HATE IT. Sorry, just had to vent.

Had a ESB X-Wing in box until 1 second with an automatic bid came in (snipping program) and took it from me.

Okay, take my pill and I'll be better

Completely know what you mean mate. I had the same thing happen to me at the weekend

TishomingoSith wrote:

HATE IT. Sorry, just had to vent.

Had a ESB X-Wing in box until 1 second with an automatic bid came in (snipping program) and took it from me.

Okay, take my pill and I'll be better

Yeah experienced this too.

I always wondered, is the automatic bid guaranteed, i.e. if you bid with 1s on the clock, could there ever be an instance where the program would not have time to configure an automatic bid, or is the system foolproof?

Had a PBP tie fighter pilot with AT-AT emblems for 10euro, snipped in the last 2 seconds. See people asking £150 for these

Vent away, brother!

I am both sniper and sniped so I understand. Unfortunately, my experience in 12+ years is that sniping is about the only way to come close to being sure that you will win an auction. I typically don't even place a bid on any auction I am interested in until the last 30 seconds even if there are no other bids. On those rare occasions I bid early on something I really want I figure out the absolute top dollar I would spend for whatever it is, add at least $5 to it, and bid the full amount. If I am outbid I know I didn't miss out on a deal.

It's a killer. I try to bid with little time left (like most) but in the end I set a limit and if it sells for more , so be it.

I was never a huge fan of sniping but I find it all part of the fun now
You win some you lose some- I lose often.

I am a big user of automatic sniping.
Mainly for 2 reasons: I can not stand last seconds bidding (I am too nervous for that)
and I often buy in the US where sometimes there is a big time difference. I don't want wait the whole night to place a bid.
Generally automatic sniping works well.

I always snipe but manually. Mainly for one reason : I know I will never pay more than I decide to beforehand. I bid in the last 5-7 seconds, so there is no turning back or correcting, it's a one shot deal. In the past I, like many others I think, have been tempted to overpay for items just because of the thrill during the bidding war So it's kinda self protection mostly. Now if I don't win, I have peace with it instead of those 'Oh, I wish I payed just a little more as I might have won the item then ...' brain hauntings

Well, I guess if you can't beat'em... join'em.

I snipped the other night for a POTF Lando. My first MOC in a while and my first POTF MOC... so guess if I want it, gotta do it.

TishomingoSith wrote:

Well, I guess if you can't beat'em... join'em.

I snipped the other night for a POTF Lando. My first MOC in a while and my first POTF MOC... so guess if I want it, gotta do it.

Congrats, Ryan! And welcome to to the Sniper Squad.

I recognize what Shoenix was saying. Sniping helps to prevent bidding wars which can cost you a lot.

And nothing can beat the thrill of putting a max bid in the last few seconds (preferable manually), hoping you will win. There is no way back to raise your max bid in case you fail.

i like buying items from the US and the time difference is a killer, so i wanna join the club

can anyone recommend a good sniper program, ideally a free one?

walkie wrote:

i like buying items from the US and the time difference is a killer, so i wanna join the club

can anyone recommend a good sniper program, ideally a free one?

http://www.snipeswipe.com/

Sniping is all in your mind, it doesn't really exist.

Yes the mechanics of placing a single last minute bid do exist, but the twisted logic that somehow this is how you win auctions is erroneous. The cold hard logic is: whoever bids the most, wins. It doesn't matter if I've placed that bid in the last 5 seconds or 5 weeks before hand. I rarely bid in the last few seconds of an auction (and then only because I'm bundling items from the same seller and waiting on the result of earlier auctions to determine if I'm going to bid) and very rarely do I miss out on an auction I actually want.

It is delightful for me to watch these snipers come in during the last few seconds and still lose out to my bid I placed in the first 24 hours of an auction being listed. But then, I am an evil bastard

Dax wrote:

Sniping is all in your mind, it doesn't really exist.

Yes the mechanics of placing a single last minute bid do exist, but the twisted logic that somehow this is how you win auctions is erroneous. The cold hard logic is: whoever bids the most, wins. It doesn't matter if I've placed that bid in the last 5 seconds or 5 weeks before hand. I rarely bid in the last few seconds of an auction (and then only because I'm bundling items from the same seller and waiting on the result of earlier auctions to determine if I'm going to bid) and very rarely do I miss out on an auction I actually want.

It is delightful for me to watch these snipers come in during the last few seconds and still lose out to my bid I placed in the first 24 hours of an auction being listed. But then, I am an evil bastard

Well, yes... if you put in a huge bid you would highly increase your chances of winning. But if you WAIT and use a snipping program to enter that same huge bid, it won't hit until 2-4 seconds before it closes. It could save you money.

I've done it also if i want to win something it's a good way to do it.

Dax wrote:

Sniping is all in your mind, it doesn't really exist.

Yes the mechanics of placing a single last minute bid do exist, but the twisted logic that somehow this is how you win auctions is erroneous. The cold hard logic is: whoever bids the most, wins. It doesn't matter if I've placed that bid in the last 5 seconds or 5 weeks before hand. I rarely bid in the last few seconds of an auction (and then only because I'm bundling items from the same seller and waiting on the result of earlier auctions to determine if I'm going to bid) and very rarely do I miss out on an auction I actually want.

It is delightful for me to watch these snipers come in during the last few seconds and still lose out to my bid I placed in the first 24 hours of an auction being listed. But then, I am an evil bastard

Can't agree with this more. It's a auction whether you get outbid in the last day, hour, minute, second whatever your bid just simply wasn't enough. Of course it sucks to find that out in the last seconds it wasn't enough but whatever, it's better then someone winning your auctions and not paying

It's not as crazy as you think though.

People sometimes put in opening bids with the intention of rebidding through the auction. Sometimes you might think you're home free and then DAGO-BAM a last second bid comes in. You don't have time to react and lose.

It's really about the high bidder and their bidding pattern. You trying to catch someone asleep at the switch.

Computers and I have a love-hate relationship (mostly hate) and I never knew about this sniping program. It actually explains a lot! I agree, it can certainly be frustrating to lose something you've been watching for days in the last seconds, but I've been caught too many times overpaying because I get too caught up in the excitement of the bidding war.

Not long ago there was a 3PO Canadian MOC I was determined to win. I got super caught up in a bidding war and, fortunately for me, I was at work and with 15 minutes left I threw an insane bid on and then had to go to a meeting. Then I was feeling terrible because I knew my bid was nothing short of completely unreasonable and was then thinking how screwed I was. I was also very mad at myself for being so irresponsible. Fortunately for me, someone else saw my insane bid and decided they wanted to one-up my insanity and outbid me by just a bit. Thank goodness!

After my 3-PO experience, I decided to take on a new way of bidding for myself. I'll find auctions I'm interested in and make sure they have at least an hour left on them so I can spend some time and figure out what my maximum price is that I'd be willing to pay and decide how much I actually want the item. With about a minute to 30 seconds left in the auction, I'll drop my maximum bid and then walk away. If I win it, awesome. If I lose it, then it was more than I was willing to pay, so no harm done.

I remember back around 2004-2005, I used to sit up 03 in morning and counting the seconds in my head to bid the max bid as close as possible. You kind of knew your opponents as well.
Since a couple of years back I use a sniping program instead. Not a fan of them but I don't have to sit up 03 in morning. (Ops it's 03 in morning here :S)
But I do have a lag issue that makes the sniping program a bit unrealiable, so mine isn't very opted like some are.

Quote :

Can't agree with this more. It's a auction whether you get outbid in the last day, hour, minute, second whatever your bid just simply wasn't enough. Of course it sucks to find that out in the last seconds it wasn't enough but whatever, it's better then someone winning your auctions

This, to me is the case, highest bid wins!

Unforyunately, I can't snipe.... because my internets so DAMN SLOW!

I'm like most, pick an amount your happy with and fingers crossed.

To be honest, it's not the snipers that piss me off, it's the 'fair and square' wins that you get for a bargain that, a few days later are followed by an apologetic e-mail claiming the figure is 'lost' or something aong them lines.

I ebayed a mint Anakin Skywalker (loose) once and it sold for 99p a Dark Boots Bespin Luke for 4.99, both because only one person bid, it pained me greatly, but I honoured the sale and posted them off.

In the end, I guess it all depends on the day of the week, the time, the seller, the buyer, and whether or not your internet is to DAMN SLOW!!!!!

Using a snipe program suffers from the same problems as last minute bidding.

A snipe program's only real use is that you don't have to stay up and monitor the auction to put your bid in at the last moment or contend with a sudden failed connection when trying to bid. Bidders in different time zones (who should be sleeping when the auction ends) can use it to get their bids in before the auction closes if they do not want to bid too early in the auction. It has its place as part of the overall strategy of a bidder – whatever that may be.

From my experience, there is 1 major difference between throwing in a max bid in advance and putting in a last minute bid (whether manually or using a snipe program). This difference is more evident in higher priced auctions where the bid increments are larger. The difference being that if your snipe bid amount does not fulfill the bid increment requirement at the time your snipe bid is placed, your snipe bid will not be allowed even though your snipe bid amount is higher than the then current bid price. On the other hand, a maximum bid placed in advance for the exact same amount (as your snipe bid) may however win you the auction.

I will illustrate with an example.

You are prepared to pay about $2000 for an item on auction. There is another bidder, who we will call "MF Jammer", who is going to bid $2000 for this same item but only when 10 seconds remains for the auction (he may or may not also be using a snipe program). MF Jammer does not intend to make a further bid after his bid of $2000 goes in. Thinking of securing the win for this auction, you place a bid of $2000.01 (oh come on .... don't we all wish we can win auctions with just an additional 1 cent).

1 hour from the end of the auction, the highest bid amount shown is $1000. Bid increments is $25. Only you and MF Jammer intend to eventually place bids in this auction that hit $2000 or more.

Scenario 1

You set up a snipe at $2000.01 for it to go in just 2 seconds before the end of the auction. You are not the highest bidder at this time since your snipe bid has not been placed as yet. The highest bid amount hits $1975 before MF Jammer goes in. When MF Jammer places his bid of $2000 – 10 seconds from closing, the highest bid price becomes S$2000 (as it is $25 above the last highest bid amount). MF Jammer is the highest bidder before your snipe bid goes in. When your snipe program places the bid of $2000.01 but it will not be processed as it does not fulfill the bid increment requirement. You lose the auction. MF Jammer wins the auction for $2000. You curse and swear since you lost the auction even though you were prepared to pay more than $2000. MF Jammer gloats. ...

Scenario 2

You place a maximum bid of S$2000.01. You become the highest bidder and the reflected highest bid amount becomes S$1025. When MF Jammer places his bid of S$2000, eBay automatically places your maximum bid for you and the highest bid amount reflected would be S$2000.01 with you as the highest bidder. You win the auction. MF Jammer lost. You gloat …

There still is an advantage in placing a maximum bid in advance on an auction compared to just relying on a snipe bid. So when using a sniper program, do remember this difference.

Cheers, Mark

aarggghhh i've just been sniped again on a figure which was top of my spanish list 2 seconds before the item ended

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, snipped!!!!

The guy who won hadn't bid, at all, until serious .01 seconds to go.

I was in on my first 12 back... a R2D2 12 back that was AFA 70 (60+ card, 80 bubble, 85 figure). I had it then all of a sudden, lost with another automatic bid that was faster than my snipping site. So I guess I get to look for a 'faster' snipping site to use.

UGH. I was so looking forward to getting my first 12-back

Watching the auction for 5 days. Anyway, back to The Talking Dead.

Ryan

Mind my asking your high bid?