any of you guys ever used Powersnipe or EZsniper?

12/7/2007 9:24:06 AM

YOU'RE A DIRTY FUCKER


AND EBAY SNIPING IS EVIL.

12/7/2007 9:29:39 AM

well if you can't beat 'em join 'em. i think its evil too but i'm tired of loosing auctions to these dirty mother fuckers.

12/7/2007 9:31:19 AM

what is ebay sniping?

12/7/2007 9:32:36 AM

don't be hatin' jus cuz you can't shop victoriously

12/7/2007 9:49:03 AM

^^^^ agreed

^^^ agreed

12/7/2007 9:50:08 AM

Quote :

"what is ebay sniping?"

yes, this sounds like something i could profit from. tell me about this ebay sniping.

12/7/2007 9:55:30 AM

its pretty much an automated bid submission at the last possible second so that no one else can beat you.

or before all these services popped up, you would literally sit there and refresh and submit a bid right at the very end.

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 9:58 AM. Reason : .]

12/7/2007 9:57:48 AM

what happens when two snipers submit at the same time????

12/7/2007 10:02:47 AM

whoever gets the headshot winz.

12/7/2007 10:09:45 AM

just put in the absolute most you would be willing to pay + x%.

That way if you lose you really don't care cause it was slightly more than you wanted to pay anyway.

12/7/2007 10:13:17 AM

Quote :

"what happens when two snipers submit at the same time????"

Highest bid wins. Always put in your max bid...Not a bid that will just beat the other users. You don't end up paying the full bid amount. You just pay whatever you have to in order to beat the next highest bid.


I use eSnipe.com. It runs on their servers as opposed to being a standalone application for your PC. I like this method because you don't have to worry about:
1. Application fuckups.
2. Computer fuckups.
3. ISP fuckups.

I set it to bid at the 4 second mark and it has never failed me.

It's dirt cheap, but I don't know the official pricing. I don't know if they still do this, but when I signed up the first $500 worth of eBay purchases could be sniped for free. I have since Paypal'ed them about $15 or $20 over the last few years, but I have made at least $1500-$2000 worth of purchases with it. I know it has saved me way more than $20 on some of the single items that I won.

eSnipe.com gets my official seal of approval.

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 10:48 AM. Reason : s]

12/7/2007 10:39:51 AM

http://www.auctionsniper.com/

I've used them time and time again. Good service and you get a couple snipes for free.
And if you choose to sign up use this referral link: http://www.auctionsniper.com/?how=sales@syprus.com

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 10:55 AM. Reason : ,]

12/7/2007 10:54:12 AM

No snipping program can beat the proxy bid.

12/7/2007 3:01:51 PM

i second esnipe...works like a charm

and i guess ^ doesn't know that e-snipe uses proxy bidding...so set it for four seconds prior, your bid goes in just like any other proxy bid...so if at 4 secons left it's at $5 and you bid $10, you win it regardless unless the other dude's max bid is above $10

it just allows you time to guess that you're outbidding their max, but it's a proxy bid nonetheless

12/7/2007 5:17:56 PM

Just won an auction with esnipe against 20 other bidders in the last minute at half the price these things usually go for. That's well worth $0.50(actually, it's free for the first 14 days).

----------------------------
If ebay was really concerned about this sort of software, they could change their UI slightly everyday and throw all these sniping companies off. But they don't, so apparently they don't disapprove.

Of course, ebay has never fixed how hideously ugly, bloated and unintuitive their UI is either, so maybe they're just lazy.

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 11:12 PM. Reason : .]

12/7/2007 11:07:41 PM

wait, some people still dont know what a sniper is when talking about online auctions?

man, we've used the sniper on ebay and other auction sites. way back when they were coming out and were all free.

12/8/2007 12:55:17 AM

you would think the auctioneers would oppose the use of sniping. If everyone used it, then no one would bid until the last 4 seconds, at which point the winning bid quantity is just a guess on the part of the bidders and likely to be cheaper. Whereas with normal bidding, everyone is weighing in and inflating the bid value over a longer time period.

12/8/2007 10:03:46 AM

ive used auction sentry, works great

12/8/2007 10:34:21 AM

Recent sniping story...

My brother wanted to buy a Carolina Skiff on eBay that was located just over the border in Tennessee. I was like "Yo you need to snipe that shit."

So he did.

And he got a brand new Carolina Skiff J15 with a new motor, trailer, cover, paddles, and random other stuff for $5650.

So he called the guy about a half hour after the auction to set up the pick up and payment stuff.

And the guy was like "People have been calling me saying they were willing to pay over $6000 for the boat, but since you won the auction it's all yours.

So, the lesson is to not underestimate the number of people who sit there repeatedly bidding as if they don't know that there is a finite amount of time to bid and whomever throws in the largest bid at the last second wins.

So now as a result of the sniping and a little other help I have full use of a Carolina Skiff whenever I feel like grabbing it. And that skiff would retail for over $10k, but you could probably get it for a little under $10k if you bought the whole package at a shop. Still, $5650 was a nice price.

The best boat ever is the one you don't own.

btw, if anyone wants a great running 17' Boston Whaler Montauk for around $6k I'll hook you up.

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 1:16 AM. Reason : l]

12/9/2007 1:15:28 AM

I refuse to believe that sniping software gives you any advantage whatsoever over someone that places their bids in the proper traditional manner. I think it's all mental. If you won a $100 item for $50, regardless of when you placed your bid, the simple fact remains that no one else was interested in bidding more than $49 for the item.

If you've ever "lost" to a sniper it just means they were willing to pay more for the item than you were. Oh, but he bid $73 at the last second when you were willing to pay $75 for the item? Well you should have put in a proxy bid of $75, now shouldn't you. It's your own damn fault for not using the system the way it was intended to be used.

Ebay should institute a policy that any bid near the end of a auction should automatically extend the auction for another 2 minutes. Ebay would get more money, the sellers would get more money, and it would put an end, once and for all, to the ridiculous notion that somehow placing your bids with 4 seconds to go is better than with a day to go.

Quote :

""what happens when two snipers submit at the same time????""

Quote :

"Highest bid wins. Always put in your max bid...Not a bid that will just beat the other users. You don't end up paying the full bid amount. You just pay whatever you have to in order to beat the next highest bid."

You realize that the scenario you just described (sniper vs sniper) is the exact same scenario as sniper vs non-sniper, or non-sniper vs non-sniper, right?. Regardless of when you place the bids, the auction still goes to the person willing to pay the most.

12/9/2007 8:52:29 AM

Very rarely will you go head to head with another person using a sniping tool.
+

Quote :

"he lesson is to not underestimate the number of people who sit there repeatedly bidding as if they don't know that there is a finite amount of time to bid and whomever throws in the largest bid at the last second wins."

If you don't believe me then you haven't watched enough auctions. I see people constantly upping their bid all the time.

12/9/2007 11:06:33 AM

I will admit sniping takes away the possibility of acting on that "if I bid one more dollar, I can win this auction" feeling that you get when you are outbid. But the fact remains if you were comfortable paying that one more dollar after someone outbid you, then you should have been comfortable paying the same amount beforehand, which is the whole point of proxy bidding.

12/9/2007 12:47:31 PM

Quote :

"If you've ever "lost" to a sniper it just means they were willing to pay more for the item than you were. Oh, but he bid $73 at the last second when you were willing to pay $75 for the item? Well you should have put in a proxy bid of $75, now shouldn't you. It's your own damn fault for not using the system the way it was intended to be used. Ebay should institute a policy that any bid near the end of a auction should automatically extend the auction for another 2 minutes. Ebay would get more money, the sellers would get more money, and it would put an end, once and for all, to the ridiculous notion that somehow placing your bids with 4 seconds to go is better than with a day to go."

i like that idea, but while great for seller's, the buyer's lose more of an opportunity to really get a deal

the only advantage of a sniping tool is that you don't give someone the opportunity to counter-bid, but i agree, pending you bid in the last 10 seconds of the auction, the highest amount you want to pay for the item, it's never really an issue.

what i like about it, is i can set it and forget it, leave and go DO something and not have to worry about being there to do the actual bidding

then again if everyone sniped, it would basically become like blind bidding, which is never advantageous for the seller

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 3:10 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2007 3:07:36 PM

Quote :

"what i like about it, is i can set it and forget it, leave and go DO something and not have to worry about being there to do the actual bidding"

I can do that too. It's called regular bidding.

12/9/2007 4:25:16 PM

El Nachó better made the point I tried to make early in this thread. So long as you enter the highest bid, it doesn't matter when you enter it.

12/9/2007 5:04:27 PM

The thing with sniping is that it makes an object look like it's not wanted... eBay runs the whole damn thing as a game, and it's like gambling, they stand to lose a lot of money in fees not accrued from people "playing the game". I agree though, if you just bid the most you're willing to bid and people don't lose their sanity, it comes out to who will want pay the most.

12/9/2007 5:43:09 PM

Regular bidding is the same as showing your cards too early. In an auction, it's ALWAYS to your disadvantage to bid early. Again, it's about making it seem unwanted, it TOTALLY affects people's interest and how much they are willing to bid on their first bid. Not very many people I know (if they bid early) ever bid their max.

Quote :

"El Nachó better made the point I tried to make early in this thread. So long as you enter the highest bid, it doesn't matter when you enter it."

that only works in a blind bid style auction, trust me, seeing what others are willing to pay influences how much you are willing to pay, i've seen it

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 6:39 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2007 6:38:02 PM

^ Which is why you always ask a friend to seed an auction on eBay

12/9/2007 7:28:40 PM

^(shill bidding) that's fraud and strictly illegal, a good way to get your account suspended and can result in prosecution

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 7:47 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2007 7:46:53 PM

^ It's almost impossible to prove, especially when your friend wants the item. Not necessarily talking about running the price way up, but just a first bid will start a lot of people bidding. Not that I do that, but I don't win many auctions anyway.

12/9/2007 8:02:07 PM

i've gotten suspended for 14 days because a friend bid on an item of mine, someone suspected shill bidding, notified ebay, they investigated and somehow came to the conclusion that it was shill bidding even though he had no contact with me throughout the auction.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-shill-bidding.html

Quote :

"Because family members, roommates and employees of sellers have a level of access to item information which is not available to the general Community, they are not permitted to bid on items offered by the seller – even if their sole intent is to purchase the item. Family members, roommates or employees may purchase items from a seller without violating this policy simply by using purchase options – such as Buy It Now – which do not involve bidding."

12/9/2007 8:54:02 PM

Hmm, I guess that ruins me buying my friend's HTPC for $25.

I guess it's no surprise that eBay would have that problem a lot.

[Edited on December 9, 2007 at 8:57 PM. Reason : I know I wouldn't win it, but I like bidding ]

12/9/2007 8:57:00 PM

i have won tons of auctions and have never had a problem with snipers

no need to pay someone to put in a bid for me on ebay lol

12/10/2007 7:22:07 PM

i used EZ snipe and won my bid for $10 less then my max bid. i got a pair of Columbia snowboard pants (retails for $110) for $30 shipped.

12/11/2007 11:08:38 AM