I won. But then realized what happened. It also means I would have won for my max price if I had bid earlier. Oh well. As I said, I could have gone either way. I think it's a good lesson because next time I might have actually had more emotion/hope invested in the auction item and would have been pissed if a dumb mistake cost me the win. :mad:
How many seconds before the bid did you have it set for? I know some people say that they use 3 seconds, but I think that is cutting it too close, I'd go with 4 or 5 seconds.

Like others have stated, I use eSnipe and have never encountered a problem with my bids.
 

Saintsfanfl

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How many seconds before the bid did you have it set for? I know some people say that they use 3 seconds, but I think that is cutting it too close, I'd go with 4 or 5 seconds.

Like others have stated, I use eSnipe and have never encountered a problem with my bids.

I use eSnipe as well and have always except twice used only 1 second. I have never missed a bid but I do realize that 1 second increases that possibility.
 

Ron98GT

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I use eSnipe as well and have always except twice used only 1 second. I have never missed a bid but I do realize that 1 second increases that possibility.
Wow, 1 second. :eek:
 

csxjohn

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The 1-click feature is not a requirement. It is just a bid tool within ebay. A snipe service wouldn't be using the 1-click feature.

How many seconds before the bid did you have it set for? I know some people say that they use 3 seconds, but I think that is cutting it too close, I'd go with 4 or 5 seconds.

Like others have stated, I use eSnipe and have never encountered a problem with my bids.

Wow, 1 second. :eek:

For my comfort level 1 sec is cutting it too close. With just a little hic-cup on either end the bid could be late.

On popular items there are so many bids in the last few seconds that most are never even seen by anyone because they instantly get trumped by higher bids. The final bid then shows up a few seconds after the auction closes.
 

ronparise

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I use eSnipe as well and have always except twice used only 1 second. I have never missed a bid but I do realize that 1 second increases that possibility.

I cut the risk in half and do 2 seconds...works for me
 

persia

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Any bid further out than 10 seconds is a wasted bid. You can't let the manual snipers see it and have time to react.
 

vacationhopeful

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Okay ... I use esnipe ... except the one eBay seller decided to "ban ME". I should have WON that auction .. except I was on the "LIST" by that seller. If I had bid normally (like a $1 bid when I saw the listing), I would have just gone signed onto MY OTHER EBAY bidding account.

eBay seller lost a few dollars of pure profit ... the other guy's bid would have been higher and pushed my bid higher and so forth and so forth. The eBay seller most likely lost a MILLION dollars of pure profit!!! :ignore:
 

VegasBella

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Just because it's on an auction site does not mean you have buy via auction.

If you...
... enjoy auctions
... can afford to lose (eg the ts offered is not rare)
... want to know for certain you couldn't have gotten it for less
Then bid. Snipe for the lowest price.

However, if you want the ts at a reasonable price you can simply view the listing as a "for sale" sign and make an offer directly to the seller. Do not place a bid, simply email an offer. That's what I did for my favorite timeshare. We got it at a fair price before anyone even had a chance to snipe it.
 

Saintsfanfl

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If you...
... enjoy auctions
... can afford to lose (eg the ts offered is not rare)
... want to know for certain you couldn't have gotten it for less
Then bid. Snipe for the lowest price.

However, if you want the ts at a reasonable price you can simply view the listing as a "for sale" sign and make an offer directly to the seller. Do not place a bid, simply email an offer. That's what I did for my favorite timeshare. We got it at a fair price before anyone even had a chance to snipe it.

This is a blatant violation of ebay's terms and conditions for both the seller and the buyer.

Some examples of activities that aren't allowed include:
  • Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay system to offer to sell any listed item outside of eBay
  • Canceling a listing to sell to a buyer who found the item on eBay
  • Ending a listing early to sell the item to the winning bidder a price higher than the current bid
  • Including contact information or an offer to buy or sell an item outside of eBay within a Best Offer
  • Offering to sell an item to a non-winning bidder without using Second Chance Offer

Just because you can doesn't mean it's a good thing to do.
 
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ronparise

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Sumday and others have a disclaimer in their listings that says something loke this: offered locally and on our website. This auction my end at any time.
or
Make your deal with the seller before they get a bid. The seller can add a buy now price (the price you negotiate with them) and you buy it. and the purchace is done through ebay...no problem

ezpz
 

Saintsfanfl

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Sumday and others have a disclaimer in their listings that says something loke this: offered locally and on our website. This auction my end at any time.
or
Make your deal with the seller before they get a bid. The seller can add a buy now price (the price you negotiate with them) and you buy it. and the purchace is done through ebay...no problem

ezpz

The scenarios you mention are all legitimate. I know some sellers will do just as Vegasbella suggested while there are existing bids.
 
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