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Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: baz parkes on March 14, 2016, 11:08:49 AM

Title: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: baz parkes on March 14, 2016, 11:08:49 AM
Just wondering if this is possible....

Had my eye on a very nice A/D yesterday...lost out in what must have been less than a second.

Is it possible or do we just have to accept that sniping is the way to go?

On the plus side, it saved me having to explain why I needed another melodeon...
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: xgx on March 14, 2016, 11:14:40 AM
Is sniping the issue or is it simply that t'other fellah's max bid was higher?

(I know nowt about this 'ere sniping lark )
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Thrupenny Bit on March 14, 2016, 11:22:49 AM
Possibly you need a quicker snipe, if that is possible?

Thought this might be a northern version of the 'Hunting of the Wren' custom...... where I supposed you'd need  a bigger spade to hit it withbut obviously not  ::)
Good luck mate!
Q
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Graham Spencer on March 14, 2016, 11:35:20 AM
I've also missed boxes by a second or so. On the other hand, I've also been lucky enough to pip other bidders and nab a box in the last second of bidding. I don't use any kind of sniping software, just rely on timing it right. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  And speaking of acquiring yet another melodeon via eBay...........

Graham
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Malcolm Clapp on March 14, 2016, 12:14:52 PM

Thought this might be a northern version of the 'Hunting of the Wren' custom...... where I supposed you'd need  a bigger spade to hit it with...


Love it  ;D ;D ;D

Then again, to me, it conjures up an image of an irate driver lashing out at his broken-down classic Humber with a tyre iron rolled up in a copy of The Financial Times....

Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: John MacKenzie (Cugiok) on March 14, 2016, 01:10:39 PM
I use a sniper, I decide on my top price, and then wait to win, or lose, the item. Watching an item closely, is the route to overpaying.

Sir John
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Graham Spencer on March 14, 2016, 02:11:04 PM

Thought this might be a northern version of the 'Hunting of the Wren' custom...... where I supposed you'd need  a bigger spade to hit it with...


Love it  ;D ;D ;D

Then again, to me, it conjures up an image of an irate driver lashing out at his broken-down classic Humber with a tyre iron rolled up in a copy of The Financial Times....

Ah,my uncle had a 1953 Super Snipe .... fabulous motor.  Developed a whole 113bhp from 4 litres - makes you think!

Sorry about the thread drift!
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Davy R on March 14, 2016, 05:14:12 PM
I always bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay for an item, as early as possible. That way, your bid wins if somebody else bids the same amount at the last moment, and if you're still outbid, the item was more expensive than you were prepared to pay. You never know how much the winning bidder was prepared to go up to, so no point in thinking you've been outbid by only a tiny amount.

Sometimes you're lucky and get a bargain, most times you end up paying what the item is worth to you - but you never end up in a bidding war and over-paying!
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: baz parkes on March 14, 2016, 05:59:35 PM
I always bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay for an item, as early as possible. That way, your bid wins if somebody else bids the same amount at the last moment, and if you're still outbid, the item was more expensive than you were prepared to pay. You never know how much the winning bidder was prepared to go up to, so no point in thinking you've been outbid by only a tiny amount.

Good tip...ta
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Grape Ape on March 14, 2016, 09:01:43 PM
I always bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay for an item, as early as possible. That way, your bid wins if somebody else bids the same amount at the last moment, and if you're still outbid, the item was more expensive than you were prepared to pay. You never know how much the winning bidder was prepared to go up to, so no point in thinking you've been outbid by only a tiny amount.

Sometimes you're lucky and get a bargain, most times you end up paying what the item is worth to you - but you never end up in a bidding war and over-paying!

Exactly how I do it!
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: squeezy on March 15, 2016, 12:54:23 AM
I think given that snipers exist and other people are using them - it's the way to go for bidding on rare things you don't want to miss out on.  You put in your absolute top price and then wait for the end of the auction ... using a sniper means that you don't get in to a price war too early and keeps the prices down to some extent.

Fine to do the manual bidding on things you only want to get at a bargain price because that will rely on no-one else really competing with you for the item and you have to let those go if the money goes crazy on it at the last minute.

The only downside to using snipers is that they can go wrong ... I missed out on a box I would have killed to have owned, a pristine Hercule 2 row 12 bass, that happened because of a malfunction on the sniping service I used.  Very disappointing.
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Graham Spencer on March 15, 2016, 05:05:55 AM
Fine to do the manual bidding on things you only want to get at a bargain price because that will rely on no-one else really competing with you for the item and you have to let those go if the money goes crazy on it at the last minute.


Exactly - that pretty much sums up my eBay buying.

Graham
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: BJG on March 15, 2016, 08:54:07 AM
I always bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay for an item, as early as possible.

Exactly how I do it!

Nope.

I use a sniper, I decide on my top price, and then wait to win, or lose, the item. Watching an item closely, is the route to overpaying.

Sir John

^^^

This.

Putting in an early bid is like showing everyone your hand in a poker game. The only way to get bargains is by sniping.
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: JimmyM on March 15, 2016, 10:07:22 AM
i dont use snipers but am curious. Do you have to pay to use them?
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: BJG on March 15, 2016, 11:23:22 AM
There are paid and free tools.

I currently use the free version of Justsnipe...

https://justsnipe.com/

It has a minimum time of something like 8 seconds. Someone else might use a snipe tool with a shorter time, but it doesn't make any difference, as the auction will be decided by the maximum bid rather than the timing. (Unless the bids are very close I guess.)

Someone could also potentially watch the auction, see that bid, and make the decision to dial in a higher bid at the last moment...but, well, 8 seconds is good enough for me. I suspect most auctions are decided by the highest snipe, set some time before. The main thing is to avoid the steady price-building that takes place with bids made days or hours before the auction ends.
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Peter Savage on March 15, 2016, 02:11:42 PM
I have been using Goofbid's free sniper successfully for several years: http://www.goofbid.com/

Where snipers really come into their own is where you are up against one other bidder who is not using a sniper, and they haven't put their maximum bid in the system. 
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: JimmyM on March 15, 2016, 08:39:04 PM
Thanks, ill check them out
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: 911377brian on March 15, 2016, 08:53:10 PM
as I will never, ever, ever bid for a melodeon on EBay ever ever again it's of little interest to me.... ::)
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Helena Handcart on March 15, 2016, 10:48:24 PM
as I will never, ever, ever bid for a melodeon on EBay ever ever again it's of little interest to me.... ::)

Yeah! Me neither Brian *crosses fingers*
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: vof on March 16, 2016, 12:20:22 AM
I always bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay for an item, as early as possible.

Exactly how I do it!

Nope.

I use a sniper, I decide on my top price, and then wait to win, or lose, the item. Watching an item closely, is the route to overpaying.

Sir John

^^^

This.

Putting in an early bid is like showing everyone your hand in a poker game. The only way to get bargains is by sniping.

Agreed. There is a lot of analysis of online bidding strategies on the net and it shows it is not as simple as you might think. Google for ebay sniping analysis for more detail than you probably want to read, or start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping.

I use paid-for sniping software (Gixen @$6pa) and think it pays for itself many times each year. However, the main benefit is not the last-minute bid giving no-one else time to respond but the fact that I do not show my interest until the last minute. Even sniping can't win you an item where someone else bids at least one bid increment above your maximum bid before the end of the auction (either before or after your snipe).

So, the best strategy is to decide the maximum you are prepared to pay (taking care you understand the likely relevant bid increment at the end of the auction) and schedule a last-few-seconds snipe of this amount.

Vince
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Davy R on March 16, 2016, 11:03:07 AM
Putting in an early bid is like showing everyone your hand in a poker game. The only way to get bargains is by sniping.

It isn't at all like showing everyone your hand, because nobody watching has any idea how high you have set your maximum bid. In such a specialised area of interest as ours, watched by lots of knowledgeable people on a regular basis, getting a bargain is highly unlikely as most bidders have an accurate idea about the true market value of what's on offer.

Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Tone Dumb Greg on March 16, 2016, 02:33:41 PM
I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for the poor sellers, hoping to get a fair price for the prized possesion they have to sell to pay the rent.
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Ebor_fiddler on March 16, 2016, 02:49:18 PM
So how does one go about this sniping then?  ???

(Singed) A Recently Sniped One
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: BJG on March 16, 2016, 03:05:12 PM
Putting in an early bid is like showing everyone your hand in a poker game. The only way to get bargains is by sniping.

It isn't at all like showing everyone your hand, because nobody watching has any idea how high you have set your maximum bid.

But they soon will, because other people will bid early too.

Say you bid £50, current price shows as £10. Then Bidder B comes along and thinks, I'd pay £60 for that, so they make some bids; £30, £40, £50, £55, voila.

Current price now shows as £55. The original bidder, or another new bidder, thinks, well, I'd pay £70 for that. And so it continues.

With a snipe, Bidder B might be willing to pay £60 max, but they might only bid £40, see they're the highest bidder, and leave it at that. Until someone else wins with a snipe for £45.

That's the theory anyway. Sniping keeps your intentions hidden and prevents early price hikes. As has been said, these bidding wars tend to encourage people to bid more than they originally intended, or more than the thing is actually worth.

To get started, Google auction snipers and take your pick...

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/the-best-free-and-paid-ebay-sniper-software-667696
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Clive Williams on March 16, 2016, 03:16:22 PM
So how does one go about this sniping then?  ???

(Singed) A Recently Sniped One

Sign up with justsnipe.com ; used them for years with no problems.
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: squeezy on March 16, 2016, 10:29:22 PM
Another thing in favour of snipers is that if you bid early or fairly early, there are a significant proportion of eBay sellers who use other accounts to bid against you if they think there's a chance of getting the price up.  I've had it multiple times and it's very frustrating to lose an auction to a higher bidder only to see it re-listed at a higher starting price within a day.  That doesn't happen with a snipe.
Title: Re: Beating the Snipe Tool
Post by: Winston Smith on March 17, 2016, 12:40:11 AM
We've just been sorting through a shedload of stuff which my wife has been buying on eBay whilst we were in Egypt, and had it delivered to our Number One Daughter. Bless her, she wins almost 90% of all the eBay auctions she bids in. She's a sniper herself, but nearly all the ones she's lost have been (we think) because our Internet connection has slowed down at the crucial moment.
It's great fun being "in at the kill", a pleasure which would be forfeited by using a third party sniper, IMHO.
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