Snipe strategies?

[seank]

 

October, who loves the Groovie Ghoulies, has plenty of time slapping the F5 key

 

"Slapping the F5 key." Is this a euphemism for something?

[szelim]

So what's a good strategy on the max bid? Bidding a round number like $50.00 isn't good, as it's too common. Likewise, bids like 50.01, 51.00, 52.50, etc. are popular targets - you'll lose if your identical bid comes in later.

 

[lizards2]

I use Auction Sniper at 5 seconds, but one time on a big book, it shot about 5 seconds earlier, which was enough time for next highest bidder to go another $100. That little alteration by Auction Sniper cost me an extra $100.

[CAP Freak]

I used five seconds.

I missd this fine- copy of X-Men 13 by 50 cents! I almost got it at 24 bucks!

[Paratrooper]

Just won this literally minutes ago, thanks to Bidnip and my 3 second snipe

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150180461970&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:US:1123

[Timmay]

I use 5 seconds also. The only time I'm hitting the refresh key is if I happen to be on the computer when an auction I'm sniping is about to end. I grab a cold one and sit and watch my snipe go off.

 

I've also seen this play out:

 

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

[sckao]

I use 5 seconds also. The only time I'm hitting the refresh key is if I happen to be on the computer when an auction I'm sniping is about to end. I grab a cold one and sit and watch my snipe go off.

 

I've also seen this play out:

 

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

 

His HIGH-BID on his snipe is still in effect. Even though yours was higher, his higher-bid kicked in.

 

That's a regular function... not a function of the snipe. The snipe only goes as high as it can to be the highest bid.

 

 

 

 

[Warlord]

So what's a good strategy on the max bid? Bidding a round number like $50.00 isn't good, as it's too common. Likewise, bids like 50.01, 51.00, 52.50, etc. are popular targets - you'll lose if your identical bid comes in later.

 

I sniped $44.44 on an auction last year, set it when bidding was around $10 or $20. The winning bid? $44.44. The winner bidder? No, not me. It was the other joker who sniped before I did and used the same lazy-azz snipe amount.

[divad]

Real men use 3 seconds.

 

[DrWatson]

I just set it and forget it. I either win or I don't.

[Timmay]

I use 5 seconds also. The only time I'm hitting the refresh key is if I happen to be on the computer when an auction I'm sniping is about to end. I grab a cold one and sit and watch my snipe go off.

 

I've also seen this play out:

 

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

 

His HIGH-BID on his snipe is still in effect. Even though yours was higher, his higher-bid kicked in.

 

That's a regular function... not a function of the snipe. The snipe only goes as high as it can to be the highest bid.

 

 

 

 

Joe schmoe placed 2 separate snipes. My snipe was higher than his first one, and his second and higher snipe was placed after mine with less than 5 seconds to go.

 

i.e.:

bids placed:

 

joe schmoe $52.95 17:59:58

 

timmay $51.95 17:59:55

 

joe schmoe $50.95 17:59:53

 

 

[Dick Pontoon]

I use 5 seconds also. The only time I'm hitting the refresh key is if I happen to be on the computer when an auction I'm sniping is about to end. I grab a cold one and sit and watch my snipe go off.

 

I've also seen this play out:

 

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

 

His HIGH-BID on his snipe is still in effect. Even though yours was higher, his higher-bid kicked in.

 

That's a regular function... not a function of the snipe. The snipe only goes as high as it can to be the highest bid.

 

 

 

 

Joe schmoe placed 2 separate snipes. My snipe was higher than his first one, and his second and higher snipe was placed after mine with less than 5 seconds to go.

 

i.e.:

bids placed:

 

joe schmoe $52.95 17:59:58

 

timmay $51.95 17:59:55

 

joe schmoe $50.95 17:59:53

 

 

Oboy, I get to paint a picture again.

 

Let's say before Joe Schmoe gets there, Larry Dickman is the high bidder at $49.95. That's Larry's maximum bid, because he has spent all of his money on loose women and crack.

 

Joe Schmoe really wants the book. He has set a snipe of $100, to go off at 7 seconds before the auction ends. Since Larry's high bid was only $49.95, Joe becomes the high bidder at $50.95.

 

Timmay, not realizing Joe has deep pockets, for a sinful life he leads not, puts a snipe bid in for $51.95. But, as soon as that amount is bid, Joe's $100 maximum bid kicks in and the high bid hits $52.95, and then boom, it's over.

 

Sniping works the same as regular proxy biding. If somebody else has put in a higher bid than you, your bid will only raise the amount to one increment higher than your high bid.

[Timmay]

I use 5 seconds also. The only time I'm hitting the refresh key is if I happen to be on the computer when an auction I'm sniping is about to end. I grab a cold one and sit and watch my snipe go off.

 

I've also seen this play out:

 

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

 

His HIGH-BID on his snipe is still in effect. Even though yours was higher, his higher-bid kicked in.

 

That's a regular function... not a function of the snipe. The snipe only goes as high as it can to be the highest bid.

 

 

 

 

Joe schmoe placed 2 separate snipes. My snipe was higher than his first one, and his second and higher snipe was placed after mine with less than 5 seconds to go.

 

i.e.:

bids placed:

 

joe schmoe $52.95 17:59:58

 

timmay $51.95 17:59:55

 

joe schmoe $50.95 17:59:53

 

 

Oboy, I get to paint a picture again.

 

Let's say before Joe Schmoe gets there, Larry Dickman is the high bidder at $49.95. That's Larry's maximum bid, because he has spent all of his money on loose women and crack.

 

Joe Schmoe really wants the book. He has set a snipe of $100, to go off at 7 seconds before the auction ends. Since Larry's high bid was only $49.95, Joe becomes the high bidder at $50.95.

 

Timmay, not realizing Joe has deep pockets, for a sinful life he leads not, puts a snipe bid in for $51.95. But, as soon as that amount is bid, Joe's $100 maximum bid kicks in and the high bid hits $52.95, and then boom, it's over.

 

Sniping works the same as regular proxy biding. If somebody else has put in a higher bid than you, your bid will only raise the amount to one increment higher than your high bid.

 

Paint what picture?

 

He placed two separate snipes. The second one was triggered by mine. If he bid only once his bid would only be above mine in the list of bids placed, not below it.

 

With 7 seconds left, Joe snipes and is high bidder.

With 5 seconds left, Timmay snipes and is high bidder.

With 3 seconds left, Joe SNIPES AGAIN and wins.

 

I'm curious if there is sniping software out there that does this.

 

[divad]

Joe Schmoe is notorious for such behavior!

 

 

[sckao]

I use 5 seconds also. The only time I'm hitting the refresh key is if I happen to be on the computer when an auction I'm sniping is about to end. I grab a cold one and sit and watch my snipe go off.

 

I've also seen this play out:

 

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

 

His HIGH-BID on his snipe is still in effect. Even though yours was higher, his higher-bid kicked in.

 

That's a regular function... not a function of the snipe. The snipe only goes as high as it can to be the highest bid.

 

 

 

 

Joe schmoe placed 2 separate snipes. My snipe was higher than his first one, and his second and higher snipe was placed after mine with less than 5 seconds to go.

 

i.e.:

bids placed:

 

joe schmoe $52.95 17:59:58

 

timmay $51.95 17:59:55

 

joe schmoe $50.95 17:59:53

 

 

Oboy, I get to paint a picture again.

 

Let's say before Joe Schmoe gets there, Larry Dickman is the high bidder at $49.95. That's Larry's maximum bid, because he has spent all of his money on loose women and crack.

 

Joe Schmoe really wants the book. He has set a snipe of $100, to go off at 7 seconds before the auction ends. Since Larry's high bid was only $49.95, Joe becomes the high bidder at $50.95.

 

Timmay, not realizing Joe has deep pockets, for a sinful life he leads not, puts a snipe bid in for $51.95. But, as soon as that amount is bid, Joe's $100 maximum bid kicks in and the high bid hits $52.95, and then boom, it's over.

 

Sniping works the same as regular proxy biding. If somebody else has put in a higher bid than you, your bid will only raise the amount to one increment higher than your high bid.

 

Paint what picture?

 

He placed two separate snipes. The second one was triggered by mine. If he bid only once his bid would only be above mine in the list of bids placed, not below it.

 

With 7 seconds left, Joe snipes and is high bidder.

With 5 seconds left, Timmay snipes and is high bidder.

With 3 seconds left, Joe SNIPES AGAIN and wins.

 

I'm curious if there is sniping software out there that does this.

 

This is very interesting as you would think that Joe would put his highest bid in with his first snipe making the second snipe unnecessary. But instead, in the 3-4 seconds where he saw your higher bid (and his failed snipe), he snipes again having "Potential Buyer's Remorse".

 

I'm wondering if anyone is fast enough to manually snipe within 2 seconds. I used to snipe manually and with multiple windows open, I was pretty fast... but I don't know if I was THAT fast. (Actually, I probably was if there were at least 2-3 seconds. )

 

You could probably do this with two separate sniping programs though or a service that allows you to snipe on the same item twice. My sniping software doesn't allow you to put in the same auction twice so I'd probably have to run two separate sniping programs/services.

 

One would have my "initial max bid" at 8 seconds.

 

The second snipe program would have my "TOTAL CATASTROPHE SNIPE" at 3 seconds. The second one doesn't kick in if I'm still the high bidder, but DOES kick in if someone snipes above me. This second snipe would have to have a REALLY high bid usually...

 

This is, of course, for those people who HAVE TO HAVE the item in question and where money is literally not a factor. (And for people who don't want to put in their REAL MAX BID with the first snipe.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mschmidt]

I've also seen this play out:

 

-Bid placed by joe-schmoe with 7 seconds to go.

 

-My bid placed via bidnip with 5 seconds to go, outbidding joe.

 

-Joe-schmoe instantly re-snipes and outbids me.

 

That has got to be some computer program that double snipes.

 

Unless you have a concrete example to show off, I just don't see how the above situation could happen - there's a bit of latency involved with bidding on ebay & getting the results back, and there's no way you'd be able to fire off a bid, see that you are the high bidder, watch someone else fire off a bid, watch them become the high bidder, and then fire off another bid within the 4-5 seconds you mention.

[LordZarak]

Well, eBay introduced this spiffy thing called One-Click Bidding which bypasses the confirmation screen and shows live bid progress. So the above scenario was totally feasible using just eBay and no sniping program. I used it just last week and it worked like a charm.

 

(thumbs u

[Timmay]

 

This is very interesting as you would think that Joe would put his highest bid in with his first snipe making the second snipe unnecessary. But instead, in the 3-4 seconds where he saw your higher bid (and his failed snipe), he snipes again having "Potential Buyer's Remorse".

 

I'm wondering if anyone is fast enough to manually snipe within 2 seconds. I used to snipe manually and with multiple windows open, I was pretty fast... but I don't know if I was THAT fast. (Actually, I probably was if there were at least 2-3 seconds. )

 

I too thought it would be too fast to do manually as well. I looked but couldn't find the auction, but this did happen to me at least once. It would make more sense to me that it was some double snipe program; just curious if anyones ever heard of it before.

[seank]

Snipe update:

 

My snipe went through at three seconds. I made a crazy high bid of three times guide. Someone else, however, made a crazy high bid of three and a half times guide. No book for me.

 

But I plan to snipe again in the future.

[HouseofComics.Com]